"There have always been players trying to get penalty kicks, even going back 30 years. [Is he implying that if Franny Lee was playing for City still they may have won a trophy?]
"What we've got now, though, are players making consistent attempts to win penalties and get other players sent off. We've players showing imaginary cards to the referees, there is diving and melees in the penalty box.
"It's obvious that it's getting worse but the difficulty, in terms of stopping it, is that referees can't give a red card for diving. They're the rules, the laws of the game. That's the most amazing thing. Referees can show two yellow cards if it happens twice, but I don't think that has a real impact.
"As it stands, the divers have the advantage over their opponents. A guy can make one tackle, honestly trying to tackle the player, and be given a red card, but someone who cheats trying to get a penalty can get only a yellow. That's the discrepancy."
The Guardian:
Ferguson may have opened himself to allegations of hypocrisy given that two of his players, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooy, have faced accusations for what can charitably be described as gamesmanship and, at worst, plain cheating. Wayne Rooney was at the centre of one notorious incident, when he won a penalty in United's 2-0 defeat of Arsenal at Old Trafford last season, while Poll has publicly accused Gary Neville of diving in a match at Highbury, the Fifa-ranked official questioning whether United's full-back had been practising it.
Ferguson can, however, cite the fact that he warned Van Nistelrooy in private to cut out the diving, a message that seems to have got through. Ronaldo still has the capacity to rile opposition supporters, plus some of United's own fans, but he, too, is not as bad as when he first came to England. Ferguson has encouraged him to stay on his feet because, in his words, he would rather have Ronaldo beat an opponent than win a free-kick.