Ex-Fifa official: Referees on red alert after 'massive' Bruno Fernandes reveal at Man United
Referees will be on red alert for Bruno Fernandes after he admitted he liked to enter their zones when playing for Man United, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee revealed officials work with sports psychologists on the "massive" issue of concentration.
Fernandes told the Athletic last week (20 September) that he likes to occupy the same zones as officials as it makes him hard to be marked by the opposition.
The 28-year-old also admitted he has moaned at referees in the past but claimed he is no worse than players like Wilfried Zaha and Bernardo Silva.
"I’d be surprised if referees are not aware.
"That player is there for one thing, that is to undermine the referee’s authority, break down his concentration which can distract when there’s a challenge.
"It’s really important that the referee is aware of this.
"It does happen and it’s more frequent than people think.
"I go back to my time when Bryan Robson was a bit of a moaner. I wasn’t alone because we discussed it amongst referees and he moaned at everybody.
"He had the impression that being captain of the team meant he had the avenue to rattle the cage of referees. On some occasions, he was successful.
"Referees at the elite level must be aware that managers do their homework.
"We can go back to the Don Revie era, he had a catalogue of the referee’s who were coming up to referee his teams.
"He knew how they managed challenges, how they dealt with dissent and understood their weaknesses.
"His team would work on that and it was all aimed at distraction.
"It goes on from there. Think of the antics of [Jose] Mourinho, [Jurgen] Klopp, [Antonio] Conte and others in the technical area.
"Through the fourth official, they are trying to undermine the match officials, mainly on concentration.
"Referees have sports psychologists that talk about those things and concentration is a massive part of it."