Ferguson and Queiroz were angry after United's 1-0 defeat in March

The Football Association will not appeal against a verdict which cleared Manchester United duo Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz of improper conduct.

The pair were charged over comments made about officials after the FA Cup defeat by Portsmouth on 8 March.

But they were cleared at an independent regulatory commission hearing.

An FA spokesman said: "We have decided that an appeal would be unlikely to succeed. An appeal would therefore not be the right course of action."

The FA had denied its original case failed because it incorrectly believed Queiroz labelled referee Martin Atkinson a "robber".

Queiroz was charged over comments about Atkinson, while Ferguson's charge related to comments about both Atkinson and referees' chief Keith Hackett.

The commission's hearing concluded the charges were "not proved".

The FA statement continued: "We remain surprised and disappointed at the original decision and we want to reiterate our support for Keith Hackett, Martin Atkinson and referees collectively.

"We remain firmly of the view that the comments made by Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz were inappropriate. We wish to discourage such comments being made as they are not in the best interests of football."

We will review the process by which we address inappropriate media comments made about match officials An FA spokesman

When the charge was brought, the FA insisted its case did not centre solely on Queiroz's alleged comment.

"The charges were brought on more than just the issue of the word 'robber'," said an FA spokesman at the time.

"At any disciplinary hearing the FA, as the prosecutor, argues its case, as does the defence. The fact that the commission found the charge was not proved does not mean that the FA made any errors in putting the case together."

Portsmouth won the match courtesy of a Sulley Muntari penalty, but Ferguson was furious his side had been denied a spot-kick for what he felt was a foul on Cristiano Ronaldo.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," he said after the game.

"I cannot explain it. Managers get sacked because of things like that and he (Atkinson) is going to referee a game next week.

"He (Hackett) is not doing his job properly and he needs to be assessed.

"I'm assessed as a manager, players are assessed, referees should be assessed properly by the right people. That performance today should not be accepted by our game."