Wayne Rooney will not face any punishment for elbowing Wigan Athletic midfielder James McCarthy during Sunday’s game.
Rooney caught McCarthy on the side of his head during the early stages of Manchester United’s 4-0 victory at the DW Stadium, but referee Mark Clattenburg opted not to show the England international a card and merely awarded a free-kick to the Latics.
The hosts were incensed by the decision not to send off Rooney, while United manager Sir Alex Ferguson attempted to play down the incident by claiming there was “nothing in it”.
Despite calls for Rooney to be banned for the challenge, the Football Association has now confirmed no action will be taken against the 25-year-old after reading the referee’s report, and Clattenburg has been defended by the ruling body for officials.
Former referee Mike Riley, now general manager for Professional Game Match Officials, said: “Mark took the correct course of action with this incident.
“Match officials are trained to prioritise following the ball, as that is where the greater majority of incidents are going to take place.
“However, we also do a lot of work around the area of peripheral vision to be aware of anything that might potentially happen off-the-ball.
“In this incident Mark was following play but caught sight of two players coming together and he awarded a free-kick because he believed one player had impeded the other.
“We should be clear that Mark did nothing wrong in officiating this incident as he acted on what he saw on the pitch.”