Rooney Escapes FA Punishment Over Elbow Incident

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will face no action from the Football Association after he appeared to elbow Wigan midfielder James McCarthy.

The incident occurred during Saturday's Premier League match at the DW Stadium in which Rooney scored one of the goals in United's 4-0 victory.

TV replays showed Rooney catch McCarthy on the side of his head with his elbow.

Referee Mark Clattenburg gave a free-kick but Wigan boss Roberto Martinez believed Rooney deserved a red card.

Clattenburg told the FA on Monday that he felt he took the appropriate action, which means the governing body cannot launch disciplinary proceedings against the 25-year-old England forward.

The rules do not allow retrospective action against a player if the official sees the alleged offence.

Martinez said on Saturday: "I saw the incident clearly and the referee did as well because he gave the free-kick.

"Once you give a free-kick it is quite clear that it is a red card. When you look at the replay, it is quite clear he catches James McCarthy in the face with his elbow.

"It is a big call in the game. It is unfortunate because the referee saw it but he didn't feel it was a red card.

"If one of my players had done that, I would think he was very lucky to stay on the pitch."

However, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson commented: "There's nothing in it."

The Scot then sought to deflect attention away from the incident and claimed: "As it is Wayne, the press will raise a campaign to get him hung or electrocuted, something like that."

Ferguson's assistant Mike Phelan also played down the incident.

"We can't dispute the referee's decision," he stated. "He's kept the game flowing and we're happy with that.

"There should not be a witch-hunt. The referee was consistent with all his decisions. We should lie low a little bit and let the powers that be take [control of] the game."

But Match of the Day 2 pundit John Hartson described Rooney's actions as "indefensible".

The former Wales, West Ham and Celtic striker said: "It could crack McCarthy's jaw in eight places, could have knocked the boy out. How on earth you can defend that? Having seen those pictures, I do not know. We like the fact that Rooney gets stuck in, he's a really good footballer. But it's not about him. We are not singling him out here."

Having avoided any suspension, Rooney is free to play in Tuesday's crunch Premier League clash at Chelsea, although United could have appealed against any ban to guarantee his availability.