Ferguson Hits Out At Sem Group Chief

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at the power of agents in football, singling out SEM Group managing director Jerome Anderson, saying that the agent ‘couldn’t pick his nose’.

Ferguson, who is set to break Sir Matt Busby’s record as the longest-serving manager at the club, spoke out in anger at the dismissal of Sam Allardyce as Blackburn Rovers manager.

Ferguson blamed the involvement of player agency the SEM Group and sports rights agency Kentaro in advising Blackburn’s new owners, the Rao family.

He said: ‘I think it’s very difficult these days [to build a club] with the life we’re in now. There’s intense pressure on managers.

‘You’ve got that issue at Blackburn of an agent involved and deciding the future of the club, Jerome Anderson, he couldn’t pick his nose.

‘It’s baffling and it’s a serious threat to how clubs get run and how they conduct themselves.’