Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has claimed some referees "seem to be
afraid of applying the law to Manchester United" after Wayne Rooney escaped a ban for his elbow on James McCarthy.
Referee Mark Clattenburg awarded a free-kick to Wigan following
the incident, which Wigan boss Roberto Martinez felt "quite clearly" warranted a
red card.
Although Clattenburg would have had to have admitted he did not
see the incident, many had expected that Rooney would be punished
retrospectively, and the Daily Telegraph reports that
United "were so resigned to Wayne Rooney being charged ... they had
explored possible loopholes to spare the 25 year-old from a
ban".
Whelan, whose side were beaten 4-0 at the DW Stadium, said he felt
Rooney's escape was unjustifiable.
"I cannot understand how the FA can say there will be no further
action," he told the Daily Telegraph. "Manchester United
is a great club and Fergie is just simply the best manager, but it
is the referees who seem to be afraid of applying the law to United
and I don't know why.
"Man United get treated a little bit differently to the rest of
the football clubs. I wish they would treat Wigan like that. I wish
we could get away with certain things that Man United get away
with.
"Mark Clattenburg is usually a very good referee. I could not
believe that he [Rooney] was not sent off. Had it been one of our
players, he would have walked.
"Rooney was only ten yards from the referee and it was a
deliberate elbow. It was the swipe of an elbow right across the
head and a clear sending-off offence."
He added in The Sun: "Something is wrong when a top
international like Rooney is seen doing something like this, as
clear as day, and is allowed to get away without being
punished.
"If it was any other club or player, you can bet your life he
would have been sent off, but officials seem intimidated by the
words 'Rooney' and 'United'. Manchester United are allowed to get
away with things the rest of us get pulled up for, and you can't
have one set of rules for one club and another for the rest.
"I don't care what the FA say about the matter being dealt with
at the time by us getting a free-kick. They, and everyone else in
football, know justice isn't being served here.
"The FA will be delighted they can hide behind their rules and
let Rooney off, as they are frightened of taking sanctions against
him and his club."
In the wake of the news that Rooney had escaped a ban on Monday,
Professional Game Match Officials general manager Mike Riley
defended Clattenburg.
"Mark took the correct course of action with this incident," he
said. "Match officials are trained to prioritise following the
ball, as that's where the greater majority of incidents are going
to take place. However, we also do a lot of work around the area of
peripheral vision to be aware of anything that might potentially
happen off the ball.
"In this incident Mark was following play but caught sight of
two players coming together and he awarded a free-kick because he
believed one player had impeded the other.
"We should be clear that Mark did nothing wrong in officiating
this incident as he acted on what he saw on the pitch.''