The fall-out continues from Sir Alex Ferguson's tirade against Alan Wiley after the Manchester United manager claimed the referee was unfit following a 2-2 draw for his side against Sunderland at the weekend.

The Daily Mail claims that Wiley considered quitting football after the public attack from the United boss, a situation that has echoes of Anders Frisk's decision to retire following accusations made by Jose Mourinho during his time as Chelsea manager.

In 'Referee Alan Wiley in quit threat over Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's rant', Alan Biggs details how criticism of Wiley is unjustified and how the official's colleagues helped convince him against an early retirement.

"An exclusive Sportsmail analysis of Wiley's performance shows Ferguson's criticism was unjustified and the official is understood to have had second thoughts about quitting after receiving strong support from colleagues.

"Ferguson said about Wiley: 'It took him at least 30 seconds every time he booked a player and I think that was because he wanted to take a rest.' In fact, the analysis shows Wiley covered more ground than most players, and his performance has been praised by the Professional Game Match Officials.

"As revealed in Sportsmail on Monday, the Barclays Premier League see Ferguson's comments as a slur on the refereeing community and would like to see him charged. But there is a fear among referees that Ferguson will not be hit with a sufficient deterrent to discourage such attacks in the future."

In the Guardian, former Premier League referee Jeff Winter, now the owner of a hilarious website in which he gives both barrels to his critics, also strongly condemns Ferguson for his comments. It is strong stuff from the man who once claimed to get a standing ovation from the Kop during his final game as a referee.

"It was a cowardly attack – Sir Alex wouldn't have said it to Alan Wiley's face. Every game Alan Wiley takes charge of now where he makes a decision which upsets some fans is going to result in chants of 'You're not fit to referee', he's going to be known as the 'unfit ref'. Sir Alex won't care though. He's a knight of the realm and he thinks he's untouchable, bullet proof.

"But he's also a bully. He spoke at Sir Bobby Robson's memorial service a couple of weeks ago and said he'd learnt a lot from Sir Bobby. But he hadn't, they were totally different, Sir Bobby was a gentleman. He was humble and had respect for people."