Ferguson sways referees, claims Grant as relationship between top bosses turns sour

The Chelsea manager also believes Steve Bennett was 'influenced' by Ferguson ahead of United's 2-0 win at Wigan on the final day of the season.

Grant, who said on Friday he had an expensive bottle of wine to share with Ferguson in Moscow next Wednesday, even surprised his own bosses with the scathing outburst at the Barclays Premier League's leading officials.

Although the Chelsea boss conveniently forgot that Nani was sent off during United's 4-1 destruction of West Ham in the penultimate League game of the season, Grant said: "After we beat United we were on the same number of points, but we knew they had to play Wigan and West Ham.

"It was not in our hands. I believe in the tradition of the English game, I will not say anything against this, but what happened is what I expected.

"In England, there are some very good referees, but there are some — a few of them — you can influence, just like you saw.

"In the game we played against United at Old Trafford, the referee changed the result for sure. We know that. The red card for Mikel was not a red card, the red card that wasn't for Paul Scholes on Sunday should have been. Then there was the penalty (when Rio Ferdinand handballed).

"I looked at the Wigan-Manchester United game and the referee was, as expected, good for one team. I do not think the world is against Chelsea, or English football, but in this case there were some coincidences for Manchester United. Again, I must congratulate them."

Asked if he was pleased that the referee in Moscow will not be English, Grant added: "I can say yes."

The FA will study Grant's comments before deciding whether to take disciplinary action and will undoubtedly come under pressure from the Professional Game Match Officials Board.

Ferguson will be infuriated and will almost certainly respond today, while the Premier League are expected to address the increasing instances of managers criticising officials before the start of next season. Referees' supremo Keith Hackett will call a managers' meeting and remind them that the respect initiative implemented during the season applies to players as well as coaching staff.

Grant is showing increasing confidence in what could yet turn out to be his final few days in the job and claims Chelsea have nothing to fear from United.

He said: "I think, on the tactical side, this game is one of the easiest because everybody knows everybody. I don't think Alex will surprise me on anything and I don't think I will surprise him.

"We know their weaknesses and strengths and I think they know ours. On the motivation side, you don't need to motivate players for this game.

"You need to preserve the gameplan so that they give their best and concentrate on this game. It is one game and then we all go on vacation."

Grant spent yesterday afternoon in a tactics meeting with assistant manager Steve Clarke and first-team coach Henk Ten Cate, but they can count on the return of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho in the centre of their defence.

As expected, Terry trained yesterday in a specially adapted cast to protect his left elbow and Carvalho resumed training for the first time since aggravating a back injury at Newcastle 10 days ago.