FA counter Ferguson claims

The Football Association have hit back at Alex Ferguson’s claims that their compliance unit “has no purpose”.

Ferguson launched a scathing attack on the unit amid a general argument that referees should be given greater power to punish diving cheats.

The Manchester United manager has never been a great lover of the compliance unit, particularly as last season Wayne Rooney received a three-match ban after being caught on video shoving Bolton’s Tal Ben Haim, while this term Gary Neville was fined £5,000 (€7,300) and warned over his future conduct for his celebration of the last-minute winner against Liverpool.

In contrast, Chelsea’s William Gallas escaped sanction when he appeared to incite the home fans at Fulham following his recent dismissal at Craven Cottage, while Stephen Jordan was not punished for two horrendous challenges on Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo during the most recent Manchester derby.

With the new speeded-up disciplinary process now in force, Ferguson feels the compliance unit only act when potential cases appear in the media, an allegation the FA have opted to counter.

“The vast majority of cases looked at by the compliance unit have their origin in reports from the match officials,” said an FA spokesman.

“In the specific instances of Gary Neville and William Gallas, the referee in the United-Liverpool game said he would have booked the player if he had seen what happened at the time, whereas the referee in the Fulham-Chelsea match said he would not have taken any action.

“There was lengthy consultation before the new disciplinary procedures were brought in and managers were very much part of that.

“We spoke with the League Managers’ Association, the Professional Footballers’ Association, all the leagues and the referees before we brought these new procedures in and they have largely been greeted positively.”

The counter-argument is unlikely to appease Ferguson, or Everton boss David Moyes, who also feels his side have been victimised this season.

However, Ferguson thinks something must be done to tackle the issue of diving, which he believes has got progressively worse over the last few years.

It has received greater prominence in recent times with Chelsea trio Shaun Wright-Phillips, Didier Drogba and Asier del Horno all apparently exaggerating their reactions to tackles.

In Wright-Phillips’ case, his tumble in last week’s FA Cup tie with Newcastle was enough to see Magpies defender Robbie Elliott sent off for a second bookable offence.

And Ferguson feels it is time the divers were subjected to the same punishments as the opponents they are attempting to incriminate.

“The problem has been there for quite a few years and it is obvious it has got worse,” said the United boss.

“The difficult thing is how do you stop it.

“The players diving have an advantage over the ones making a tackle because a lad going to make an honest tackle can receive a red card, yet referees can only give the guy who cheats to win a penalty or get someone sent off a yellow, which is an amazing thing.

“You could give someone two yellows, I suppose, but that is not going to have any impact. It is a discrepancy which is always going to cause controversy.”