Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sir Alex Ferguson has accepted a charge of improper conduct following his comments on the fitness of referee Alan Wiley, and could now face               a touchline ban.

After his side drew 2-2 with Sunderland in October, Ferguson said Wiley was not fit enough to handle the game. And even though he
later apologised, the FA slapped him with a misconduct charge. And the Red Devils boss yesterday accepted the charge but immediately requested a personal hearing with the FA.

Despite the furore, the 67-year-old Scot had no qualms about criticising the performance of ref Andre Marriner after United’s 2-0 loss to arch-rivals Liverpool at Anfield last weekend, questioning whether the official had “enough experience” to handle such a high-profile game.

The threat of a full-blown swine flu outbreak in the football community grew yesterday with the news that Bolton Wanderers are the latest club to be hit.

After Sam Allardyce revealed three members of his Blackburn Rovers team had gone down with the virus, Trotters boss Gary Megson admitted his squad had also been affected.

Bolton play Chelsea in the League Cup tonight and Megson said: “I think on the playing staff we have had five; four players and one member of staff.
“You try and do your best to avoid it but I would imagine it's near enough impossible.

“They are OK at the moment, but it wouldn’t be right to start giving you names.”

Ex-Germany captain Oliver Kahn has claimed former club Bayern Munich are suffering from a lack of leadership on the pitch as the German giants struggle for consistency this season.

“I think Bayern are missing a hierarchy at the moment,” the former goalkeeper said, with Bayern fourth in the league and four points off leaders Leverkusen.

“All players are not equal, a team must have a clearly structured hierarchy which is chosen by the coach,” he added in a thinly-veiled attack on Bayern’s head coach Louis van Gaal.

But van Gaal brushed off the criticism, saying: “There is no lack of hierarchy in my team. Perhaps he should coach a team sometime.”