United Gaffer’s nonsense comments come back to haunt him

March 2008: Alex Ferguson is the first to support the FA’s Respect Campaign following Ashley Cole’s controversial booking at White Hart Lane:

“Haranguing referees is ridiculous. Since the Andy D’Urso incident some years ago, we have not done anything like that. Respect for referees is absolutely correct.”

April 2008: Manchester Utd players ‘harangue’ referee Alan Wiley for awarding Chelsea a perfectly legitimate penalty, and eight of Fergie’s men face FA Disciplinary charges for abusing fourth official Mike Riley in the tunnel.

An alternative interpretation of his attempt to de-leg an opponent

Could it possibly be that when Spurs’ Alan Hutton had the brass neck to present his well-turned ankle to Ashley Cole in last night’s game at White Hart Lane, Mr Cole saw an opportunity to take advantage of the current vogue for “horror tackles” and thus earn himself an excellent excuse for not having to face his former employers on Sunday? Although this weekend’s game is to be played in the calmer surroundings of Stamford Bridge, the fixture threatens to stir up all sorts of bad memories for Arsenal and Cole alike. Who wouldn’t want to avoid such a socially embarrassing encounter?

As horror tackles go, it was executed with something approaching text book precision, with tough Alan Hutton going down like he’d been