Ferguson intimidates referees, Benitez claims

Rafa Benitez has kicked off another war of words by claiming Sir Alex Ferguson is still haranguing referees.

Manchester United’s manager has been asked to provide a written explanation to the Football Association about his public criticisms of assistant referee Simon Beck following the 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

Benitez infamously launched a calculated attack on Ferguson four years ago during his time in charge of Liverpool, suggesting the 71-year-old received preferential treatment from the FA – accusations which he believes still stand.

“I always try to concentrate on my job, but at that time with Ferguson I was defending my club,” Ben’tez told The Times.

“I could see what was happening from my point of view, and maybe now a lot of people are seeing the same things. I will not talk too much about that because it’s obvious.

“It’s a question for the FA what they do about it. What I said at that time was what I thought, and what I’m seeing now is similar.

“It depends on the FA. I don’t know what they will do, it depends on them. At this moment in time I have enough things to do here, so I want to concentrate on my job.”

The Spaniard says he is focused on making sure Chelsea qualify for the Champions League, hoping that will be enough to land him the job on a permanent basis.

“A lot of doors can be opened, but the main one is this one here,” he said regarding his future.

“I don’t want to enter this debate at the moment, as the priority for me is to do really well and to win trophies.”