Former referee Dermot Gallagher has claimed Alex Ferguson “influenced” referees during his time at Manchester United.
Gallagher claims that Ferguson even pulled him aside and requested that he call a game off at Middlesborough back in 1997, in order to improve Manchester United’s chances during their bid for the league title that year.
Speaking to Sportlobster TV, Gallagher said: “It was chucking it down with rain and Fergie pulled me aside and said “do me a favour, call the game off. I asked why and he said “there’s nowhere else to fit this game in and the Premier League will have to extend the season. We’ll have a better chance of winning the match and we’ll win the league at Old Trafford”. At half time United were losing 3-1 and the pitch was like a swimming pool. As we came off he said “I know we’re 3-1 down but please call it off, we could do with a hand here”. They managed to pull it back to 3-3 and in the last minute Dennis Irwin ran into the box and went down in front of the Stretford End and I only gave a goal kick.”
He continued: “At full-time Fergie sprinted across the pitch and shouted at me furiously. My wife said, ‘”Fergie had a right go at you about that penalty didn’t he?”. I told her he hadn’t mentioned the penalty. She asked why he came tearing across the pitch at me then. The truth is he ran over and asked me if I was going out to dinner that night. I said “no” and he asked “why are we leaving so early then?””
The infamous ‘Fergie Time’, a term coined by football fans to describe the amount of extra seconds the referee would typically add at Old Trafford if Manchester United were losing, was recently revealed to average at around 79 seconds during Ferguson’s time managing the club. Since David Moyes took over, that time has now been whittled down to an average of 40 seconds.
