Sir Alex Ferguson: Manchester United Manager Talks to Ashley Young About Diving

It's fairly common knowledge that, over the past few weeks, Manchester United winger Ashley Young has stirred up a lot of heat with his conduct in opposing teams' penalty areas.

In United's 2-0 home victory against Queens Park Rangers, Young dived for a penalty in the seventh minute of the match—resulting in QPR captain Shaun Derry seeing red.

This kind of incident is unfortunately commonplace in the modern era of football, meaning Young managed to avoid taking personal blame for his actions—with most of the neutral fans focusing more on the argument that the bigger sides are favored in matches.

However, when Ashley repeated the same trick against his former club Aston Villa just two weeks later, attentions became firmly focused on the young man.

What could have possibly possessed him to dive so blatantly at a time when the bigger clubs are being scrutinized for penalty decisions is beyond me.

Although only coming to light recently, this is not the first time that Young has been seen throwing his body around. 

In fact, in the past two years, he has won more penalties (nine) in the Premier League than any other player.

Thankfully, it seems that Sir Alex Ferguson shares the sentiment of most United fans at the moment—that Young's dives are giving the club a bad reputation and image (as if it wasn't hated enough already!).

As reported by the Telegraph, Fergie has "had a word" with Young about his conduct and hopes he'll make some changes.

And, as we all know, when Fergie tells you something, you had better listen. (Unless your name is Roy Keane.)

It's a desperate shame, really. 

Young has had his critics this year, but there have been times where he has genuinely saved matches for the Red Devils with his turn of pace and skill with the ball at his feet.

Ending the year in this manner will only give the haters more fodder.

As for the state of diving in football, I guess that's something we are all going to have to deal with.

It's appalling that that's the case, but it's the reality. In fact, in Spain, diving is on occasion encouraged and is considered a key tactical part of the game.

Thanks, Jurgen Klinsmann!