Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at Premiership referees supremo Keith Hackett over his "absolutely ludicrous" offer to meet with Jose Mourinho in the wake of the Chelsea manager's complaints about match official Graham Poll.

Mourinho and his players were angry with Poll's handling of the London club's defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday, prompting Hackett's invitation to discuss the referee's performance.

Poll would normally have been expected to take charge when Ferguson's Manchester United side meet Chelsea on November 26th.

But while the United manager has no doubts about the referee's integrity, he doubts whether this would be appropriate in the wake of Hackett's offer to Mourinho.

"Graham Poll is without question the best referee we have got, no doubt about it," Ferguson told his regular Friday press conference.

"Yes he's got an arrogance about him at times and a cockiness about him but when our players have got it we think it's good. When a referee's got it we think he's a big-headed so and so.

"He would be the best to referee

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our game with Chelsea but I'm now fearing he gets the game with all the controversy with Chelsea and now that Keith Hackett is meeting with Jose Mourinho.

"Jesus goodness me, what's going on in this world? Does he ever go and meet Arsene Wenger or Rafa Benitez or this old guy here? Has a preference gone out to Chelsea because they have had a bad decision against them?

"It's absolutely ludicrous."

Chelsea full-back Ashley Cole claimed Poll told him during the Spurs game that Chelsea 'need to be taught a lesson' because of their indiscipline.

But Ferguson ridiculed suggestions the referee was biased against the London club citing Poll's failure to dismiss Claude Makelele during a recent clash with Aston Villa.

"He should have sent Makelele off in the Aston Villa game but he didn't," Ferguson added.

"So if he had they would have lost Makelele for three games and that would have made a difference. Sometimes you get the decisions and sometimes you don't. And when you are not getting them you think he is against you and when you are getting them you say well he's alright today. We're all coloured by that."