Also, with the headlines of Mancini ordering Mario away, is it time that we started banning more and in particular, which ones?
Anyway, the story (which has not been retracted):
Vieira and Club anger at BBC interview
Patrick Vieira has expressed his disappointment and anger at what he feels is a serious and cynical misrepresentation of an interview he gave to the BBC.
Manchester City’s Football Development Executive gave the interview at the annual SoccerEx exhibition at the GMEX Convention Centre on Wednesday afternoon. He was representing Football Against Hunger, a campaign to tackle starvation in Africa.
An interview given to the BBC’s Dan Roan contained what Patrick feels was a very leading line of questions regarding Manchester United supposedly receiving favourable treatment by referees. Patrick feels that his views have been deliberately taken out of context.
He said: “I am very angry with Dan Roan. I feel he has misrepresented me. I made it clear in the interview twice that I wanted to avoid criticising United and even stated that I didn’t watch the United game against Fulham and had not seen the incident to which the reporter referred.
“That part of the interview was ignored and my comments were taken completely out of context. I called the reporter twice to ask for a retraction and an apology which has not come. I feel Dan Roan and the BBC have shown a complete lack of respect for me, the ‘Football Against Hunger’ charity and Manchester City Football Club.”
Manchester City support Patrick in his strong feelings on this matter and have confirmed to the BBC that the reporter will now be banned from all Manchester City media activity.
Chief Communications Officer, Vicky Kloss, said: “Despite the Charity arranging the interview with Dan Roan for the purposes of promoting the Football Against Hunger campaign, the reporter pursued a leading and aggressive line of questioning, through which Patrick was very careful to tread a diplomatic path.
“A misrepresentative article by Dan Roan, which has since been modified, appeared on the BBC’s website a short time later which omitted significant comments of clarification and took the interview completely out of context. Manchester City promotes a positive and welcoming approach to media outlets, however it is felt, in the absence of any correction or apology that there is no option but to issue an immediate ban to Dan Roan from future media activity.”
Big clubs receive ref advantage - Man City's Patrick Vieira
by Dan Roan
Manchester City executive Patrick Vieira believes title rivals Manchester United and other big clubs benefit from key refereeing decisions at home.
His comments come two days after Fulham were denied a late penalty in the 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
"When United play at home they get some advantage that other teams don't get," Vieira told BBC Sport.
Man City later released a statement saying Vieira's comments had been taken out of context.
Continue reading the main story
“When United play at home they get some advantage that other teams don't get”
Vieira said: "I think when you go to United, Madrid, Barcelona, or Milan, when the referees referee these kind of games, it's always difficult to go against these kind of teams.
"This is the way it is.
"It's something the teams who are used to winning get all the time, so we need to win games so we have this advantage in the future."
With eight games left, City find themselves three points behind United, but Vieira - who took up a post as football development executive at Eastlands after retiring from playing - believes they would be worthy champions.
Speaking on behalf of Football Against Hunger, Vieira said: "This is our moment.
"Since the start of the season we've been the best team and played the best football.
"I believe the club deserves it."
However, Vieira, who has only heard about the Fulham incident and has yet to see it, also admitted that United are in pole position to claim a second successive title.
"When you are first you have the advantage, they are favourites," he said.
Vieira recently said that United's decision to bring Paul Scholes out of retirement was a sign of weakness.
In response, Sir Alex Ferguson accused City of an act of desperation when allowing Carlos Tevez to play despite going on strike.
Vieira said: "We're glad Carlos is back. The quality of these kind of players will be really important at this stage of the season.
"The issue was between him and the club. The players were really pleased to see him back.
"It's important not to lose focus, so many things can happen.
"People try to build this fire between the clubs. The heat is going to get more and more."
[urlnp=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17540540]Link to Interview[/urlnp]
