{"id":578225,"date":"2025-11-18T12:07:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T12:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/578225\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T12:07:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T12:07:20","slug":"mike-dean-shares-what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-how-sir-alex-ferguson-used-to-treat-referees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/578225\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Dean shares what everyone gets wrong about how Sir Alex Ferguson used to treat referees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sir Alex Ferguson had a complex reputation with referees and officials during his time as Manchester United manager, but now Mike Dean provides insight into what the legendary Scot was really like.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a siege mentality about Manchester United<\/a> when Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a> was manager.<\/p>\n

It felt like United against the world, with a dressing room full of determined winners and talented footballers.<\/p>\n

\"mailJoin our newsletter for news & smart analysis. <\/p>\n

Ruben Amorim<\/a> is currently trying to restore United to its former glories, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe backing him publicly<\/a> to turn things around at Old Trafford<\/a>, despite a difficult first year in the hot seat.<\/p>\n

However, United are unbeaten in five matches since the beginning of October, and Amorim will want to get back to winning ways on Monday night when they host Everton in the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This season, United have been at the centre of multiple referee decisions \u2013 some for and others against Amorim\u2019s side \u2013 but the Portuguese coach has yet to build the same fierce reputation amongst officials that Ferguson had.<\/p>\n

\"MikePhoto by Michael Steele\/Getty ImagesMike Dean debunks Sir Alex Ferguson myth<\/p>\n

Ferguson often spoke out against referees in post-match interviews. He did so for the protection of his players.<\/p>\n

Many rival managers and critics often accused Ferguson of playing mind games, and they would speak about \u201cFergie Time\u201d whenever he\u2019d point at his watch on the touchline.<\/p>\n

However, former Premier League referee Mike Dean has debunked the myth that referees were fearful or intimidated by Ferguson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the other managers, you know, you talk about Fergie, there\u2019s a bit of a myth about Fergie, it\u2019s said that he used to come in and batter the refs all the time,\u201d Dean told The Overlap.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never, it was just, it\u2019s say he did for the TV, but he hardly ever come in the dressing room, hardly ever come in the ref\u2019s dressing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the way he spoke on the TV is if he did come on and he just looked that way for him, but he was just like chalk and cheese, unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson faced many fines and bans throughout his career, with a notable punishment being a five-match touchline ban in 2011 for comments about Martin Atkinson for questioning whether the referee should have been appointed for a game involving United.<\/p>\n

Other referees, including Mark Halsey, have gone on to clarify that they had good relationships with Ferguson.<\/p>\n

Sir Alex Ferguson questioned the fitness of a Premier League referee<\/p>\n

In 2009, Ferguson apologised over his comments about Alan Wiley\u2019s fitness.<\/p>\n

Who should start as striker for Man Utd with Benjamin Sesko injured? <\/p>\n

Ferguson questioned whether Wiley was fit enough to be a referee during United\u2019s 2-2 draw with Sunderland.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not fit enough for a game of that standard,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher\u2019s dogs. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. It was ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments outraged many of Wiley\u2019s colleagues and Ferguson was handed a four-match ban. He was also fined \u00a320,000 and warned about his future conduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Alex Ferguson had a complex reputation with referees and officials during his time as Manchester United manager,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,1883,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-578225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-sir-alex-ferguson","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115570623318130522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}