Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has received a two-match touchline ban for his comments about referee Alan Wiley's fitness.

The Football Association handed the 67-year-old a four-game ban, with two of those suspended until the end of the 2010/11 season.� Ferguson has also been fined £20,000 and warned about his future conduct.

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has received a two-match touchline ban for his comments about referee Alan Wiley's fitness.

The Football Association handed the 67-year-old a four-game ban, with two of those suspended until the end of the 2010/11 season.� Ferguson has also been fined £20,000 and warned about his future conduct.

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This post, which is totally for subscribers only, examines the performance of the English refereeing team for the Europa Cup match in Croatia yesterday between Dinamo Zagreb and Ajax Amsterdam.
The referee was Mike Dean, neatly fitting this event in between two live BSkyB matches.
Will he match his skip of delight at giving Birmingham their penalty last Sunday? Click to continue reading...

Nobody is happy with losing at Chelsea. But some of the doom and gloom and rubbish being spouted in Liverpool's direction is well over the top.
If you're asking me whether I think we can still win the league, the answer is simple.
Yes. Of course we can. We definitely can.
And as for people blaming Javier Mascherano for their first and decisive goal – well I just don't buy it. Click to continue reading...

According to the official F.A website over 7000 referees quit football every year because of the abuse they receive from players and from the sideline.� The Respect campaign was launched in an attempt to provide a safe and positive environment for players and referees to enjoy the game from grassroots to elite football.

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Was in Gibraltar briefly this week.
And what a fucked up place that is, to paraphrase a friend.
As usual, Backlog equals Flashback.
On two occasions per month, we merely regurgitate some historical angle on something or other.
Today subscribers will receive a post that was originally published in February this year. Click to continue reading...

John Terry has a history of yob-like behaviour, and last week he made (arguably) xenophobic comments about 'foreign mentality' being to blame for increased cheating in the English football. Is someone who holds such repellent views fit to captain England?
In the past, Terry has:
* Allegedly urinated on the dance floor at Chelsea's Christmas party
* Urinated in a pint glass whilst standing on a bar. Click to continue reading...

Goodplaya: Wenger chants smear everything United say they stand for rant.
As Mike Dean and his assistant will well know, for 13 years Arsene Wenger has had to endure thousands upon thousands of people sing at him "sit down you paedophile" every time he stands up at Old Trafford. Presumably even the majority of Spurs and Chelsea fans think it beyond the pale because despite the tune being around for years, the only place you ever heard it song with any great gusto is Old Trafford.

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Morning.

I don't know how long Man United fans have been singing that song about Arsene Wenger, years and years. I know I've mentioned many times on this blog. It's always audible when the games are on TV it's been a huge credit to the manager that he's never reacted to them. And how difficult must that be when you consider what they're singing.

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"Giggs looking to pick out Rooney... who's got there, is that a penalty kick?! What does Mike Dean say?! He says penalty!"

This whole routine is getting a little old, isn't it? Screw diamonds, refereeing mistakes are forever. It's like the referees all convene and decide whose turn it is to make mistake and forbid us from ever forgetting how truly inadequate they are.

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It was one of the early images of the season.
Arsene Wenger, fit to burst with anger, stood, arms outstretched at top the Old Trafford dugout after being sent off by referee Mike Dean.
Dean's curious decision to send the Frenchman to the stands for kicking a plastic bottle a few yards in the 95th minute of the game capped a frustrating day for Arsenal and gave it rather a farcical, yet comical finish. Click to continue reading...

Below we print an open letter to Mike Dean, referee, from Walter Broeckx, referee. But just before that, here's a quick summary of Mr Dean's career... In 2005 he was suspended from being a ref because he was involved with a betting company.� His official crime was "breaching the terms of his contract". Click to continue reading...

Below we print an open letter to Mike Dean, referee, from Walter Broeckx, referee. But just before that, here's a quick summary of Mr Dean's career... In 2005 he was suspended from being a ref because he was involved with a betting company.� His official crime was "breaching the terms of his contract". Click to continue reading...

Man United 2 (Rooney pen 59, Diaby og 64) Arsenal 1 (Arshavin 40)
(Premiership)

I missed Saturday's game as it was the last day of our club's cricket season, but having listened to it on the radio, and now watched the whole match in retrospect, I finally feel in a position to comment.

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It's here. 2 weeks without any Arsenal. Normally I'd say this is a good chance for our players to get healthy, but so many of our players (even players who are injured, like Cesc and Rosicky) are playing for their national teams that we'll probably be more banged up in 2 weeks than are at the moment.

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Massive kudos to Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger for his legendary display of defiance at Old Trafford yesterday.
After Robin Van Persie's late goal was disallowed for being offside, a frustrated Wenger was sent-off by card-happy referee Mike Dean for the heinous infraction of kicking a water bottle. Click to continue reading...

Arsene Wenger has added a new phrase to the English Language: "Old Traffordish". Roughly translated it refers to poor penalty decisions that go to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

"The penalty decision was 'Old Traffordish'. There were a lot of things that happened which were beyond belief.

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Officiating in modern day football has already received its fair share of flak. Of course, whenever a certain team is at the receiving end of harsh refereeing decisions, its passionate fans jump at the opportunity to hit back at the match officials with great force. In this article, however, I will not go ahead with the oft-repeated idea of accusing the referees of lacking the ability to call big games without the heavily proposed use of technology.

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So into the Interlull we go. Practically two full weeks with no real football and the potential for our players to be injured, run over by a lawnmower, get lost in the woods and never be seen again, and countless other little issues to worry the manager between now and the time they return.

Having a quick look around the Spanish papers this morning it seems that Cesc will still be called up and they're hopeful he can play in both games.

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Laurence McKenna joins Kartik Krishnaiyer for our weekly review show. Topics discussed include:

- Violence inside and outside the ground for West Ham-Milwall
- Eduardo's shameful dive versus Celtic
- Wayne Rooney and diving
- Arsene Wenger wrongly and comically sent off by Mike Dean
- Spurs benefit from an old friend's mistake
- Chelsea continue to roll
- Milan derby is no contest
- Manchester City unblemished
- Aston Villa, Everton and Fulham in Europe
- Stoke, a permanent premier league fixture?

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Man United didn't deserve to beat Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday.
They had no shots on goal until they were gifted a penalty. Arsenal were predictably ahead after an equally predictable Arshavin cracker, until United predictably got a controversial penalty from, as ever, Mike Dean. Click to continue reading...

My impression, Almunia is going for the ball which bounced away from his hands. He did not deliberately bring down Rooney. Notice Rooney's trailing left leg, it is dragging deep on the pitch which suggests that he was already going down much before contact having already lost control of the ball.

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Okay, lets try and be rational here. I'll tell you a little story.
Fifteen months ago, Arsenal also went to play at Old Trafford in a League game. Except this game was even more important. Arsenal lost 2-1 that day and United were champions. The table at the end of the season read United 86, Chelsea 84, Arsenal 82. Click to continue reading...

Please excuse the brevity of this blog. I am very, very tired. I didn't so much drown my sorrows last night as beat them to death, chop them up into little pieces, piss on them, wrap them in shiny paper and then dump them in a lake in a weighted down bag.

A 2-1 defeat yesterday at Old Trafford, one which we didn't deserve but which came about because of mistakes we made.

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Morning all,

well yesterday was interesting, through pure stupidity we managed to lose a game we were winning comfortably. We conceded a penalty that wasn't, but Almunia seemed to want to do everything to convince the ref it was a penalty by flying off his line to the feet of the already falling Wayne Rooney and Diaby seemed to get confused as to what end he was supposed to be playing towards.

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Man alive, where do we start? Every sports editor worth his salt was salivating over the prospect of picturing our great leader in volleying action with the headline play on 'bottle' and without exception the papers carry exactly that in today's coverage of the Arsenal.

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Manchester Utd 2-1 Arsenal

So, an early defeat, but I'm still scratching my head to work out how we came out of that game with nul points.

Last season, in our second game we capitulated meekly to Fulham at Craven Cottage, a defeat that set the tone for the next six months.

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They Think It's All Over... is pissed off the Mike Dean ruined his enjoyment of the Man Utd vs. Arsenal game. Click to continue reading...

Wenger kicks a water bottle in frustration and was sent off by referee Mike Dean.That incident pretty much summed up Arsenal's game at Old Trafford. Hard luck.. Arsene Wenger ended the evening a defeated man although they dominated much of the proceedings.Manchester United won the match 2-1. Click to continue reading...

In a game of football, there are 9,500 seconds or more for players to score, so why are matches so often decided by a single controversial incident that flashes by in a few seconds?

Take Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Saturday, for example. Never mind the fact that both teams had a handful of relatively easy chances to put the game away.

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So we had our first test today and many might say we failed. But did we?

Sure, we lost the match, but the luck we have enjoyed so far this season wasn't on our side. VP smashed the bar, we had two clear penalties denied (the foul and the hand ball all in one) denied, and we were beaten by a penalty (which differed from Eduardo's by a matter of millimetres and Rooney was going down contact or not), an own goal, and a as-usual incompetent display from Mike Dean who sent Wenger off in the 95th minute and then held up play for three minutes while he made sure Wenger was far enough away from the dug-put.

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Arsene Wenger went out with a grand flourish as his side lost 2-1 to Man Utd in a hard fought match, as he got sent off for kicking a water bottle after a last minute Robin van Persie goal was disallowed for offside. Though Arsene's bottle kicking seemed to be a harmless act of frustration well within the usual managerial touchline antics, the fourth official decided to act like that annoying kid who also sits in the front row in class and reminds the teacher when they forget to give a homework assignment and rat him out to referee Mike Dean.

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Arsene Wenger is my hero of the day. Yep, I said it. I, a Manchester United fan, hearts Arsene Wenger. Who knew he had a sense of humour? The Arsenal manager was sent off by referee Mike Dean after he kicked a water bottle in protest over Robin van Persie's disallowed goal in injury-time in the 2-1 [. Click to continue reading...

It was one of the most bizarre scenes you'll see in a football match if not comical. After Arsenal scored an equalizer in the game against Manchester United, the goal was called back because of William Gallas being in an offside position. Wenger then kicked a water bottle along the touchline in frustration.

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Mike Dean's decision to send Arsene Wenger off for the last 10 seconds of the game was absolutely ludicrous! We were also denied a stonewall penalty after Darren Fletcher felled Andrey Arshavin and then Dean awards Rooney a dubious pen straight into the second half! Let's be honest, even a neutral could see that the referee [. Click to continue reading...