Belittling a police officer puts Sir Alex Ferguson to shame

Manchester United manager scores own goal in attack on 'wee guy' who called for Rooney 'to behave like a human being'

Lashing out at the referee Lee Mason; claiming the Football Association is victimising Manchester United; deriding a police superintendent in vitriolic terms – Friday did not see Sir Alex Ferguson at his most statesmanlike. Wayne Rooney swearing into a camera has frothed a thousand opinions and Ferguson's route to the moral high ground in his first detailed discussion of it was not difficult to identify: complain about FA inconsistency in singling out Rooney, while not excusing what the striker actually did. Superintendent Mark Payne, stationed in Wolverhampton, a location which can get handy on a night out, was making a point many in football missed last week. He argued on his police blog that posturing and swearing such as Rooney's can, on the street, herald the start of escalating trouble. Advertisement The police officer said that in his time in the force he had "seen a thousand Rooneys and I am sure most police officers will have. The same aggressive stance, the bulging eyes, the foul-mouthed rant, fists clenched, surrounded by his mates, all cheering him on". He linked that spectacle to beery episodes which get out of hand over the smallest of slights and finish up with people in hospital. "People in positions of influence have an obligation to behave like human beings," Payne wrote. "It is not a lot to ask." Ferguson, asked about the officer's argument, refused to address the question of whether Rooney was setting a bad example as a role model. Instead he latched on to Payne's remark that young men behaving as Rooney ought to expect arrest. Payne is in a better position to know the arresting policy in Wolverhampton than the manager of Manchester United whose belittling of the police officer became unpleasant. Payne, Ferguson scoffed, is "a wee guy, sitting down in the Midlands, probably never been recognised in his life" who had "managed to elevate himself to whatever it is in the police force". As for the officer's right to talk about the influence icons like Rooney might have on young men groping for the right way to behave in England's town centres, Ferguson scorned: "Some people feel the need to be noticed; maybe people don't know he's there." For an indisputably great football manager, this was not his greatest moment.