Greater Manchester Police have advised Manchester United supporters not to ring 999 if they want to speak to Sir Alex Ferguson after a drunk supporter did just that.
The inebriated fan had called the emergency number in the immediate aftermath of the Capital One Cup semi-final defeat on penalties by Sunderland and demanded to have a chat with Ferguson about the team’s fortunes.
That caused the police to issue their peculiar and humorous message, shown below.
The male fan told the police that he did indeed want to report a crime, and that the crime was that Manchester United were ‘completely knackered’.
He also added that the ‘result was all wrong’ and that it was a ‘total and utter load of rubbish’.
The fan, like thousands of others, had watched on aghast as United somehow conspired to knock themselves out of the cup and fail to set up a Wembley final with rivals Manchester City next month.
The game was a microcosm of United’s season. They went ahead thanks to Jonny Evans but failed to hammer home their advantage and rather limped to penalties after Phil Bardsley – thanks to an horrific mistake by goalkepper David de Gea – had looked like giving the visitors a win in extra time.
However, in an echo of Ferguson’s old teams where no cause was a losing one, Javier Hernandez equalised in added time to take the game to penalties.
Phil Jones, Rafael, Danny Welbeck and Adnan Januzaj then all missed in the shootout as Sunderland progressed.
It was all too much for the supporter and he tried to take matters into his own hands by dialling 999 and asking for a chat with the legendary former boss.
After all, it is an emergency at Old Trafford.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE CALL
Fan: Yeah could I speak to Sir Alex Ferguson please?
999 respondent: Not by 999 telephone line.
Fan: Sir Alex. The result is all wrong. They had extra time and it was a total and utter load of rubbish.
999: Is there a crime you need to report?
Fan: Yeah a crime. I’ll report a crime.
999: What crime is that?
Fan: The crime is that Man Utd… Man Utd were absolutely knackered.
999: Can I take your name? Address? I’m going to clear the line, OK?
Fan: Yeah can you phone me back?
999: No.
Fan: Why?
999: This is not a police matter.
Fan: Are you a police woman?
999: No I’m a member of police staff, but this is not a 999 matter.
Fan: 999 matter, oh I see, right. OK then…
999: Goodbye.
Fan: Yeah, bye bye.
