United pay for Rio ban gamble

ALEX FERGUSON believes Manchester United have been the victims of double standards after Rio Ferdinand lost his appeal against a charge of violent conduct and had a game added to his ban.

Ferdinand will miss league matches against Arsenal, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Everton after the FA decided he had deliberately struck Craig Fagan in United’s 4-0 win against Hull City last Saturday.

An independent regulatory commission ruled that it had been “frivolous” for the central defender to appeal and extended his ban from three to four games. Ferdinand will be unable to play for United until the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on 28 February.

In their defence of Ferdinand, United cited the FA’s failure to charge Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano for a similar incident, involving the Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford, in a Carling Cup tie at Elland Road last September. The club’s case was mostly based around Ferdinand’s claim that he had not meant to strike Fagan, but their legal team also argued that Mascherano’s offence had been a more blatant one and that it would be unfair to punish one player after letting off another.

“If it’s a fair hearing then he – (Ferdinand) has a good chance,” Ferguson said, before the hearing. “He was wrestled and punched, all sorts of things happened to him, and he was just trying to wrestle free from it. Unfortunately for us, he’s caught him [Fagan] on the back of the head.”

United’s manager has not commented about the verdict but has been described as angry though not surprised.

Launching an appeal was a calculated gamble on Ferdinand’s part, because of the possibility that he could have his ban extended. Appealing, however, meant that he was able to take part in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Manchester City at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. He and Ferguson felt they should take a risk and prioritise that match despite the advice of Graham Bean, the former FA compliance officer who advises United on disciplinary matters and who represented the club at yesterday’s hearing.

Bean’s recommendation was that United should accept the charge. He cited the recent cases of the Sunderland defender Michael Turner and the Middlesbrough forward Jérémie Aliadière, both of whom were given extended suspensions on the basis of unsuccessful appeals against charges of violent conduct.

The referee of the Hull game, Steve Bennett, had missed the incident, which occurred in Ferdinand’s comeback match from three months out with back problems. But he supplied a written submission to the FA saying that he would have sent off Ferdinand and awarded Hull a penalty had he not been following play elsewhere.

Nemanja Vidic’s presence on the bench, in addition to the current fitness of Wes Brown and Jonny Evans means that United do have cover for Ferdinand, who can also play in the first leg of the Champions League knock-out round clash with David Beckham’s AC Milan in the San Siro on February 16.

Ferguson yesterday called for his players to move on from the euphoria of their Carling Cup semi-final victory over Manchester City by focusing on Sunday’s key Premier League encounter against title rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

United head into the game against Arsene Wenger’s men one point clear of the Gunners and one shy of leaders Chelsea in an enthralling three-way scrap for supremacy.

“We’ll assess [the Carling Cup final] when we get to it,” Ferguson said. “We’ve got some important games in the league and the Champions League to look forward to now. Arsenal on Sunday at the Emirates is a big game for us, we need to win that game.”