My, the Old Trafford food fight has thrown up a list of suspects
who were responsible for throwing food at Fergie, with hilarious
results. 
Papers: Man U boss pelted with food
BY CHOI TUCK WO
Newspaper in Briain are agog with stories of the Man Utd manager
being pelted with food while Wenger lets rip after Man Utd won the
historic showdown on Sunday.
LONDON: So, was it pizza, sandwich, French onion soup or even a
piece of flying beef?
The hunt is on for the mystery Old Trafford chucker even as an
extensive cover-up by Arsenal and Manchester United is underway to
avoid a full-scale probe by the police and the Football Association
(FA).
According to The Times, the controversy took another twist when the
post-match rumpus that saw Sir Alex Ferguson pelted with soup and
pizza by an Arsenal player took place in full view of Greater
Manchester Police officers.
The paper quoted sources as confirming that police stationed inside
the tunnel to guard against a flare-up witnessed the attack on the
United manager, which came seconds after he was involved in a
slanging match with his Arsenal counterpart, Arsene Wenger.
Ferguson was asked whether he intended to press charges but
declined, said the paper.
The FA, according to the paper, had announced that it was looking
into reports of an alleged incident in the tunnel after the
match.
But with no camera footage available and no individual from either
club willing to go on record about what happened, it has no hard
evidence on which to base its investigation.
The FA would be prepared to listen to evidence from independent
witnesses, such as the police, but no such evidence had been
offered or sought, it added.
The paper said the post-match episode marked a nadir in the hostile
relations between United and Arsenal in recent seasons.
But the clubs do at least appear to have agreed upon a pact of
silence about what took place.
Uniteds players, it added, were sworn to secrecy, although Old
Trafford officials were angered by a couple of minor leaks from the
Highbury end.
According to The Sun, Ferguson was pelted with pizza, soup and
sandwiches while Gunners boss Wenger yelled abuse at Fergie,
branded United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy a cheat and ripped into
Wayne Rooney.
In its front-page headline, War and Pizza, the paper reported
that all hell broke loose as tempers exploded in the tunnel after
the match.
Van Nistelrooy, who scored a disputed penalty, lit the fuse by
tapping Wenger on the arm and making a comment.
Wenger then turned on Fergie and started screaming and
finger-prodding him, a United insider told the paper.
He also gave Rooney a character assassination, yelling all the
time. Fergie looked shocked as no one had ever seen Wenger lose it
like this.
Thats when food was hurled from the Arsenal dressing room.
Fergies shirt and blazer were covered in soup and pizza and all
the time Wenger was still ranting at him, it said.
Eventually, the United security staff bundled off the Arsenal group
while the United players waited in their dressing room until their
rivals had left.
In its special report, the Evening Standard launched a hunt for the
mystery chucker although initial reports indicated it was not soup
but a sandwich thrown by accident.
The paper provided five suspects:
·SOL CAMPBELL suspicion immediately falls on him because he
shares a surname with the soup manufacturer. And his blood would
have been brought to a boil following the penalty awarded for his
mistimed tackle on Rooney.
·JENS LEHMANN He might have mistaken Fergie for Oliver Kahn, his
sworn enemy and rival for the national goalkeepers jersey. Would
have been antagonised by the penalty awarded to Rooney which van
Nistelrooy slotted effortlessly past him.
·THIERRY HENRY Frustrated by a rare lacklustre performance and
whispers that he fails to rise on big occasions. But Henry is the
king of cool and lobbing pea (or tomato) soup at Fergie is not his
style. Would obviously have preferred French onion.
·PATRICK VIEIRA Sizzling with indignation following the end of
his clubs unbeaten run, the French midfielder might have felt it
necessary to let Fergie and United know what type of reception to
expect when they come to London in February.
·GABRIEL HEINZE With a surname like that, he cannot be ignored.
As a newcomer to Old Trafford, the Argentine might have thought it
was traditional to mark a famous victory by anointing his
manager.
Source: The Star Online, 27/10/04 (courtesy of IK)
