Manchester United [Images] manager Alex Ferguson and his assistant Carlos Queiroz have been cleared of charges of improper conduct, the FA said on its Web site www.thefa.com on Wednesday.

The two men were charged in April after comments they made to the media following United's shock 1-0 home defeat by Portsmouth in an FA Cup quarter-final in March.

Ferguson said in a television interview that referee Martin Atkinson had been "on Portsmouth's side" and accused English referees' chief Keith Hackett of not doing his job properly.

In a newspaper report Queiroz was quoted as saying Atkinson was "a robber".