Sir Alex Will Not Contest FA Charge

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed he will not challenge his Football Association misconduct charge.

Ferguson was charged with using abusive and insulting words towards an official after an exchange with referee Mark Clattenburg at Bolton on Saturday.

United were given until 11 December to respond but Ferguson will not bother.

"We will just accept it," said the Scot, who may receive a fine or touchline ban.

Ferguson was sent to the stands by Clattenburg following a half-time rant during United's 1-0 defeat at the Reebok Stadium.

The Scot said after the match that he had told the referee "exactly what he thought of him".

He continued: "Some referees don't like it. They don't like the truth. But I just told him how bad he was in the first-half."

Ferguson was upset with what he felt was a lack of protection for his players against what he claimed were "over-aggressive" tactics from Gary Megson's side.

And one tackle by Kevin Davies on Patrice Evra prompted an infuriated Ferguson into a finger-jabbing rant as Clattenburg entered the tunnel at half-time.

Now awaiting his punishment, Ferguson remains unrepentant over his criticism of Clattenburg's performance, adding that refereeing standards were 'slipping' within the English game.

Though the United boss openly admitted he had missed a pre-season briefing for managers by referees' chief Keith Hackett, he believes one of the central components of the discussion has been ignored.

"At the summer conference, Keith Hackett was on about tackling from behind," he said.

"He made a promise to the managers that tackles with raised feet off the ground would be a red card and that tackles from the back would be a red card.

"Standards must be slipping because there have been some bad tackles recently, not just in our games but in quite a few others.

"And what happens then is that if someone gets seriously injured, who gets the blame? The referee gets the blame."