Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson received a five-match touchline ban and steep fine from the Football Association on Wednesday for criticizing a referee after a Premier League match.
Ferguson was charged with improper conduct after blasting the performance of match official Martin Atkinson in United's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on March 1, saying his team didn't get a "fair or strong referee."
Ferguson appealed but an Independent Regulatory Commission "found the charge of improper conduct relating to media comments proven." He was fined 30,000 pounds (C$47,405).
The outburst earned him a three-game ban and two matches were added to the sanction because of a previous suspended sentence hanging over Ferguson.
The Scotsman's suspension starts Tuesday.
Ferguson was furious Atkinson refused to send off Chelsea defender David Luiz for fouls on Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney after the Brazil international had already been booked.
He was also critical of the awarding of a late penalty to Chelsea for United defender Chris Smalling's foul on substitute Yuri Zhirkov. Frank Lampard converted the spot kick for what proved to be the winning goal.
"I must say, when I saw who the referee was, I feared it. I feared the worst," Ferguson said on United's in-house television channel, MUTV.
Half of a four-game ban for questioning referee Alan Wiley's fitness after a match last season had been suspended until the end of this campaign.
United's defeat at Chelsea was followed five days later by a 3-1 road loss to rival Liverpool, leaving Ferguson's team atop the Premier League but with only a three-point lead over Arsenal, which has a game in hand.
The domestic suspension will force Ferguson to watch four league games -- against West Ham, Fulham, Everton and Arsenal -- from the stands. It will also take in the FA Cup semifinal against Manchester City on the weekend of April 16-17.
