Apologies To Insect Life

We played Sunderland on October 3rd. It is now October 13th. And still they whine on? Look at the stupidity, a story on Wiley refereeing again:

Wiley's bosses have delivered a defiant response to the Manchester United manager's first attempt to say sorry by putting the ref in charge of Manchester City's game at Wigan on Sunday - one of the weekend's live TV games.

Wiley's colleagues are delighted with his appointment to Sunday's game with a fellow Premier League ref saying: 'This is exactly what we wanted - for Alan to go out and referee this weekend.

'I'm sure he will be doubly focused to make sure he's not affected. 'It hasn't affected him off the field and it won't affect him on the field either.'

WTF? Wiley (the referee) refereeing a game is a "defiant response" to Sir Alex apologising?! What?! I don't even see it as a "defiant response" to his initial "outburst." He's a referee, he referees... And remember that last bit of the story, given the stupidity of stories like this one:

Ferguson has also been told that Wiley would have a strong case in a civil court if he opts to argue there that the damage done to his professional reputation constitutes a libel. The law of libel stipulates that Wiley does not need to prove that his reputation has been damaged

How can he sue if "It hasn't affected him off the field and it won't affect him on the field either?"

At last some sense, from Henry Winter, who doesn't argue that what Sir Alex said was right but that the reaction to it might just be a touch over-the-top and inconsisent:

The frenzy stirred by Ferguson's comments, and the inadequate apology, says as much about modern society's sad hunger for turning heroes into zeroes as it does about the Scot's rather crude, rather obvious attempt to divert attention from United's poor performance against Sunderland.

the world and his second wife want Ferguson named and shamed, fined and banned. Well, if the FA is going to censure Ferguson for an outburst at a referee, then it should also look closer to home, in fact in an office just down the corridor from the disciplinary department.

Would the FA dare question Fabio Capello about his rant at Damir Skomina, the Slovenian who oversaw England's defeat to Ukraine on Saturday? No chance.

A cynic might suggest that Capello's acerbic comments about Skomina's momentary failure to differentiate Robert Green and Rio Ferdinand was simply a Fergie-style tactic of moving the debate away from England's failings (albeit a failed one). Surely, the FA's "Respect" campaign demands all managers show restraint, Capello as well as Ferguson.

The over-reaction also stirred by timing, the comments coming at the beginning of an international break with an England game that didn't really matter.

Anyway, the actual news story on it today is the reports that Sir Alex will apologise again:

Manchester United boss Fergie has until Friday morning to submit his response to Soho Square supremos after they asked him to explain his outburst when he labelled Wiley 'unfit' following the 2-2 draw with Sunderland this month.

Ferguson will return from holiday in the next 24 hours and set about trying to resolve the issue once and for all.

It is understood United officials have drafted an apology on his behalf to be sent to the FA.

Ferguson has already said sorry to Wiley 'for any personal embarrassment' in a statement on the club's website.

Now he is hoping a more formal apology will help him avoid an improper conduct charge.

The most important part of the story though is this:

he fears it will make no difference because of the pressure being heaped on the FA to punish him.

Fergie has told sources it would be impossible for him to receive a fair hearing following the publicity surrounding the case.

He is understood to be fuming at the campaign raging against him and believes it is being fuelled by people close to top-flight refs.

The Times describe the letter thus:

The letter is not thought to include an unreserved apology but will explain in more detail why he failed to retract in his original apology claims that Wiley “just wasn’t fit enough”.

Good. The first apology seemed a mistake - dignified silence would have been so much better - the FA certainly don't deserve an apology. A private apology to Alan Wiley would have sufficed I reckon, and even then, "It hasn't affected him off the field and it won't affect him on the field either," so not even sure he needs an apology.