The Football Association decided on Monday against taking any disciplinary action over Rafa Benitez for his explosive comments about Sir Alex Ferguson.
The mess has been left to Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers Association, to sort out and he is to hold individual meetings with Benitez and Ferguson to find a solution to the feud.
The FA had the option of charging Benitez with bringing the game into disrepute, or even simply asking the Liverpool manager for his views on his remarks about Ferguson. Benitez claimed during his Friday press conference that the Manchester United manager enjoyed preferential treatment from the FA and referees despite his hounding officials.
On Saturday, following Liverpool's draw at Stoke City, Benitez again went on the offensive and suggested that United benefited from having their chief executive, David Gill, on the FA main board (ignoring the fact that Liverpool's Noel White was on the FA's International Committee for many years). Ferguson, talking after United's 3-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday, responded that he felt Benitez was "disturbed".
On Monday Soho Square decided they did not want to pour further fuel on the fire burning between Benitez and Ferguson. There are also no plans for officials of United and Liverpool to meet to clear the air.
A precedent was set in 2004 in the wake of the Old Trafford Pizzagate affair when United and Arsenal players clashed in the tunnel and pizza was chucked at Ferguson. The then chairman of the FA, Geoff Thompson, and the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, sat down with Gill and Arsenal's then vice-chairman David Dein to tackle the controversy. The FA became involved after Pizzagate because something was thrown whereas the Benitez-Ferguson issue was only verbal.
The FA have also decided not to charge Chelsea over the behaviour of their supporters at Old Trafford. Chelsea fans were heard to sing "you should have died in the tunnel" towards the United winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, who crashed his Ferrari driving to United's Carrington training ground earlier in the week.
The mess has been left to Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers Association, to sort out and he is to hold individual meetings with Benitez and Ferguson to find a solution to the feud.
The FA had the option of charging Benitez with bringing the game into disrepute, or even simply asking the Liverpool manager for his views on his remarks about Ferguson. Benitez claimed during his Friday press conference that the Manchester United manager enjoyed preferential treatment from the FA and referees despite his hounding officials.
On Saturday, following Liverpool's draw at Stoke City, Benitez again went on the offensive and suggested that United benefited from having their chief executive, David Gill, on the FA main board (ignoring the fact that Liverpool's Noel White was on the FA's International Committee for many years). Ferguson, talking after United's 3-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday, responded that he felt Benitez was "disturbed".
On Monday Soho Square decided they did not want to pour further fuel on the fire burning between Benitez and Ferguson. There are also no plans for officials of United and Liverpool to meet to clear the air.
A precedent was set in 2004 in the wake of the Old Trafford Pizzagate affair when United and Arsenal players clashed in the tunnel and pizza was chucked at Ferguson. The then chairman of the FA, Geoff Thompson, and the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, sat down with Gill and Arsenal's then vice-chairman David Dein to tackle the controversy. The FA became involved after Pizzagate because something was thrown whereas the Benitez-Ferguson issue was only verbal.
The FA have also decided not to charge Chelsea over the behaviour of their supporters at Old Trafford. Chelsea fans were heard to sing "you should have died in the tunnel" towards the United winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, who crashed his Ferrari driving to United's Carrington training ground earlier in the week.
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