The War Against Intelligence

Sir Alex tells it like it is after Terry wins his appeal.  This report from The Independent is about the best:

Sir Alex Ferguson yesterday accused the Premier League's head of referees
Keith Hackett of favouring Chelsea after John Terry's red card was
controversially rescinded to make the defender eligible for the league match
against Manchester United on Sunday. Mark Halsey, the referee who awarded
the card, has been banished to League Two as punishment.

Ferguson has a history of enmity with Hackett and accused him of pressurising
Halsey into the decision – eventually the red card was overturned by a
Football Association independent commission. "My information is that
Hackett told Mark Halsey to rescind the red card and he would not do it,"
said Ferguson. "Now I understand that Halsey is being made to referee
in League Two this weekend. I just don't understand how this could have
happened. If it had been a Manchester United player, Hackett would never
have done this for us."

Of course the organization that Hackett is head of denied this version of events, surprisingly, although Halsey has been demoted and that is Hackett's decision so far as I'm aware.  The Independent goes on to give some facts about Chelsea:

Chelsea's record in appealing against red cards is more prolific than any
other club in the Premier League. Last season they appealed against red
cards for John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole and Lampard. On top of that
they also appealed a red card given to Wayne Bridge in a reserve game
against Fulham last October. All but the Lampard dismissal were upheld by
the FA. There were only five other appeals in the whole league, plus one
from Tottenham for a red card to Didier Zokora in the Carling Cup.

Playing the percentages is clearly working for Chelsea and the decision to
overturn Terry's ban will be difficult for Ferguson to accept given that
Nemanja Vidic's dismissal against Liverpool for two yellows was debatable at
best. Only straight red cards can be appealed.

This article by Rob Hughes in The International Herald Tribune is pretty good on the Terry tackle:

Terry's foul was reckless rather than dangerous. He was beaten for
pace and skill, but Chelsea was ahead 3-1, and there were possibly two
defenders who could have caught Jo before he could score.

If Terry was aware of all this, why did he kick out at Jo as the
Brazilian passed him? Why did he then grapple at Jo from behind,
dragging him to the turf with an arm around his waist?

Why, why, why did five Chelsea players - Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole,
Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Nicolas Anelka - join Terry in confronting
the referee, Mark Halsey?

The professionals have been asked this season to observe more respect for the match officials.

The FA has especially tried to prevent Chelsea, Manchester United
and Arsenal from having their players surround the referees like
back-street mobs. Chelsea came perilously close to breaching that code.

...

This ref got it right. Authority failed to back him.

Ronaldo is likely to be back tonight and this from the Guardian has Sir Alex's comments on that as well as some more comments on the Liverpool game and tonight's game:

"Everyone knows he said that he'd like to go to Real Madrid. But when I
had a meeting with him about it, that was it finished. He understood my
position and the club's position and he's got on with it. He's accepted
it, been professional and there hasn't been one problem since. There's
been no pettiness, no throwing toys out of the pram. His training has
been absolutely fantastic. He's probably been one of the best patients
I've ever seen. Every day, until 5pm, he's shown a real determination
[to get fit], which is a credit to him and the physios. They [the
physios] have done a great job but he's been a fantastic patient."