MANCHESTER (AFP) - Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson has come under fire from the club's fans after complaining about the lack of atmosphere at home games.
Ferguson made his outspoken comments following Tuesday's 1-0 win over Birmingham at Old Trafford.
The Scot compared the atmosphere to a funeral and called on supporters to get more enthusiastically behind their team.
But Colin Henrie, a spokesman for the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, accused Ferguson of showing a lack of understanding.
"I think he could benefit from sitting in the ground," said Hendrie, who believes Old Trafford stewards come down too hard on fans who stand at moments of excitement.
"You can't stand up to make a noise. If you try to stand up, you've got stewards who are ejecting you, they're taking your season ticket away from you.
"It's almost like a police state in a football ground now and if you do stand up, people will take your arm, put it behind the back of your neck and throw you out of the ground.
"Under those circumstances, what atmosphere does he (Ferguson) want?
"The only atmosphere we've got is one where we're a little bit frightened of losing 1,000 pounds for the season ticket we've paid for."
The noise level in the stadium as United laboured to a 1-0 win over Alex McLeish's strugglers on New Year's Day was non-existent at times, a fact gleefully pointed out by the visiting fans.
Sitting in the directors' box as he completed a two-match touchline ban, the lack of atmosphere was even more noticeable to Ferguson.
"The crowd were dead,'' he complained. "It was like a funeral it was so quiet."
Hendrie said that revealed Ferguson's comments had not gone down well with his fellow fans.
"A lot of people are pretty upset, because it shows a lack of understanding about what it's like to be a football fan in 2008,'' he said on Sky Sports News.
"`Fergie's going back to the days 10 years ago where it was absolutely fantastic, you could stand.
"But you can't do that now and the football authorities need to make up their minds whether they want to have fans sitting neatly in a row not being able to do anything or if they want an atmosphere in the football grounds again."
Hendrie said a far more tolerant approach was used at the home of United's neighbours Manchester City.
"It's actually not against the law to stand up. It's to do with the terms and conditions on the ticket," he explained.
"The interpretation of that rule is different at different grounds.
"For example, at City, they've actually got a singing area.
"Because you're allowed to stand in moments of excitement, what they say at City is, 'If you're standing up singing, you're obviously excited, so carry on singing'.
"That doesn't happen at Old Trafford."
if that's the case - that is ridiculous and really explains a lot... but i could have sworn that I saw fans standing and singing
