Behind Enemy Lines
Well-known member
Sir Alex Ferguson has extended his self-imposed boycott of the BBC in protest at a documentary that turned the spotlight on links between the Manchester United manager and his football agent son Jason into a "lifetime ban".
The United manager, well known for his fiery temper, has been refusing to speak to BBC journalists since the beginning of the season, after the corporation broadcast a documentary earlier this year examining business dealings between the club and agents including son Jason.
He has now informed BBC Sport's head of football, Niall Sloane, that he will never talk to the corporation again, despite the increasing amount of airtime it devotes to the game.
The BBC now screens three editions of Match of the Day every weekend, since winning back the rights from ITV at the start of this season, and also features interviews with managers on its recently extended Final Score show on Saturday teatime.
Although Sir Alex is well known for taking umbrage against particular newspapers and broadcasters who he thinks have wronged him, Mr Sloane had hoped the row would have blown over by now.
But when he contacted the United manager to see if he would reconsider, he was informed that Sir Alex had now decided never to speak to the BBC again.
The BBC is understood to have written to the League Managers Association to ask them to intervene in the row, but the organisation replied that there was nothing it could do.
Sky Sports suffered similar treatment at the beginning of last season after a Sky Sports News reporter door-stepped Sir Alex during the summer at the height of speculation over David Beckham's transfer to Real Madrid.
He cut all ties with the broadcaster despite the billions that Sky has pumped into the game and the fact that Jason used to work for the company. On that occasion, he relented three weeks into the season.
The BBC3 documentary that so riled Sir Alex was first broadcast on May 27 and was repeated the following Friday on BBC1 amid much press interest around the time of the FA Cup Final, in which Manchester United faced Millwall.
It came at a sensitive time for the club as it was also considering 99 questions into its transfer dealings posed by John Magnier and JP MacManus, the Irish shareholders who fell out with Sir Alex in a row over the ownership of a horse.
In the documentary, reporter Alex Millar revealed that many of United's first team players had been signed up by his son's Elite agency and alleged that Sir Alex recommended that young players sign up with his son.
The day before the documentary was screened the club announced it was cutting all ties with Elite, following an in-house investigation of transfers in response to pressure from Mr Magnier and Mr McManus.
It has also since settled the row with its Irish shareholders, who own 28.9% of the club, but has been the continuing subject of fresh takeover speculation from Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer.
Sir Alex has a reputation for letting off steam at reporters. As speculation increased over whether Beckham would leave United he let fly at a reporter from the club's official radio station Century FM over a seemingly innocuous question.
"You've been told not to f***ing ask that - right?," he told the reporter. "Cut that off, cut that off [pointing to tape recorder]. f***ing idiots, you all are. You do that again and you won't be coming back here. You f***ing sell your papers and radio shows on the back of this club," he ranted.
Several newspapers that reported the row, including the Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express and the Daily Star, were subsequently banned from several press conferences.
On another occasion he turned on reporters for questioning the form of then record signing Juan Sebastian Veron and, on another, refused to appear on Radio 5 Live after a bust up with Alan Green.
Sir Alex also remains the only manager in the Premiership to refuse to hold post-match press conferences, except when required to do so by Uefa following Champions League games
The United manager, well known for his fiery temper, has been refusing to speak to BBC journalists since the beginning of the season, after the corporation broadcast a documentary earlier this year examining business dealings between the club and agents including son Jason.
He has now informed BBC Sport's head of football, Niall Sloane, that he will never talk to the corporation again, despite the increasing amount of airtime it devotes to the game.
The BBC now screens three editions of Match of the Day every weekend, since winning back the rights from ITV at the start of this season, and also features interviews with managers on its recently extended Final Score show on Saturday teatime.
Although Sir Alex is well known for taking umbrage against particular newspapers and broadcasters who he thinks have wronged him, Mr Sloane had hoped the row would have blown over by now.
But when he contacted the United manager to see if he would reconsider, he was informed that Sir Alex had now decided never to speak to the BBC again.
The BBC is understood to have written to the League Managers Association to ask them to intervene in the row, but the organisation replied that there was nothing it could do.
Sky Sports suffered similar treatment at the beginning of last season after a Sky Sports News reporter door-stepped Sir Alex during the summer at the height of speculation over David Beckham's transfer to Real Madrid.
He cut all ties with the broadcaster despite the billions that Sky has pumped into the game and the fact that Jason used to work for the company. On that occasion, he relented three weeks into the season.
The BBC3 documentary that so riled Sir Alex was first broadcast on May 27 and was repeated the following Friday on BBC1 amid much press interest around the time of the FA Cup Final, in which Manchester United faced Millwall.
It came at a sensitive time for the club as it was also considering 99 questions into its transfer dealings posed by John Magnier and JP MacManus, the Irish shareholders who fell out with Sir Alex in a row over the ownership of a horse.
In the documentary, reporter Alex Millar revealed that many of United's first team players had been signed up by his son's Elite agency and alleged that Sir Alex recommended that young players sign up with his son.
The day before the documentary was screened the club announced it was cutting all ties with Elite, following an in-house investigation of transfers in response to pressure from Mr Magnier and Mr McManus.
It has also since settled the row with its Irish shareholders, who own 28.9% of the club, but has been the continuing subject of fresh takeover speculation from Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer.
Sir Alex has a reputation for letting off steam at reporters. As speculation increased over whether Beckham would leave United he let fly at a reporter from the club's official radio station Century FM over a seemingly innocuous question.
"You've been told not to f***ing ask that - right?," he told the reporter. "Cut that off, cut that off [pointing to tape recorder]. f***ing idiots, you all are. You do that again and you won't be coming back here. You f***ing sell your papers and radio shows on the back of this club," he ranted.
Several newspapers that reported the row, including the Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express and the Daily Star, were subsequently banned from several press conferences.
On another occasion he turned on reporters for questioning the form of then record signing Juan Sebastian Veron and, on another, refused to appear on Radio 5 Live after a bust up with Alan Green.
Sir Alex also remains the only manager in the Premiership to refuse to hold post-match press conferences, except when required to do so by Uefa following Champions League games
