UEFA Champions League/Europa League 5/6/7 March *** Spoilers ***
- Thread starter Cosimo
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Hey, we even got relegated one season, just for the crack of winning the league...
Well there was the most controversial part of the match which kind of overshadows it.
Also not discussed United's decent penalty shout near the end, Madrid's disallowed goal, Rafael handball of the line, how United should've been 3 ahead before the red really.
God knows what that says about whoever you support, as it must be pretty humiliating to support a side that can't get within touching distance of United this year despite them being an average team.
I was more meaning from EUFA, surely his reactions merits a fine and a few games ban...
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Rio was obviously in the wrong to applaud the ref, but I understand completely why he did it. To have worked that hard and to have it all snatched away (in his opinion) by the referee. I'd be absolutely fuming as well. Anyone saying he should have kept a cool head are right, but surely people here have played competitive sports before?
Apparently UEFA are taking action against Utd for failing to fulfill their press obligations.
Ridiculous really - if they'd come out and said what they'd thought of the ref they'd have been sanctioned as well. The only way out of it was for them to come out, smile, do the interviews, and say that they think that the ref was a lovely man, which would have been utterly ridiculous.
Whether the decision was wrong or not, referees or their governing bodies ought to come out and explain decisions like that, and accept that occasionally managers and players won't fancy being interviewed after the match for fear of saying something out of place.
Ridiculous really - if they'd come out and said what they'd thought of the ref they'd have been sanctioned as well. The only way out of it was for them to come out, smile, do the interviews, and say that they think that the ref was a lovely man, which would have been utterly ridiculous.
Whether the decision was wrong or not, referees or their governing bodies ought to come out and explain decisions like that, and accept that occasionally managers and players won't fancy being interviewed after the match for fear of saying something out of place.
Why is it ridiculous? If clubs are happy to take the £m's that come their way from participating in the CL then they have to fulfill their media duties that help generate this money.
Being upset with a refereeing decision isn't an excuse. It's not that hard to criticise an officials performance without getting yourself into trouble.
Unlike the Premier League, UEFA don't put up with clubs/managers ignoring their media obligations, which is the reason why Fergie usually does give post-match press-conferences for European games but never does for a Premier League game (despite the fact that he's supposed to).
If you're forced to do your media "duty", you should at least be allowed to say what you want. Being told "you must speak to the media but you're only allowed to say what we want to hear" is an utter joke. It's entirely authoritarian. If your government said that to you, they'd be breaking one of your fundamental human rights.
That's what Fergie said last night. He couldn't stop saying it hence no appearance at the press conference.
Who's stopping Fergie or any manager from saying what he likes? There's no rule that says you can't criticise officials. Plenty of times a manager has come out and criticised the officials performance without finding themself in trouble. If you come out and say or imply the ref was bent (and you can't prove it) for example, you could find yourself in trouble, which is entirely understandable.
Fergie wasn't charged for going nuts post-Bayern a couple of years back.
edit: Fergie could have easily come out yesterday and said the ref's made a terrible mistake in sending Nani off and it's cost us the game. He wouldn't have been fined.