Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson were last night warned
they cannot bully or intimidate referees this season. With Chelsea
and Manchester United getting the campaign underway with the
Community Shield at Wembley, referees' chiefs have told Fergie and
Mourinho to set the right tone. And with refs determined to improve
the image of football with a disciplinary crackdown, high-profile
stars like Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba were
also warned to cut out swearing and diving.
Fergie and Mourinho have been told they will be wasting their time
this season trying to bully officials into getting their own way.
Former Premier League ref Neale Barry, now senior head of
refereeing at the FA, laid it on the line last night as he said:
"There must be fair play on the field and managers must behave the
right way in the technical area. We have some very excitable
managers but they are ultimately responsible for their
conduct.
"No-one wants to see managers acting irresponsibly in the technical
area, berating referees, their assistants or the opposition.
"That's not good for the image of the game and everyone needs to
accept their responsibilities." And his warning was reiterated by
Premier League referees' chief Keith Hackett, who will meet
Chelsea's Mourinho and other southern-based Premiership bosses on
Tuesday. "Referees must be allowed to deal with incidents and
managers mustn't pile in and create more of a problem," said
Hackett.
