Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, was given a two-match touchline ban and fined £10,000 last night after angrily confronting Mike Dean, the referee, at the end of a Barclays Premier League match this month.

Ferguson admitted an FA charge of improper conduct after rushing on to the pitch to remonstrate with Dean after his side's 4-3 win against Hull City at Old Trafford on November 1. The Scot will be forced to sit in the stands for the Carling Cup quarter-final tie at home to Blackburn Rovers two weeks today and the Premier League game against Sunderland at Old Trafford three days later. The FA Regulatory Commission said that it took Ferguson's guilty plea and his disciplinary record into consideration when reaching its verdict.

Ferguson marched on to the field immediately after the final whistle and had to be restrained by Gary Neville, the United captain, as he tore into Dean over what he perceived to be a number of poor decisions from the referee, jabbing a finger in the direction of the Wirral official.

Ferguson is thought to have been patricularly aggrieved that Dean failed to send off Michael Turner for fouling Michael Carrick, the United midfield player, just outside the penalty area when the Hull defender had already been booked.

United were leading 4-1 at the time and Ferguson's frustration was compounded when Dean awarded Hull a penalty after Rio Ferdinand was judged to have fouled Bernard Mendy, a decision that the United manager later questioned.

Ferguson claimed 12 days ago that the FA was “dying” to send him a letter after he was charged, although he decided against appealing at a time when the Respect campaign is being openly questioned by numerous managers. His disciplinary record appears to have counted against him on this occasion.

Last season he was involved in three high-profile incidents with referees, most notably in matches against Portsmouth. In a league match at Fratton Park in August last year, Ferguson was outraged that Steve Bennett, the referee, sent off Cristiano Ronaldo and after the teams' FA Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford in March - which Portsmouth won 1-0 - the United manager branded Martin Atkinson, the referee on the day, “a disgrace”. An improper conduct charge was not proven.

He did receive a two-match touchline ban and £5,000 fine, however, after being found guilty of “using abusive and/or insulting words” towards Mark Clattenburg, the referee, at half-time in United's 1-0 defeat by Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium 12 months ago.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have insisted that they are happy for both United and Manchester City to play at home on the evening of December 3. After discussions with GMP, the Football League has put United's Carling Cup tie against Blackburn at Old Trafford back 24 hours to the same night that City play Paris Saint-Germain in the Uefa Cup at the City of Manchester Stadium.

It will be the first time that the teams have played at home on the same day since March 5, 1997, when United beat Porto 4-0 in their Champions League quarter-final, second leg at Old Trafford and City were held to a 1-1 draw by Portsmouth in the second tier at Maine Road. The evening passed without incident.

Local police prefer their leading clubs not to play at the same time, but with United due to play their final Champions League group E game against Aalborg at Old Trafford the week after, before flying to Japan for the Club World Cup after their league match away to Tottenham Hotspur on December 13, it was accepted that there was little opportunity to reschedule the Carling Cup tie on a later date. There is a busy festive fixture list and the semi-finals of the Carling Cup are due to take place at the beginning of January.

United and City said that they were happy with the decision and GMP plan to deploy additional officers, particularly in the city centre, to guard against the threat of trouble.