We’ve known for a long time now that Sir Alex Ferguson likes to have his way with mind games – those mind games are a huge part of the legacy he’s built as one of football’s greatest managers, that and his undeniable brilliance as a tactician, of course. But it’s been largely noticeable for quite some time now, that he has been criticising players, teams and managers for mistakes and actions, that he himself and his team have done before. In other words, he’s been quite a hypocrite.

Shaking Hands

Everyone remembers the Evra-Suarez saga, that ultimately ended in Suarez receiving an 8 match ban for his alleged racist comments towards Patrice Evra and also led to Suarez snubbing Patrice Evra’s hand during the traditional pre-match handshake. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYzMPWRBYQg]

Ferguson called it a disgrace and urged Liverpool to drop Suarez for his “disgraceful” actions. “I’d get rid of him,” he said. “Liverpool have a player banned for eight matches and they’ve tried to blame Patrice Evra. It’s him they should be blaming.” Maybe they should have. But Ferguson didn’t have anything to say when Evra blatantly celebrated United’s win right in front of Suarez. Nothing disrespectful there right?[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqIjFDB0vcE]

It’s not the first time Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have refused to shake the hand of an opponent’s player. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwcpFXOsrY8]

It’s quite clear in the end, that Ferdinand refused to shake Patrick Vieira’s hand, Gary Neville even gave him a death stare at the end – but they shouldn’t be banned should they? They’re aren’t a disgrace, right?

Ferguson even refused to shake hands himself! In the Champions League clash in 2004 between Porto and Manchester United, after Porto had deservedly won and thus qualified to the Champions League final, Sir Alex Ferguson refused to shake hands with then unknown manager Jose Mourinho. Ferguson was fuming over the red card Roy Keane had received for allegedly  stomping over Porto goalkeeper Vitor Baia. All replays then showed that Keane did in fact stomp over the Porto Goalkeeper.  http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/mourinho-taunts-ferguson 

Violent conduct

Last weekend, Ferguson was outraged of the referee’s decision not to punish Ashley Williams for kick the ball at Robin van Persie’s head from close range. He said that it’s the worst thing he’s seen in a while and that Ashley Williams should be punished. There’s tons of evidence of United players doing the same and probably even worse.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjVU6Twg2lg] Wayne Rooney blatantly elbows James McCarthy, and doesn’t even get a yellow card. Surely this is worse then kicking a ball to the head?

Roy Keane ending a player’s career[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_st29mlQwU]

Referees

Referees are widely known for helping United – though I won’t say that any of these claims are true, but those who claim them do have a point. Just yesterday, Ferguson lashed out at referee Mike Dean for awarding Newcastle’s second goal which all replays shown to have been offside. Ferguson then confronted the referee and could possibly face a ban. You don’t hear Ferguson raging when decisions do go his way. He even applauds them. A prime example is his reaction to Hernandez’s offside goal and Fernando Torres’ unfair sending off by saying “Over the last few years, there have been some shocking decisions against us and I think everyone knows that,” he said.“But today, if we did get a little break, I think we deserved it. It’s always hard to come here and it’s hard to get decisions here.” If the decision came against you, you probably wouldn’t be saying that would you, Fergie?[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZphISTd3pt4]

Just last month, Ferguson said that referees get critcised and attacked undeservedly also saying they have a tough job by saying “That’s the human nature of a coach and you learn to come to terms with it so that most of the time you accept the difficulty of a referee’s job with good grace and at the end of day you accept that refereeing is the most difficult job in sport and you respect the men who take it on.” Does good grace mean confronting and critcising a referee? Ferguson criticised Mike Dean and his assistants and did not even get sent to the stands. According to Dan Roan, BBC correspondent, Mike Dean’s report does not include Sir Alex protesting to the officials. https://twitter.com/danroan/status/284270471044812801

Hypocrisy in general

Ferguson attacked Rafa Benitez for calling Everton a small club back in his Liverpool days by saying  “Benítez called Everton a small club, which just points to his arrogance,” as well as “‘Everton are a big club, not a small one which Benitez arrogantly said,” Obviously Ferguson was outraged by calling such a big rival a “small club” Oh wait, he did the same with Manchester City. In response to Journalists asking Ferguson about the sign Manchester City put saying “Welcome to Manchester” welcoming newly signed Carlos Tevez. Many took it as a dig towards Manchester United, and Ferguson said “It’s City isn’t it? They are a small club with a small mentality, all they can talk about is Manchester United.” If this isn’t hypocrisy at it’s finest, I don’t know what is.

Ferguson critcised Chelsea for their signing of Eden Hazard by claiming the price tag was too much for a player on 21 years of age by saying :“I see some values on players, like Hazard for instance. To me it was a lot of money. He’s a good player, but £34m?” These quotes coming from the same person who was willing to sign Lucas Moura for nearly the same amount – a player with much less experience and unproven in Europe, let alone Europe’s top 5 leagues.

In conclusion, it would be stupid and mental to deny the fact that Ferguson is one of – if not the best manager football has ever seen. There is absolutely no denying that – the way he has carried English football to new levels is also undeniable. But, he really is one of the biggest hypocrites in football. Constantly criticising players and other managers for criticising referees, when he does the same. Calling for players to be banned for bad behaviours, when his players have done worse. Criticisng other managers for comments they have made, when he has done the same thing……

John

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