Preventing the best players playing

Who would have thought that Sir Alex with his aggressive footballing philosophy would take up a cause near and dear to my heart: the protection of talent.

Today he has made an argument that I raised a while back with ( this post )

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at critics of Cristiano Ronaldo, saying he is the "most fouled player in the country".

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate labelled Ronaldo a serial diver after the winger won a penalty on Saturday.

But Ferguson said: "What's more serious in our game, preventing the best players playing or going on for three days about a dive that wasn't a dive?

"I have seen it a million times and Cristiano lost his balance completely."

The Scot went on: "As I have said time and time again, we do not condone diving and Cristiano knows that.

( BBC 2006.12.05 )