Tunnel Trouble - Man U V Blackburn

**Karlos** · 26/01/2006, 1:01 PM

Anyone see this as it happened? Just reading about it here this morning. Seems Fergie has spent far too much time studying Wenger too - check out his comment on the incident! Classic!

Tunnel row mars Carling Cup semi from bbc.co.uk

Manchester United and Blackburn could face disciplinary action after players clashed in the tunnel at half-time of their Carling Cup semi-final.
The Football Association will await the report of referee Graham Poll before deciding whether to investigate.

Blackburn boss Mark Hughes blamed United's Rio Ferdinand for inciting the melee in a clash with Robbie Savage.

"It started because Rio clipped Robbie Savage as they were leaving the pitch - I don't know why," said Hughes.

"Robbie then asked him why he had done it and everyone else ran in to make sure nothing happened," he added.

But United boss Sir Alex Ferguson told MUTV: "I never saw anything."

Savage pursued Ferdinand down the tunnel as they left the field at half-time during the second leg of the semi-final, which United won 2-1.

They were followed by most of their team-mates, coaches and match stewards.

There was no television evidence but the FA may still investigate based on the referee's report.

Under Law 12, if Poll had seen anything untoward as he returned to the dressing rooms, he could have dealt with it at the time.

Depending on the match report of the Hertfordshire official, the FA could then seek further observations from both clubs, as well as possibly the police, before deciding if any formal action is necessary.

The FA is also likely to look into comments Hughes made after the game about the general performance of Poll.

**ColinR** · 26/01/2006, 1:21 PM

RVN fouled savage in injury time, probably could have been a booking seeing as he had just fouled reid a minute or two earlier (a bit late, but not nasty). however in fouling savage he sort of barged into savage's back - he then fell over, and rvn fell on top of him, and his knee clipped the back of savage's head. savage then clutched his face in agony for a second.

a minute later half time whistle blew, ferdinand was running into the tunnel and said something to savage. savage took a couple of seconds to think about it, then sprinted down after ferdinand. suddenly all the players started to sprint to the tunnel.

The camera's didn;t catch any footage, but two ballboys who were looking down the tunnel pretended to start thumping each other and were laughing!!

**NeilMcD** · 26/01/2006, 2:01 PM

To be fair to ferguson there is no way he coud have seen anything as he was still out on the pitch at the time.

**Tired&Emotional** · 26/01/2006, 2:01 PM

Originally Posted by ColinR

two ballboys who were looking down the tunnel pretended to start thumping each other and were laughing!!

Yeah, saw that too - v. funny

**razor** · 26/01/2006, 2:21 PM

Sky cameraman started pointing the camera down the tunnel only for a rather large dutch goalkeeping glove to block his view. Spoilsport

**Aldini98** · 27/01/2006, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by marksman

they wind me up so much..scum, scum, scum

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2006/0126/ma...tvar.vrRTEMAIL

Great game but Rovers were robbed by a gutless performance by referee Graham Poll. Must have been under pressure to get Man U to some final (what Man U fans usually refer to as The Mickey Mouse Cup when Liverpool win it).

Van Nisstlerooy is a sneaky, dirty little sh!t...Wenger was right about him. Put his hand up to claim a penalty fro hand ball, and got it, even though the ball was between both his and the defenders arms, pushed Savage over and then purposely kicked him in the head, Ferdinand then clipped Savage on the ear at half-time sparking a tunnel row..which of course the media say, Savage "started".

So sick of Man U getting away with so much sh!t. Reid scored a goal, well struck, but only after Brown had handled in the box...no penalty....Ferdinand then handled the ball in a much more blatant hand to ball fashion...again, no penalty...Fletcher got the ball by shoulder charging the Rovers defender for Man Utd's goal. No justice in the 2-1 Man U "win"

Don't let your children support this team

, very poor examples throughout the squad!

All spot on, post of the month IMO

**ColinR** · 27/01/2006, 11:37 AM

good week all round.

club in crisis beats european champions, wins mickey mouse cup semi final, cheats by raising a hand, uses mind altering powers to force ref to then give penalty......

the word you want lads is obsession

**NeilMcD** · 27/01/2006, 11:38 AM

IMO rant of the month and should not get post of them Month. No Man utd fan here but hardly a clear and balanced post.

**HuRya** · 27/01/2006, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by marksman

they wind me up so much..scum, scum, scum

Great game but Rovers were robbed by a gutless performance by referee Graham Poll. Must have been under pressure to get Man U to some final (what Man U fans usually refer to as The Mickey Mouse Cup when Liverpool win it).

Van Nisstlerooy is a sneaky, dirty little sh!t...Wenger was right about him. Put his hand up to claim a penalty fro hand ball, and got it, even though the ball was between both his and the defenders arms, pushed Savage over and then purposely kicked him in the head, Ferdinand then clipped Savage on the ear at half-time sparking a tunnel row..which of course the media say, Savage "started".

So sick of Man U getting away with so much sh!t. Reid scored a goal, well struck, but only after Brown had handled in the box...no penalty....Ferdinand then handled the ball in a much more blatant hand to ball fashion...again, no penalty...Fletcher got the ball by shoulder charging the Rovers defender for Man Utd's goal. No justice in the 2-1 Man U "win"

where to begin...
-fletcher fairly won the ball off tugay (no rovers protest)
-brown did not handle in the area before the equaliser(no rovers protest)
-you are clutching at straws if you think that the ferdinand "handball" was a pen(no rovers protest)
-savage did instigate the tunnel incident as he was the one who chased ferdinand(all this is caught on camera)
-van nistelrooy was well within his rights to claim the penalty..it doesn't make him a cheat to put up his hand,does it??
-united fans referred to Liverpool's micky mouse treble of the league cup, FA cup and Uefa cup after united's success in 1999.
-"no justice in the 2-1 win"..well how the f*** do you figure that one out..friedel kept Rovers in it..it should have been 3 or 4-1 by the time rovers put some pressure on van der sar's goal in the clopsing stages..
Point made