Ferguson surprised Nani took penalty

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:ALEX FERGUSON said his side dropped "silly points" after Fulham fought back to earn a 2-2 draw against Manchester United at Craven Cottage yesterday.

The United manager said he was surprised Nani took the late penalty that could have maintained United’s flawless start to the Premier League season, only to see the spot-kick saved by the Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale three minutes from time after Damien Duff had been penalised for handball. The miss saw the visitors’ one-goal lead maintained until Brede Hangeland headed an equaliser in the last minute.

“I thought Ryan (Giggs) should have taken it,” Ferguson said. “In the last game we played against Tottenham at home, Ryan scored two penalty kicks and Nani was on the pitch. Maybe Ryan should have taken it. We had that opportunity to seal it with only a few minutes to go, and you think you’re home and dry then.

“It was (struck at) a bad height, maybe. You don’t want to be dropping silly points and we dropped silly points. We can’t escape that. There was an opportunity to go 3-1 ahead with three minutes left and we didn’t take it. I don’t think we deserved to be in front at 2-1 but, when you get the opportunity to seal the game with that penalty, you should be taking it. To miss a penalty kick to make it 3-1, you’re throwing two points away there, I’m afraid.”

Ferguson said Fulham merited at least a point after a spirited second-half response. “I thought they were revitalised in the second half,” he said. “They upped their game and were the better team. When we got that second goal I thought: ‘We’ve escaped here’. They caused us a lot of problems, particularly (Bobby) Zamora, who was very good for them.”

Meanwhile Ferguson faces a series of escalating fines, beginning with a punishment in the region of €3,700-7,300, after maintaining his boycott of the BBC in direct opposition to Premier League rules.

Ferguson's refusal to speak to Match of the Day 2after yesterday's draw follows weeks of discussions behind the scenes in which he has come under growing pressure from the Premier League and the League Managers Association.

United's chief executive, David Gill, has asked Ferguson to think closely about ending his grudge with the BBC, dating back to a Panoramadocumentary in 2004, entitled "Father and Son", about the business activities of his son Jason, who was then working as a football agent. The threat of fines appears to have made no difference, however, with Match of the Daystaff told before kick-off that requesting an interview with the United manager would be pointless.

Ferguson is worth around €27 million and the 68-year-old is said to be largely unmoved by the threat of comparatively small fines. Instead, he has told colleagues he is waiting for an apology before he speaks to the BBC again.

The matter will now be referred to the Premier League board to decide the extent of the first fine, with the amount set to rise every week he continues to ignore the different Match of the Dayshows and Radio 5 Live. Talks will continue behind the scenes and BBC staff have been told from within Old Trafford that there may eventually be a change in his position.

The BBC chose not to comment but Gary Lineker, the Match of the Dayhost, expressed his belief it would be "the amount of the fine which will make his (Ferguson's) mind up". Lineker said: "It's a shame. We would like him to speak to us because we respect him and his teams, and always have done."

The Premier League issued a statement, saying: “ . . . this is a breach of Premier League rules and the board will consider the appropriate course of action at their next meeting scheduled for late September.”

Guardian Service