Sir Alex: Clubs Must Stamp Out Diving

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes it is down to England's clubs to deal with players who dive because it is so difficult for the Football Association.

There have been calls for retrospective action against divers and the issue of simulation was brought up at the two-day League Managers Association conference at St George's Park earlier in the week.

Ferguson feels it is down to the clubs rather than the FA to impose their own discipline, admitting that he did have to lecture Cristiano Ronaldo about the matter during his early days at Old Trafford.

"Do the sanctions come from the club or the FA?" said Ferguson.

"The FA have a problem because is it legal? How can they prove a lad has purposely dived?

"It is very difficult. The FA have always said that. Does it go to the clubs? At the end of the day it probably does."

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers this week voiced his displeasure after Luis Suarez admitted to diving in a match against Stoke earlier this season, although the FA have indicated they will not be reviewing the incident.

"The FA could react," said Ferguson.

"I haven't a view on it myself because I don't know much about the interview, apart from what I have read in the sense he admitted the dive."

Ferguson insists he has not been afraid to bring up the subject of diving with his players when it has been appropriate, adding: "We did it with Cristiano.

"He was only a young boy when he came to us and it took him a couple of years to understand. But after that he was fine.

"There is a connection to the foreign players coming into our game I don't think there is any doubt about that."