MANCHESTER – Sir Alex Ferguson has promised to spend the summer recruiting more referees to the team in a bid to reclaim the title from neighbours Manchester City.
Following a failure to secure a 20th league title this weekend, the United manager bemoaned the lack of quality in the crucial refereeing position and has assured fans it will be his top priority in the close season.
“Some of the refereeing decisions in our games this season have beggared belief,” said Ferguson. “And we’ll be looking for referees that can provide us with more of those decisions next season.”
Summer recruitment
Losses to key referees have cost the team dearly, often leading to disappointing results in matches including all the ones they didn’t win.
Chairman David Gill insists the club have the funds available to strengthen the team’s ability to intimidate officials into making favorable decisions in the coming months.
Ferguson’s recruitment is expected to lighten the load on leading man in black Howard Webb for the 2012-2013 campaign.
“Howard has done a fantastic job,” he said. “But we can’t expect him to come up with an incredible penalty decision every time we’re struggling against weaker sides – he has to have support.”
Top of the list is though to be Lee Mason who Ferguson regarded as “promising” after his decision to award Ashley Young a penalty against Queens Park Rangers.
“The boy Lee is one we’re looking at definitely,” confirmed Ferguson. “To see Ashley’s dive as a penalty is one thing, but to send the boy [Shaun] Derry off too shows the kind of quality we’ll need to get the title back.”
‘Top of my list’
Football pundits agree that while the first eleven is capable of challenging for silverware, the lack of a consistent 12th man ultimately cost the Red Devils.
Sky’s Jamie Redknapp was clear in what he saw as the weak spot in the team: “United have lacked strength in depth in the referee position, but I’m sure Sir Alex knows that and he’ll be looking to bolster his influence over a couple top quality refs for next season.”
“They know they’ll have to do everything they can to get back in front of [Manchester] City, and someone who can come up with the extra five minutes of injury time here or conjure a penalty out of thin air there has to be the priority for Man United.”
The new men in black will make all the difference as they look to wrestle the title from a resurgent Manchester City according to the United boss.
“When it’s a tight home game and we’re labouring to beat a team from the bottom half of the table on a Monday night we’ll need that spark of quality to blow the whistle for the slightest of reasons in front of the Stretford end.”
“You can’t put a price on that.”
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