Managers responsible for discipline - Clark
Managers boss Frank Clark today spoke out following the fracas at Old Trafford and accepted that the ultimate responsibility for discipline lies with managers.
Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira was sent off for aiming a kick at Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and a melee ensued when the Dutchman missed an injury-time penalty.
League Managers’ Association vice-chairman Clark said: “Obviously a manager has responsibility for the behaviour of his team.
“You can’t always stop things happening – things happen in the heat of the moment – but it’s a manager’s responsibility for the conduct of his team and for the conduct of the whole football club.
“All players have to be responsible for their own actions, but the manager does set the tone, if you like, and should impose a level of discipline in the club.”
Yesterday afternoon also saw a touchline spat at the Riverside Stadium, where Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren and Everton’s David Moyes angrily exchanged words late in the game, but Clark believes that was simply a storm in a tea-cup.
“As I understand it, that was just a heat-of-the-moment incident,” he said.
“I heard Steve McClaren speaking very warmly of David Moyes in his post-match interview.”
