Sir Alex Ferguson, who is facing the threat of a touchline ban after being banished to the stands during Manchester United’s defeat by Bolton Wanderers a week ago, has again risked the wrath of the FA’s disciplinary department by claiming that refereeing standards are “slipping” throughout the Barclays Premier League.

Ferguson has no intention of appealing against a charge of using abusive and/or insulting language during his team’s 1-0 defeat at the Reebok Stadium, where he confronted Mark Clattenburg, the referee, in the players’ tunnel at half-time. The United manager said that he will “just accept” the FA’s verdict – which could see him banned from the touchline for up to three matches, or, more probably, issued with a fine – but he is concerned about the general standard of refereeing this season.

“I think standards are slipping,” Ferguson said yesterday. “Keith Hackett [the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board] was on about tackling at the summer conference and he made a promise to the managers that tackles with a raised foot would get a red card and tackles from the back would get a red card. So the standards must be slipping because there have been some bad tackles recently – not just in our games but a few games recently.”

Ferguson’s team are not in action today, but the decision to move their home match against Fulham to Monday night for live television coverage has ensured that Wayne Rooney will be available, barely three weeks after he damaged ankle ligaments during a game of head tennis on the training ground.

United have also missed Gary Neville, the captain, whose return from long-term injury was postponed further when he pulled out of a reserve-team match on Thursday, but Ferguson hopes that the defender will travel to Italy for the final Champions League group match against AS Roma on December 12, nine months after his previous first-team appearance.