The Premier League often boasts that it’s the finest in the world and Alan Hansen described Manchester United’s 3-2 victory against nine-man Chelsea as a great advert for England’s top flight, but I believe it should be considered an embarrassment following one of the worst performances from an official you’re ever likely to see and it spoiled a potential classic between two great sides.
I’m not even sure to begin when analysing or even trying to explain what was in Mark Clattenburg’s mind yesterday when he reduced the home side to nine men and effectively ended the match as a contest before his assistant failed to flag for what should be a straightforward offside, but instead awarded a goal.
I don’t particularly agree with Branislav Ivanovic’s sending off either. He did clip Ashley Young as the England winger seemed to look at the turf rather than the ball, presumably to find a nice spot to plant his face into in order to get our defender red carded. But I can accept this decision as even if it was accidental, it’s the rule as Ivanovic was the last defender and there was definitely contact.
Within five minutes Clattenburg ended our chances after our players battled bravely back from a two goal deficit in what was looking like a Premier League classic before it was tainted by terrible officiating, ugly scenes and bad blood. Torres beat Jonny Evans who flew in at the Spaniard’s legs and he went down under the contact, even Gary Neville suggested that he was probably trying to protect himself. There’s no way Clattenburg could be sure there was simulation and had to think carefully before deciding what to do, but the yellow card was in his hand before he made a decision and whilst Evans pleaded to be spared of a second yellow the ref jogged past him to dismiss Torres.
Even then, you could maybe argue that in his hast Clattenburg had forgotten he’d already booked Torres as he rushed the decision and made a genuine error, but then he neglected to send Wayne Rooney off for clattering Ashley Cole whilst he was on a card (conveniently omitted from MotD 2’s highlights and not even regarded as a serious talking point by their pundits), it was an easy decision and he still got it wrong.
As for the ‘goal’, Javier Hernandez was in an obvious offside position, he’s almost even beyond Petr Cech. The Manchester United forward then proceeded to goad the home support by celebrating directly in front of them knowing full well that he was in an offside position and how already hostile the atmosphere was considering what came before. This is another point that doesn’t seem to have been picked up by the media as a talking point but if taking your shirt off is an automatic caution then this is most definitely an example of provoking crowd violence and worthy of a charge.
Everyone will say we’re bitter. Of course we are and I’ll defy any football fan worth his salt sit idly by an accept that sort of officiating as fair if their side was on the receiving end. Martin Samuel wrote a great piece about it in the Mail today and I thought Gary Neville’s Sky analysis was about as fair as you can get from a pundit, especially considering his affection for United. It simply wasn’t good enough and has to go down, as Samuel said, the worst refereeing performance in Premier League history.
This won’t be the last a ref helps MU to win. I tell you what. I have never trusted these guys in black. If you have read the Daily Mail today Clattenburg is involved in the controversial incidents of advantage to MU.
So don’t be surprised when teams play MU,they are playing against 14 men.That’s why MU can win the epl every year.
And long may the favoritism continue… Chavskis forget rent boy should not have been on the pitch after his kung fu kick on cleverly…evens out over a game and over a season….ha ha ha Luiz is a thug and should not be on a football pitch
Just goes to show you how much the FA bank on Man-ure as their poster team to promote here in the states. With their embarrassing performance trying to trade their stock publicly, the FA has to make sure they win this year , and apparently the refs will be following orders this season.
Rubbish all the way, fuck English FA. FUCK THE DEVIL…
Shame on English F.A!! Shame on the EPL!! Shame on the Ref.!! Shame on the Game!!
Shame on red nose(ferguson) as well.
First it was liverpool, now Chelsea, arsenal fans should just prepare their hearts for the worst this weekend.
Michael Oliver took charge of their first defeat, the February 2011 2-1 loss at Wolves. He was not given another Manchester United game to referee until December 2011. Since then, Oliver has had 2 United games.
United have won both, with Oliver refusing to give a clear Fulham penalty in the 1-0 United win late last season at Old Trafford; a game came right at the end of the title race. A few weeks ago, Oliver gave United a penalty for a shocking dive by Danny Welbeck in the home win against Wigan.
The second game United lost was away to Chelsea. Martin Atkinson was the referee then and some of his decisions incurred the wrath of Alex Ferguson. Atkinson was not given another United game to referee for an ENTIRE YEAR.
Atkinson was further punished with his decisions that went against United that day. He was not given a single premier league game to referee for a full month. Even worse, he was subsequently given 3 lower league games to referee that season- when he’d previously not officiated a single one
that campaign.
It seems that Atkinson was given a clear message that day.
The 3rd United loss came at Anfield, where a Dirk Kuyt hat trick secured a 3-1 home win. The referee that day was Phil Dowd. He was criticized by Ferguson for not sending Jamie Carragher off. In the very next United game Dowd refereed, he gave them a penalty which secured a 1-1 draw
at Blackburn and their 19th league title.
Giving United penalties in the very next game you referee them after having been criticized is a trend we’ll soon notice.
The final United loss of the 2010/11 season came at the Emirates, where Chris Foy refereed a 1-0 Arsenal win. It will come to no surprise to people to know that Foy was subsequently not assigned a United league game for, again, AN ENTIRE YEAR.
He did however referee 2 United games in the cups during that time. The first was in the Carling Cup against Crystal Palace. He awarded United a penalty. The second was at City in the FA Cup. United got a penalty and Vincent Kompany was sent off early in the game.
To resume, we’ve just analyzed what happened to the 4 referees that officiated United’s 4 league losses in the 2010/11 season. 2 of them were not given any more United league games for a full year (Atkinson and Foy), a third for 9 months (Oliver). 2 of those referees gave United penalties in the very next game (Foy and Dowd) they took charge of and one refused to give a blatant one to the opponents (Oliver). Martin Atkinson, was not given premier league games to officiate for an entire month and assigned to 3 lower league games.
I also looked at Mike Jones after prompting from the comments board. Jones refereed the 1-1 home draw with Newcastle last season and falsely awarded Demba Ba a penalty.
Subsequently, Jones was not given a single football game, at ANY level, to referee for an entire month. The next United game he was handed came a few months later, the 2-0 home win against Stoke which saw¦ You guessed it: 2 penalties awarded to Manchester United which, according to reports, were very soft.
How about Mark Halsey? Well, when he gave WBA a debatable penalty in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in May 2005 it was his 5th United game that season. He then also went an ENTIRE YEAR without being given any United games to referee. From 5 games in a season to none for a year. His
record since then? He’s refereed 11 Man Utd games which have seen 11 United wins: the latest coming at Anfield, where 3 controversial decisions went the away team’s way.
In terms of trends, considering what we discovered about Alan Wiley and Mark Clattenburg (whose record with no United games to referee now stands at 36 league games since he took charge of the 6-1 home loss to City), there’s enough to make you wonder what exactly is going on in the
referee selection process. It also ties in perfectly with ex referee Jeff Winter’s comments about The FA being reticent to assign United games to referees Ferguson has criticized in the past.
The whole world revolves around incentives and punishment. From a young age, kids are brought up that way. Positive and negative reinforcement are at the very core of child psychology. You can’t blame people who are well aware of the punishment awaiting them (through the form of demotions
and suspension from future United games) if they’d rather go for the safe option of keeping Ferguson happy.
I don’t blame the referees.
The people I blame are the ones that are letting this happen. The media who have not uttered a peep or written a single article about this for 2 decades. The FA who run the game in this country and have allowed this situation to fester. The clubs who see no issue with having David Gill, United’s CEO, on the board of the FA. And of course, the PGMOB: the people who regulate officiating in England
sorry about all the pasting but interesting reading too much to be a coincedence!
Gud research wit perfect proves
i hate EPL because de use it in playing pool all de time dat’s why any team 4rm la liga is better dan any team in EPL. Recism with a player nw with a referee who will be de next? FUCK England FA!!!!!
Thanks Naveen for the stats. Anyone who needs convincing the refs are helping the redfaced win,take note.There could be further disclosures. You never know.
The surprising thing is red faced for all his epl domination can’t bring it to the cl.
You got it .The refs of course.12 epl vs 2 cl . you draw your own conclsusion.
Fuck fa fuck fergie fuck epl refrees fuck last man fuck man u fuck rooney fuck….
let’s live nd consider nd hold our faith, it’s happen already nd there’s noting 2 do 2 resorve it again but no sinner ‘ll go unpunishment, remember goliat fall at d presence of d children of isreal now fegulson nd his host stand as another goliat in d EPL but verysoon they ‘ll fall nd peace ‘ll be reign again, fuck u chatt, fuck u ferg.