Sir Alex Ferguson today accused Superintendent Mark Payne of "needing to be noticed" after his criticism of Wayne Rooney.
Payne, based in Wolverhampton, claimed on his blog yesterday he would have expected his officers to have arrested Rooney had the Manchester United striker repeated his four-letter outburst at Upton Park last week in a public place.
Rooney was given a two-match ban on Wednesday and while Ferguson is still angry at the punishment he is also stunned by the senior policeman's comments.
"Everyone has an opinion today," said the United manager. "There is an issue in the modern world of a need to be noticed. Have you ever seen Wolverhampton on a Saturday night? Do police ever arrest anyone for swearing on a Saturday night? Dearie me. That is a good one."
Ferguson did, though, have sympathy for referee Lee Mason, whose post-match report led to the ban. He said: "I think he [Mason] was put under pressure. It's hard to imagine a referee would send a player off for scoring a hat-trick."
