LONDON - Pledging his support to Ireland in the wake of their World Cup heartache, Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Manchester United have also been the victims of a similar injustice, which could eventually cost them the Premier League title.

Ferguson said he sympathised with Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni and his players after Thierry Henry’s handball cheated them out of a World Cup place, and said United suffered a similar travesty during their 1-0 defeat at Chelsea a fortnight ago, one he claimed could ultimately cost them the title.

The Manchester United boss was referring to referee Martin Atkinson’s failure to spot an alleged foul by striker Didier Drogba on Wes Brown, just before Chelsea’s winner at Stamford Bridge.

“My thoughts were with Trapattoni. He prepared the Ireland team and got an absolute magnificent performance from them. You couldn’t ask for better from a coach and it’s been taken away from him. It’s denied a couple of our players the chance to play in the World Cup and you can’t get a better experience than that,” The Mirror quoted him, as saying.

“But two weeks ago Drogba pulled down Brown and there was obviously not a hullabaloo like this. But does that incident cost Manchester United the League? It could very well cost us it. That’s how important decision-making can be. But you just have to get on with it.

“We’re capable of recovering from it but Ireland can’t recover. The World Cup Finals have gone for them. It begs the question about technology. UEFA and FIFA’s stance is they prefer human decision-making rather than technology,” he said.

“Until they change their stance there’s nothing you can do about it. If you asked every manager and player, you’d probably get the same answer. “They all think, as I do, that technology can play a part. It can help referees,” Ferguson said. (ANI)