Gary Neville has backed Sir Alex Ferguson's criticisms of the referee Alan Wiley for allegedly not being fit enough to referee in the Premier League and questioned why the Football Association is considering punishing the Manchester United manager for making "honest comments".

The FA is expected to announce next week whether Ferguson is to face a disciplinary charge after receiving a written explanation from him earlier today in which he accepted he had gone too far in his condemnation.

Ferguson has apologised to the 49-year-old Wiley for accusing him of being "not fit" and claiming that the official was deliberately taking a 30-second breather during United's 2-2 draw with Sunderland two weekends ago, booking players because "he needed a rest". Ferguson would not discuss the subject at his weekly press conference today, but Neville believes his manager should not have to defend his comments.

"The manager has taken a bit of flak for suggesting that the referee Alan Wiley wasn't fit enough to take charge of the game," the former England player said. "To be honest, I did feel Mr Wiley was taking quite a long time to book players. But managers and players can't win – the fans and the public want honesty, but the FA throw the book at us if we give honest comments."

Ferguson's criticisms were widely perceived to be a diversion technique to deflect the attention away from a poor performance by his team, but Neville does that not believe is the case.

"I don't think Sir Alex was trying to divert attention from the players," he said. "He was quite honest that we were not at our best and he didn't say the referee cost us the match. Sunderland played really well and we were delighted with a point in the end."