However, there is a view that he just carried out this duty under the command of FUJIWARA no Tokihira or Emperor Daigo, as this was a famous story written in "Okagami" (The Great Mirror), "Kanke bunso" (an anthology of Chinese-style poetry by SUGAWARA no Michizane), a story of Sugane dying from the curse of Michizane after carrying out his revenge for the embarrassment of being slapped by Michizane before the audience in the imperial court in "Kitano Tenjin Engi" (History of Kitano Tenjin Shrine), the story of how he swore friendship with Michizane but KI no Haseo, who was Sadaiben (major controller of the left) and jiju (a chamberlain), also stopped the visit of the retired emperor besides Sugane in "Fuso Ryakki" (A Brief History of Japan), and "Choshuki" (diary of MINAMOTO no Morotoki) written by later generations mentioned that the Cloistered Emperor Uda was banned from visiting without permission while the emperor is present.
これは『大鏡』・『菅家文章』に載せられた著名な話であり、『北野天神縁起』ではかつて宮中にて道真に衆前で頬を打たれた屈辱を晴らそうとしたとされ、後年菅根が道真の祟りを受けて死んだとされる伏線となる話であるが、『扶桑略記』によれば菅根のみならず、道真の盟友であった左大弁兼侍従紀長谷雄も上皇の参内を阻止したとされることや、後世の書籍である『長秋記』には宇多上皇が天皇在位中に天皇の許可の得ない上皇の参内を禁じたとする記述を載せていることから、藤原時平もしくは醍醐天皇の命令に従ってその職責を果たしたに過ぎないとする見方もある。