Manchester United FC: Sir Alex Ferguson walks out of press conference after being asked about the Alan Wiley affair

Oct 21 2009 by Our Correspondent, Daily Post

Manchester United FC: SIR ALEX FERGUSON last night brought a press conference to an abrupt halt after refusing to answer a question about the Alan Wiley affair.

The Manchester United manager was facing the media for the first time since being charged with improper conduct by the FA for allegedly questioning the fitness of Premier League referee Wiley.

Ferguson was at an obligatory event in Russia ahead of tonight’s Champions League Group B tie against CSKA Moscow when he was asked to comment on the charge.

“Silly question gets no answer,” the Scot said. “I’m not answering it.

“We’re at a press conference for a game tomorrow. We’re here to talk about that.”

At that point Ferguson decided to end the press conference, which had already run for 22 minutes, and left the room.

Ferguson caused a media storm with his remarks about Wiley after his side’s 2-2 Premier League draw against Sunderland on October 3.

Ferguson is without a number of key players for the match tonight after Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra and Park Ji-Sung all failed to make the trip.

Park is likely to be out for two weeks with a knee problem but Ferguson hopes the others will be fit for Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.

Ferguson said: “Evra just had a little problem in his heel and we decided to leave him because we are quite well covered. That’s the one I can certainly say will be fit by Sunday.

“We are fighting to get Rooney ready, it is a bit of an uphill fight but we are trying.

“Giggs, it is difficult to say, Fletcher is maybe a slight doubt.

“We are hoping to get the main players ready for Sunday because it is a big game.”

Ferguson also has few concerns about the artificial surface at the Luzhniki Stadium.

He said: “CSKA Moscow are a good football team. They love to keep the ball down all the time and that has a lot to do with the pitch.

“It is a true pitch and the ball will stay on the ground as long as you want to pass it there.

“That way you can control the speed of the game.

“On this particular type of pitch, if you start lifting the ball, that’s when your problems start.

“They’re used to it. They’ve got the experience of playing on it which we don’t, but the one advantage we’ve got is most of our players are good footballers.”

Ferguson also gave a strong endorsement to back-up goalkeeper Ben Foster, whose recent performances in Edwin van der Sar’s absence were heavily scrutinised.

Van der Sar, 38, has now fully recovered from a hand injury but the identity of his successor remains a subject of conjecture.

One player linked with United – in the Russian media at least – is CSKA number one Igor Akinfeev, the current Russia first choice.

Ferguson said: “I can’t deal with rumour because we have two very good young goalkeepers at the club at the moment in (Tomasz) Kuszczak and Foster and the future lies with them. When Edwin van der Sar finally decides to retire I’m quite confident these players can take over.”