Alex Ferguson made bizarre bid to get Manchester United game called off due to bad conditions when really he was worried about having no centre-backs, says ex-referee Howard Webb
EVERYONE'S heard of Fergie time.
But now top referee Howard Webb says Alex Ferguson tried to create Fergie weather - in a bizarre attempt to get a match called off when Manchester United had no fit centre-backs.
Webb gave an amazing pre-match account from the day Fulham beat United 3-0 in the Premier League at Craven Cottage on December 9 2009.
The official said: "He tried to get me to postpone a game once because he had no central defenders.
"He had to put Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick as his central defensive partnership and he mentioned that the pitch was frozen.
"But I think it was about 15° that day!"
Two fringe players, keeper Tomasz Kuszczak and Ritchie De Laet, now with Aston Villa, were the only orthodox defenders in United's line-up.
Antonio Valencia, Carrick and Fletcher completed the backline as United endured a defensive crisis that month.
Danny Murphy, Bobby Zamora and Damien Duff deservedly sunk Fergie's men, leaving them second-placed in the Premier League, three points behind then-leaders Chelsea.
Then-Cottagers chief Roy Hodgson, who took the England job the following summer, said afterwards: "We played against a very wounded United but we couldn't do more than try to take advantage of that."
Carlo Ancelotti's Blues finished top that season, with United runners-up, 10 points clear of Arsenal in third spot.
Webb, meanwhile, retired in 2014, four years after becoming the first ref to take charge of both the Champions League and World Cup finals in the same season.
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