The FA's ‘Respect' campaign, which discourages footballers from arguing back to the referee, is doomed to failure so long as the man in charge of the country's biggest club fails to control his players.
The ‘Respect' campaign is a great idea. Unless a player is superhumanly dim, they will soon learn to keep their mouth shut - or face continual suspension. Simple.
But for all the marketing investment by the FA, media attention and endorsement by the game's leading figures the campaign will fail if undermined by its top managers.
Fresh from lambasting Premier League head of referees, Keith Hackett for overturning a red card awarded to Chelsea's John Terry last week, which enabled the player to face United, Alex Ferguson watched his players follow each other into the referee's notebook like lemmings falling off a cliff.
Match referee Mike Riley - the man who suffered such a torrent of abuse from Chelsea's Ashley Cole last march that the FA's Respect campaign was thrust into the headlines - should be applauded for finally putting his foot down and saying enough is enough.
A manager imposes his will and personality on his team through his choices of players and through what he demands of them on and off the field. This is especially true when a manager has been at a club as long as Sir Alex.
Ferguson is far from being the only guilty manager. But he has unparalleled stature and influence - and therefore responsibility.
Many footballers should grow up and show some respect to officials, but sometimes so do the men on the touchline who should really know better.
