Ferguson accepts ref abuse charge

LONDON, England -- Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed he will not challenge his dismissal in the English Premier League defeat at Bolton last weekend.

The Scot was sent to the stands by referee Mark Clattenburg at the Reebok Stadium after confronting the official in the tunnel during the half-time break.

Ferguson was furious as he believed that Clattenburg had allowed Bolton to get away with far too many unfair challenges, with one tackle by Kevin Davies on Patrice Evra seeming to deserve a red card.

Ferguson spent the second period in the directors' box as United went down 1-0 and was duly charged by the Football Association with using abusive and insulting words towards a match official.

United have until December 11 to respond, but Ferguson said: "We will just accept it."

He may now receive a fine or touchline ban as punishment, but remained unrepentant about his grievance over Clattenburg's performance.

While admitting he did not attend a pre-season briefing for managers by referees' chief Keith Hackett, Ferguson claimed that one of the main topics of the discussion had been ignored.

"At the summer conference, Keith Hackett was on about tackling from behind," he said. "He made a promise to the managers that tackles with raised feet off the ground would be a red card and that tackles from the back would be a red card.

"Standards must be slipping because there have been some bad tackles recently, not just in our games but in quite a few others.

"And what happens then is that if someone gets seriously injured, who gets the blame? The referee gets the blame." E-mail to a friend

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