Sir Alex Ferguson 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 Football Association for questioning the fitness of Premier League referee Wiley.

Ferguson was addressing the media in Russia ahead of tomorrow night'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 storm with his remarks about Wiley after his side's 2-2 Premier League draw against Sunderland on 3 October.

His indignation towards the media for asking the question came, interestingly, shortly after a tongue-in-cheek comment in which he had attributed his longevity to the British press.

Asked what the secret of his long-lasting success was, Ferguson replied: "The press keep me alive, all my good friends out there. They keep me alive."

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.

Rooney has been troubled by a calf injury since England's visit to Ukraine earlier this month while Fletcher was also hurt on international duty. Giggs and Evra suffered minor knocks in the draw against Bolton on Saturday.