Ferguson has until 4pm on Tuesday, March 8 to respond to the charge, which relates to comments made about referee Martin Atkinson immediately after Manchester United's Premier League defeat at Chelsea.
The United boss was fuming at Atkinson over his failure to dismiss Chelsea goalscorer David Luiz for clear fouls on Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney after the Brazilian had already been booked.
To compound that frustration Atkinson then awarded Chelsea what he considered a "soft" penalty when Yuri Zhirkov fell under Chris Smalling's challenge.
Although Ferguson's comments to host broadcaster Sky Sports are not thought to have overstepped the mark, those to United's in-house TV station MUTV have caused concern.
"You want a fair referee, or a strong referee anyway - and we didn't get that," said Ferguson in the aftermath of the 2-1 defeat.
"I must say, when I saw who the referee was I feared it. I feared the worst."
The Football Association asked MUTV for footage of the interview to check the context in which Ferguson delivered the words.
And, even though he immediately soften his stance, altering the word 'fair' to 'strong', disciplinary chiefs feel there is sufficient malice to warrant charging him in a week when Wayne Rooney escaped further punishment for elbowing James McCarthy at Wigan last week.
Even Ferguson accepted his star striker had been "fortunate".
The Scot, who has decided not to hold a press conference ahead of Sunday's FA Cup tie with Liverpool, has not been so lucky and unless he can persuade the FA of his innocence, is facing a lengthy period away from the dug-out.
Ferguson already has two matches of a four-game ban still hanging over him following his ill-advised comments about Alan Wiley last season, when he implied the official was not fit enough for his job.
Those games will be triggered if guilt is established, which would condemn him to the stands for United's FA Cup sixth-round tie with Arsenal at Old Trafford on March 12, plus the Premier League encounter with Bolton seven days' later.
Punishment for his latest indiscretion would be added.
What do you think? Have your say.
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Quite right too. But expect the obligatory slap on the wrist, cos we can't upset the old whinger too much eh?.
Had it coming i'm afraid. In a week where we need to focus he sets a bad example - no wonder Smallings off partying.
Hopefully we'll nick a point on Sunday
Maybe he will learn to keep his counsel .
A pity tho, but thats how life treats u, like u dont exist.
What the FA should really do is think of charging Atkinson with incompetence or downright favoritism. A few weeks in the Championship for him would be more appropriate than a punishment of Sir Alex. Our manager and his team week all season long to get the right results and then punctually each season a referee comes along and undoes all the good work with extraordinary decisions. Sir Alex is right to be furious and I believe should have the right to criticise what was at best a mediocre performance by Mr. Atkinson. In fact, his language was not offensive, but rather spot on.
I think it was coming, but now's the time to get stuck into the referees and make them more accountable for their substandard performances.
it also adds weight to managers not speaking to any media after games - closed shop - pundits nonsense only from now on. either that or standing in front of Geoff Shreeves or Gabrial Clark and saying "no comment" to every question posed, just to tick the FAs boxes.
Any sane person would also be fuming at the penalty decision. Smalling was stationary when the Chelsea player tripped going around him! How in the world could a penalty be awarded? Defies any reasonable logic!
its very sad when a manager any manager cant say what he thinks especially when decisions were as poor as tues nite mr atkinson hang your head in shame or better still stand down bring in foreign refs there much better
by the way its a league game sunday noy fa cup we beat them in that one oops m.e.n
Its about time as well, although this will never stop this clown who purports to be a Knight of the realm it will make him realise that he cant get away with his inane mind games anymore!
His old fashioned ways are no longer working, and his players are being seen for what they really are, ageing and mercenary. For me and many others in this country the sooner we see the end of his foul chewing gum filled mouth rants the better, he's a disgrace to his title, he should be stripped of it forthwith, after all he never deserved it anyway!!
why they charging him for being honest? emotions are high after a game what did you expect . us against the world .
What is the FA about? Sir Alex has every right to comment harshly on very bad officiating by the ref.
He really is a very bad referee mr. Atkinson, isn´t he.
WOW i am surprised...This guy is the biggest hypocrite out there and deserves to be punished!
I agree with his comments. The F.A. should look at previous matches that referee's have been incharge of and if there was any controversy, refrain from using them again for the same fixture. From my point of view I would be happy to see banned from O.T. altogether.
Freedom of speech you say ??? Imagine how boring the world would be if we wasn't allowed to say how we feel ,who do the fa think they are ?they don't have much to say when England underachieve year after year
laughable its like somebody kicking your dog and then prosecuting you for hurting their foot
This scenario can not be fairly concluded unless the referee is asked to give his version of the events as he saw them, and these answers made public.
Likelyhood of this is nil.
If Martin Atkinson says he saw the incident but did not see any breach of the law, then he is dammed as a poor referee, which the FA would. most likely, be clearly unwilling to happen.
If he says he did not see the Rooney/Luiz incident, which the cameras suggested he must have, then he is clearly a liar, and this would only confirm SAF's view of the referee's performance.
By holding SAF to account they are clearly diverting attention away from the referee which cannot be right
No doubt there will be many from the other side of Manchester who will say that United should take the punishment and stop complaining.
To those I'd say remember what many of you have said in that what goes round, comes round.
It could, and probably will, be your turn soon.
If things even themselves up, we are due 3 soft pens, 2 off side goals, 5 bookable challanges that don't produce a booking, and free kicks around the area when no foul has taken place when we play Chelsea at Old Trafford. And watch the media go into overdrive if we got one of those decisions!!!
And Martin Atkinson will be refereeing in his incompetent manner again this weekend. He cost us a nailed on penalty (Distin foul on Ronaldo) against Portsmouth in the FA Cup a couple of seasons ago when Portsmouth went on to win the cup. He cost us a penalty at Stamford Bridge last season (Terry foul on Valencia) and gave them a free kick that never was so they could score. Too many errors on Tuesday to list. No sanctions will be taken against him but SAF is hauled over the coals.The powers that be are a joke.
IF I WAS a cynic and believed in conspiracies, I'd be wondering if the ref was soft on Rooney at the Wigan for a reason, i.e. the ref at the next game (Chelsea) was going to influence the game in Chelsea's favor.. So good job I'm not a cynic (this time lol).
Well done anyway Sir Alex, you know it's the truth, as we all do. The ref was pathetic. You can accept the odd mistake, but to get 3 major decisions wrong in a very important game is just too much.
It's about time fans should be able to sue refs and the Premier League for wasting their time and hard-earned money going to these games only to be robbed of a fair game of football by one man. You bet cameras would soon come into the game if that was to happen.
Is Martin Atkinson going to be charged with poor a poor performance ?
seems a bit two faced to me i heard a lot of comments about the referee from the sky pundits they even showed the position of the ref when wayne was fouled .H
same story again the fa are against und to win the 19 leaugue title.j.mifsud.siggiewi.malta.
Why is the referee not charged? At best a woefully incompetent performance, at worst......?
when oh when are they going to charge these useless referees for cocking up on big games. instant video replay would have shown that penalty was a DIVE.
Atkinson has given more penalties and red cards this season than any other referee in the PL.
Unfortunately he's totally INCONSISTENT with his decisions.
Handball by Terry, clear penalty, Luiz should have got a second yelolow on 3 seperate occasions.
These "refs" should be made to explain their unexplainable decisions to a publicly transparent panel after each game.
But nothing ever happens and they just go on to their next game.