Sir Alex Ferguson risks longer ban as he fights FA

Andy Hodgson11 April 2012

Sir Alex Ferguson has decided to appeal against the Football Association's improper conduct charge.

Ferguson had until Tuesday evening to respond to the charge brought against him following his comments about referee Martin Atkinson in the aftermath of Manchester United's Premier League defeat at Chelsea.

But the 69-year-old has already decided he will fight the charge even though he appeared to bring Atkinson's integrity into question when he claimed "in matches like this you want a fair referee" in his post-match interview on MUTV.

Ferguson would have minimised any potential penalty should he have accepted the charge.

Such an admission though would have triggered a two-match touchline ban that is currently suspended after he called Alan Wiley's fitness into question last season meaning he would have missed at least three games. But if his appeal fails he could now be banned for four matches as the season nears it's climax.

United are at Anfield on Sunday and Liverpool's club-record signing Andy Carroll could make his debut in the match.

Carroll, who completed a £35million move from Newcastle on deadline day, has been sidelined for two months by a thigh injury but played a full part in training this week, raising hopes the striker may feature against United.

Better news for Ferguson is that Darren Fletcher, 27, has signed a new contract that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2015.

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