Fergie, Wenger, Jose and those ref-baiting managers in all their ranting glory

Published 23:00 15/10/09

Friend of the officials Sir Alex Ferguson has been in the news again recently after being forced to apologise for questioning the fitness of referee Alan Wiley .

But he's not the first – and we're pretty damn sure he won't be the last – unhappy boss to blast the man in the middle, as MirrorFootball's Ian Cruise discovered...

Arsene Wenger v Mike Dean
Wenger was not a happy chappie when his Arsenal side lost 2-1 at Manchester United earlier this season. The furious Frenchie was particularly unimpressed by Dean's decision to award United a penalty after Wayne Rooney went down under a challenge from Manuel Almunia, while his team was denied a spot-kick when Darren Fletcher appeared to haul down Andrey Arshavin.

Brilliantly, in his post-match rant, Wenger even managed to invent a new phrase, complaining: "The penalty decision was 'Old Traffordish'. There were a lot of things that happened which were beyond belief."

He added: "The ref made the decision from the middle of their half, so I don't know how. It is difficult to go home without a point when these things happen because we played so well. It was a big difference in the game and he gave it with the player heading for the corner flag. You know what you are going to get every time you come to Old Trafford."

Jose Mourinho v Neale Barry
Chelsea's shy and retiring gaffer managed to have a go at two people – referee Barry and his old mate Fergie – when he accused the United boss of influencing the referee during the half-time break in the Carling Cup semi-final in January 2005.

The Special One whined: "Maybe when I turn 60 and have been managing in the same league for 20 years and have the respect of everybody I will have the power to speak to people and make them tremble a little bit."

Although Mourinho escaped charges for his outburst, referees chief Keith Hackett insisted: "I'm hoping he might reconsider his comments – unfortunately this is the nature of the game. I don't want referees or myself getting in the psychological warfare between two managers. Sometimes managers have grounds for comments, and I note that, but a referee's integrity has been questioned. That is offensive and should be avoided. Mr Mourinho should look at the facts."

Mike Newell v Amy Rayner
Never afraid to open his mouth and put his foot it, former Luton boss Newell managed not only to outrage officials but also half the population when he lambasted the female assistant referee for failing to ensure his side earned a penalty in a 3-2 defeat to QPR in November 2006.

He fumed: "She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that. We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom.

"It is absolutely beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, because then we are in trouble. It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.

"This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism for the politically-correct idiots.''

We imagine he found his dinner in the dog and himself on the sofa that night.

Sam Allardyce v Peter Walton
Big Sam went ballistic at Peter Walton after his side were beaten at Arsenal last month. He was particularly irked by Walton's decision not award his team a penalty when David Dunn was brought down in the second half.

Allardyce managed to stop chewing gum long enough to rage: "This is a stonewall blatant penalty, no matter how you look at it. You can see the leg coming across Dunny and tripping him up and the ball doesn't move away and that's a penalty. There's never a penalty that's as stonewall a penalty as this one.

"You want to get a fair crack of the whip when you come here and you need the referees to give you the right decisions. We haven't had the right decision by the referee, it's a major one, it's contributed to us massively losing this game. We can't do anything about it, unfortunately, but I've got to say publicly, to everybody, and particularly to the bosses of the referees, you've got to stop it. You must. You can't let this go on."

Blimey... imagine how stroppy he'd have been if they'd lost 3-2, instead of, er, 6-2?!

Paul Jewell v Phil Dowd
The then Wigan boss lost his rag after his side lost the points at Arsenal, going down to a 2-1 defeat in February 2007. He thought his team should have had a penalty after Matthieu Flamini wrestled Emile Heskey to the ground and was ready to tell anyone who'd listen, even throwing in a free economics lesson.

"Dowd cost our team the points – he could cost us £50 million," claimed Jewell in a reference to the potential cost of relegation from the Premier League.

He added: "A leading Premiership manager told me that Dowd was the worst referee in the league – I am not saying that, but it was there for all to see today."

No, Paul, that's not what you were saying at all…

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