• Premier League

Fergie: Clubs must stop players diving

ESPN staff
January 19, 2013
Showdown at the Lane

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson insists clubs have a responsibility to eradicate diving from the game, claiming he convinced Cristiano Ronaldo to stop going to ground easily during his time at Old Trafford.

Ferguson's comments follow those of Stoke's Tony Pulis, who called for retrospective action against divers after Liverpool's Luis Suarez admitted he simulated contact inside the penalty area against his team.

Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has already voiced his displeasure about Suarez's conduct and vowed Liverpool will take action against the Uruguay forward, and Ferguson has backed Rodgers' stance on dealing with the matter internally.

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

"The FA could react [to Suarez]. 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 get involved himself in the past, disciplining Ronaldo as he developed a reputation for diving while at United.

"We did it with Cristiano,'' Ferguson said. "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.''

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