We’re right to contest Ferdinand ban: Ferguson

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has justified the club’s decision to appeal against Rio Ferdinand’s four-match ban by highlighting what he believes to be inconsistency within the disciplinary system.

Ferdinand originally saw a three-match ban for lashing out at Hull City’s Craig Fagan extended to four games last week because he appealed the decision but was still found to be in the wrong.

FA bosses added another match to his suspension for the “frivolous nature” of his defence and United are now contesting that decision as well.

If Ferdinand loses, he will get yet another game added to his ban, meaning he would miss the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on February 28 but Ferguson has backed the appeal because he feels referees are too inconsistent.

He pointed to the incident during a Carling Cup tie last September when Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano appeared to elbow Leeds United’s Jermaine Beckford in the head as an example of the contradictory nature of decision making when it comes to disciplinary matters.

“We’ve appealed that and the word that concerns us is ‘frivolous’,” Ferguson said. “The reason for appealing was that in the case of Mascherano against Leeds United, when he punched a player in the back of the head (he did not get charged).

“We don’t think it’s frivolous and that’s why we have appealed.”

Ferguson also decided last week to remove Owen Hargreaves from his list of registered players for the Champions League as the midfielder’s future continues to look bleak.

He has not played for 16 months due to severe tendonitis in both knees, a condition that has required two operations in America over the last year.

Questions will continue to be asked about whether Hargreaves will ever be able to regain full fitness but Ferguson is confident that that is the case, and argued that his decision to remove him from his list of 25 players eligible for the Champions League was merely a short-term goal rather than confirmation that his career is over.

“It would be nice to think we could get to the (Champions League) final and have Owen Hargreaves available but we’re not in the cup final,” Ferguson said.

“We’ve got AC Milan in 10 days or two weeks time and really we need to win that game.

“And if I chose Owen I would have to leave another important player out and that important player could be the one I need for the AC Milan game so the decision was not so much about the latter part of the campaign but it was to do with the Milan game.

“Sometimes it is a hard decision but it was the correct decision.

“Owen Hargreaves will not be available for the AC Milan game and it’s more important for us as a club to navigate that one.

“His recovery is slow, it is a year and a half now and I can’t put a time on it now so I think I’ve done the right thing. He will be back though and hopefully make an impact in the league for us and hopefully he does.”

Defender Nemanja Vidic could return to the United line-up for Saturday’s fixture with Portsmouth for the first time since the 5-0 victory over Wigan Athletic on December 30.

He has been struggling with a calf problem but looks to have overcome that and has trained all week although United will be without fellow defender John O’Shea whose thigh strain shows little sign of improving at present.