Wayne Rooney sat out Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Fulham after he failed to win his appeal against the Football Association’s harebrained two-match ban, which has created unrest in the English game.
Sir Alex Ferguson has suggested that FA have not only opened up a can of worms by enforcing Rooney’s suspension, but they have also alienated any continuity between themselves, the club and the Referees’ Association.
These foolhardy executives are doing their best to make a mockery of United, but their undisclosed bias view towards the Reds is there for everyone to witness, and could have damaging effects on English football. It should go without saying that every single player has used vulgar language at one point in their career on the football field, the FA set forth a very debatable precedent following Rooney’s explosive release of demonic emotion.
There is no question that Rooney did not need to do what he did, however, one would be hard pressed to think that this was the outburst in a camera that he was really punished for. Back in the summer during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Rooney let loose some of his frustrations with the supporters of the England national team, by saying, “It’s nice to see your own fans booing ya. We’ve got loyal supporters.” And that is the comment that made him public enemy No. 1 for the FA.
Failing to deliver the World Cup, the FA needed to make someone the scapegoat for their failures as a whole, and it comes as no surprise that it was a Manchester United player.
There is, has been for a while, a huge divide between United and the unchallenged governing body of the Barclays Premier League, so nobody should be amazed that the FA have imposed a double decision in a poor attempt to derail their treble bid. In a matter of weeks, the FA made two very conspicuous decisions to suspend two of United’s most influential figureheads with unparalleled bans.
First, it was Sir Alex receiving a five-match ban, two of which was induced by a prior suspension, which sees him consigned to the stands for the next two domestic matches for United. Now, Rooney missed this weekend’s game, which he might have been rested for anyways, but he will also miss the Reds all-Manchester FA Cup Semifinal match against City.
One-Off
Because of their pompous mindset, the FA does not realize that they are unearthing a very dangerous version of the “us versus them” mentality, because no other club is being mistreated this way. It all comes down to a selfish display of jealousy for United, which possibly stems from the club’s forward thinking of joining the now-defunct G-14 movement a few years back.
The Reds were not the only club that took a long, hard look at forming a league of Europe’s best clubs, because Liverpool was right along side their bitter rival, but no London-based clubs were part of that potential revolt until Arsenal decided to join two years after.
Accountability
The FA is a dictatorship, because there are simply no checks and balances to debate any of their decisions. The use of the word, “independent” when describing their disciplinary committee is a joke, because if it was independent then how did they get selected?
Since there is no bureaucracy in English football, there is going to continue to be a separation of power, and these self-centered businessmen, not football fans, are going to continue creating issues for clubs that do not conform to their way of doing things.
Aligned
There are three bodies of English football – clubs, referees and administrative – and when one of them is not working well with the others then it is doomed for just criticism and, ultimately, will fail. The second part of the metric is the referees, and according to reports, Lee Mason was “forced” to report that he would have sent Rooney off for swearing if he had heard it.
Ferguson is no dummy, because he knew very well that he needed assistance dealing with the third party of the sport, so he cleverly affiliated himself with referees and became the Life President of the Referees’ Association. On the reverse side of that coin, the referees were also privy to the separation of powers between United and the FA, so rather than risking themselves being hung out to dry, they, too, were interested in that collaboration with Ferguson.
The officials did this simply, because they know, and respect, that Ferguson has transcended controversial decisions before, and if there were one man to bring unity between the three it would be done through him.
This is a very dangerous game that Football Association is playing with the beautiful game, but Manchester United, like they always have done, will overcome this mind trip against them.
Submitted by The United Religion
