Manchester: Alex Ferguson has dismissed suggestions made by Manchester City club executive Patrick Vieira that big clubs such as Manchester United get preferential treatment from referees at home. In an interview to the BBC, he said: "When United play at home, they get some advantage that other teams don't get. I think when you go to United, [Real] Madrid, Barcelona or [AC] Milan, when the referees referee these kind of games, it's always difficult to go against these kind of teams. This is the way it is."
Vieira later claimed his views had been misrepresented and taken out of context, but Ferguson insisted regardless that refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of a season. The United manager also pointed out that Manchester City themselves had benefited from questionable refereeing on several occasions this season.
"Every club gets breaks here and there - you get good ones and bad ones," he told reporters. "It evens itself out over the season, that will never change. We had a terrible decision earlier this season when Newcastle got a penalty and Tottenham could claim the same when Mario Balotelli wasn't sent off and ended up scoring the winning goal. You could go through millions of things like that."
Blackburn Rovers are up next for Manchester United, who will look to keep themselves ahead of City in the title race when they play at Ewood Park in the Premier League on Monday night.
"Maybe smaller clubs feel that [decisions go against them when they play against big clubs] but someone said some years ago that we get lots of penalties. It is only averaging out at three a year. You can't say that is a lot when you are attacking teams all the time. Most managers believe the breaks even themselves out."
Vieira, who enjoyed many title battles against United while at Arsenal, was speaking two days after Fulham had a strong penalty claim turned down near the end of their 1-0 defeat by the champions at Old Trafford last Monday. Victory allowed United to go three points clear of City, with whom Vieira is now a football development executive.
Ferguson also expressed sympathy for referee Michael Oliver, who turned down a strong late appeal for a Fulham penalty when Danny Murphy appeared to be tripped by Michael Carrick in the United box.
"From the referee's position, I can see why he didn't give a penalty when Danny Murphy was brought down," he said. "The ball moved to the angle as Michael Carrick challenged him. From that position, it wasn't clear. It was a good claim but City could have had a penalty against them at Stoke [during the 1-1 draw on Saturday] for a foul by Gareth Barry."
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