Grand Slam shame: FA chief tells Fergie and Wenger to curb attacks on referees

Lord Triesman, the Football Association's chairman, chose the eve of Grand Slam Sunday, when Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea meet in games that will have a huge influence on the outcome of the Premier League title race, to launch an unprecedented attack on the biggest names in football management.

While Sir Alex and his Liverpool counterpart, Rafael Benitez, indulged in bitter exchanges over the United manager's alleged attempt to put pressure on referee Steve Bennett ahead of today's Old Trafford showdown, Lord Triesman claimed abuse was driving match officials out of the game.

The FA will decide this week whether Ferguson and his assistant, Carlos Queiroz, should face disciplinary charges for comments about referee Martin Atkinson after United's FA Cup defeat by Portsmouth, when Ferguson accused Atkinson of being 'on their side'.

Lord Triesman said: "Nobody in a position as powerful and influential as any of the major managers should take that attitude with referees.

"I hugely admire Sir Alex Ferguson. But I hope that he will also consider what is felt around the country when somebody's got to referee a game knowing that everybody believes that if prominent people can disparage referees, they can too."

The 64-year-old Labour peer said he had suffered first-hand experience of the lack of respect shown to officials when he was punched while refereeing an amateur game. He believes the behaviour of high-profile figures such as Ferguson and Wenger is reflected at grass-roots level, where 7,000 referees quit every year.

"Referees are human beings," said Lord Triesman. "People will always have a view on whether the referee at Hackney Marshes or Old Trafford has made a mistake or not. But if people don't want to be referees any longer because they just can't put up with it, you'll end up with no referee and no football."

Lord Triesman's comments came in the week Chelsea defender Ashley Cole was condemned for his disrespect in turning his back on referee Mike Riley as he was being booked for a foul on Tottenham's Alan Hutton.

But the uproar over Cole's behaviour did not prevent Ferguson indulging in what Benitez claimed was an attempt to put pressure on referee Bennett.

Benitez said Ferguson's comments about Cristiano Ronaldo being a target for defenders were designed to influence Bennett, the only referee to have sent off the United star twice.

A furious Ferguson hit back, saying: "Rafa is trying to get the referee on his side. He must think we are bloody stupid."

Bennett has past history with United, who were reported to have compiled a video dossier on him earlier this season.

The referee, who had dismissed Ronaldo for a foul on Andy Cole in the Manchester derby of January 2006, sent him off again for allegedly butting Portsmouth's Richard Hughes. Ferguson said at the time that Bennett "will have loved that opportunity to send him off again".

Since taking over from the reclusive Geoff Thompson and becoming the FA's first independent chairman, Lord Triesman has shown himself prepared to tackle important issues — and football's biggest names — head on.

Football's treatment of officials is a particular concern and he said: "We all need to have a real regard for the degree of respect that is needed to keep referees, even when they make mistakes, in the game."