Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will claim self defence if the FA choose to investigate his elbow on James McCarthy, according to reports.
The England ace elbowed the Wigan player in the head during Saturday’s 4-o victory.
Referee Mark Clattenburg called up the incident and awarded Wigan a free kick – but Rooney went away from the incident unpunished.
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez slammed the decision, calling it a red card offence while Match of the Day pundit John Harton called it “indefensible”.
Despite wide condemnation, Man United have unsurprisingly leapt to Rooney’s defence.
Boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: “There was nothing in it. But because it is Wayne Rooney the press will raise a campaign to get him hung by Tuesday, or electrocuted or something like that.”
According to The Mirror, if the FA investigate the incident Rooney will say he was acting in self-defence, believing McCarthy was about to hit him.
The United will find out today if he will face a violent conduct charge which could leave him with a three match suspension, ruling him out of crucial matches against Chelsea and Liverpool.
If United contest any ban, Rooney would be free to play against Chelsea on Tuesday but could face a further ban if his appeal is turned down by the FA – meaning he could miss the possible FA Cup tie against Arsenal.
Was Rooney’s elbow “indefensible” as John Hartson said or will the England star be the victim of a witch hunt? Have your say below.
as usual once its manchester utd breaking the rules it s ok..there is rules for them and rules for every other team..just look at blackpool..the ref should not be allowed hold chat during the 90mins
Shows you cant rely on the FA or referees to protect you against hooligan behaviour. Where is the duty of care?
Shocking template of the game, Alex fergusson (night of the realm -unbelievable) defence of this player is very very poor.
The abysmal witchunt of englands best player at the world cup is indefensible. Following Sir Alec’s lead I have told my sons that its fine to run up behind someone and elbow smash them in the face from behind.
The ref also thought it was fine – that nice Mr. Clattenburg thought it reasonably ok – and the FA sees nothing wrong with a kinghit from behind.
Our Wayne is an upstanding example of English football and gets right behind the elderly, with his charitable donations.
In fact my kids reckon they’ll do it their next school match in support of our Wayne, and I encourage all Man Utd supporters to get their kids to do the same, in light of their many supportive webpostings. Sir Alec – our kids love you, and sing your praises over many a jar.
This now means that anybody can commit violent criminal acts like Rooney’s elbow attack. If you attack a policeman or a politician or someones granny (Rooney may draw the line on attacking the grannies) you have now been giving a official court defense by the FA.