By Tony Attwood
Have Arsenal sunk lower than we thought?” That was the screaming healing in the Daily Telegraph yesterday. To be fair the article below it suggested nothing of the kind. In fact it didn’t suggest much at all. But it show just how close the Telegraph, once a serious newspaper, has slipped as it looks at all the little blogs with their headlines and sees them not as a warning but a role model.
But watching the Leicester game last night I did have a passing thought along the lines of “Has refereeing sunk lower than we thought?”
Referees don’t give us explanations, and neither does PGMO, which is a shame in this era of mass analysis of everything, but from my seat in the stands if very much looked to me as if Mike Jones, ably aided and abetted by Messers Scholes, McDonough and Taylor really ought to be charged this morning with bringing refereeing into disrepute. He could then give us an explanation for his refereeing of this match.
At the start the officials were not too bad but then as time passed strange things started to happen, culminating in a moment when Giroud was booked for having his back to the goalkeeper.
The heavy tackles came in, without any action by the ref. Decisions which looked like they should have gone one were either not taken or given completely the other. As Walter pointed out in the last article with one example, fairly obvious offences were not given.
We didn’t expect there to be much in the way of action to stop the arrival of the thirty second goalkick (from the moment the keeper picks up the ball to the moment he kicks it) but after a while, as more and more odd decisions mounted up we stopped even noticing that minor irritation.
Type III refereeing describes a situation in which one club wants to inhibit the progress of another. So a club (we’ll call them Club X) approaches a few referees and says, “that summer family holiday in Italy at the luxury villa just along the way from Giorgio Armani’s country home… it’s yours. Just helps us out a little in slowing down Arsenal and… ” Several teams might be named at this point.
Such a request can be made at any time in the season – and the requests can change as the season progresses.
Helping out means giving free kicks the wrong way, denying obvious handballs in the area, allowing atrocious tackles without reprimand, being lopsided with the card giving.
Obviously if the side you are trying to stop is simply so far ahead that they can’t be caught the ref doesn’t do anything at all, in order to protect his reputation – in Type III match fixing he acts when the chance is there and there’s no punishment for the ref if he fails to obey orders in each and every game.
Type III match fixing is incredibly hard to stop, because, as I suggested above, it is not continuously delivered to support one particular team, but can be used to stop several other teams. And it is not delivered in every match. If Arsenal are three up after half an hour, the ref will deliver a perfectly reasonable and fair game.
If we look at the league table this morning we can see that any of the teams from position two to eight can be hoping they will sneak into the Champions League positions. (Funny, they are not a trophy, but isn’t it interesting how hard everyone tries to win this non-trophy).
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
GD
|
Pts
|
|||
|
1
|
Chelsea
|
24
|
17
|
5
|
2
|
54
|
21
|
33
|
56
|
|
|
2
|
Man City
|
24
|
14
|
7
|
3
|
47
|
24
|
23
|
49
|
|
|
3
|
Southampton
|
24
|
14
|
3
|
7
|
38
|
17
|
21
|
45
|
|
|
4
|
Arsenal
|
25
|
13
|
6
|
6
|
47
|
28
|
19
|
45
|
|
|
5
|
Man United
|
24
|
12
|
8
|
4
|
40
|
23
|
17
|
44
|
|
|
6
|
Tottenham
|
25
|
13
|
4
|
8
|
39
|
34
|
5
|
43
|
|
|
7
|
Liverpool
|
25
|
12
|
6
|
7
|
36
|
29
|
7
|
42
|
|
|
8
|
West Ham
|
24
|
10
|
7
|
7
|
36
|
28
|
8
|
37
|
|
So any of those teams could be engaging in this activity. But they need some other things – as well as a compliant referee. They also need a system of referee control which is secretive, they need a very limited number of referees so that the refs there are will get the same clubs quite often in the season, and they need a system where at the end of their careers all the referees are paid a bonus to ensure their silence.
Plus of course, absolutely no public examination of referees’ actions within matches.
So additionally they need broadcasters and media outlets to be compliant, not showing anything and certainly not commentating on anything that might suggest anything is amiss. (Indeed the fact that the media is so compliant in this regard is another little bit of evidence that things are not right). This is achieved by ensuring that the media needs football and that the footballing world never turns its back on this league. So there must be instructions not to show certain incidents at all, not to show some in replays and never ever to comment on the fact that the referee was doing odd things. And the media needs to pay lots of money up front to football to get the rights to show the games.
Interestingly, as we returned up the M1 last night, Blacksheep and I were talking, not directly about this, but about the one commentator who used to touch on refereeing a lot: Alan Green.
If you recall the broadcaster Alan Green who works for Radio Five Live, he used to criticise referees all the time for their awful mistakes, often shouting into the microphone, “how did he not see that?” and “I know I’m not supposed to criticise referees all the time, but that was atrocious.”
Then a few years back there was a moment when it seemed his career was at an end after he said that he could no longer “believe the propaganda that comes out of the Manchester United manager’s office”. He later said of Ferguson that he “either bullies or frightens. It’s the way he exerts his control over the media. He would be a fantastic propaganda minister. He knows how to manipulate and some of my colleagues take it in.”
There were many, many other spats. Sam Allerdyce banned him from Bolton’s home games (which was probably quite a relief to Mr Green) – and that was just one of a number of incidents. But then suddenly Green’s style changed, and he stopped criticising referees, and suggesting that managers were going to far. One wonders why. But over the years the commentaries on the radio have got blander and blander until there is no suggestion that things are wrong. Chit chat between the commentator and co-commentator has replaced any analysis. Which is, I guess, why increasingly it is the managers who are taking up the protests.
Of course I can’t prove that Type III match fixing went on yesterday. I don’t have a tape of the owner of one of the top clubs saying, “anything you can do to keep Arsenal down…” all I can say is that from position in the upper North Bank, that is most certainly what it looked like. Nothing more. It just looked all wrong.
Another anniversary of the day:
11 February 1905: Debut of Andy Ducat v Blackburn. He won caps for football and cricket, and was eventually sold to Aston Villa in 1912 for £1000, as part of the cost-cutting measures as the club prepared to move to Highbury.
Our players are kicked to pieces in every game, it’s no wonder we can’t sustain a half decent run because of injuries? It’s one way to slow a team down.
A bit miffed why Arsenal don’t threaten legal action or complain to the useless FA?
Looks can be deceiving of course, but Mike Jones seems like the type who might have a problem chewing gum and running at the same time. He’s not alone either. There’s a whole bunch of PL referees , who look like they never kicked a football in their life, and aren’t very athletic at all.
This may seem like a superficial way of judging one’s ability to do their job, but when your job requires clever movement and positioning at speed, then not really.
I don’t know what the racial make up of the British population is, but I’ve always wondered why there aren’t any black referees in the English game. There are planty of black British players who are considered to be at the top of their profession, why not the referees then?
With all the new riches flowing in to the PL and it’s global popularity on the constant rise , the all time low level of referring should be on everyone’s agenda. It’s getting to be ambarasing really.
Jones’ performance ( if you can call it that) was just sad.
Where there is smoke there is fire!
Tom
You don’t even have to talk about training people from nothing. All EPL referees were born in England. How likely is it that someone who has been a referee elsewhere in the world has not moved to England? They already have some training as a referee, if necessary they could get more.
A couple of quotes from ESPN (the world wide leader in being ESPN) from the playre ratings section:
> MF Santi Cazorla, 6 — Suffered a number of cynical fouls, but the referee was content to keep his cards in his pocket allowing them to keep doing it.
> FW Olivier Giroud, 7 — Really put himself about and won a lot of headers. Picked up the most ridiculous booking of the season, and that’s saying something given how bad referees have been across the board.
Tony, After 40 plus years as an engineer, designing, building and maintaining sewerage systems I can say with confidence that if it looks like sh-t, smells like sh-t then almost certainly it is sh-t!
Yeah I think it is time for arsenal to do something! Its getting way out of hand I really do not want to see another leg break!
The cynical way teams facing arsenal have been allowed to cheat has been going on for along time, remember the penalty rooney got for manure to stop the unbeaten run. How many years ago is it now ?
You have to remember that arsenal are a “marmite” club as in you either love them or hate them.
Most hate arsenal.
More hate wenger
The press hate wenger
Do the fa hold a grudge against arsenal from when David dien was around.
Do the fa despise arsenal/wenger for trying to play continental style of football and not your traditional thuggery that stoke play.
The press will speak up about poor reffing but only if it’s against Liverpool. How many other clubs has a ref apologised too?
The ref was criticised for his performance between city and liverpool last season because it cost liverpool points.
Arsenal players have had broken legs and impact injuries from shocking tackles and nothing is said.
It’s not right it happens
It’s not right there is silence from the press and tv media
all I want and I suspect everyone else wants is a game reffed properly, every time.
ITS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN
Gord – In the Sunday League I used to play in they recruited alleged former top flight referees from other countries who had moved to the UK for extraneous reasons. If the refs could get £60+ cash in hand (more today) for doing 3 games over a weekend that would help them a lot given that many were refugees or otherwise impoverished.
I have to say that I thought the standard was generally dreadful! Nevertheless, they were now in the English refereeing system so I don’t see why they could not have progressed through (rapidly presumably given they were already high level in their native countries) – but never seen any evidence of foreign refs rising to the professional Leagues.
I would be quite happy if the top European Leagues traded referees. Should help across the board.
Pete
I once proposed that all FIFA countries nominate a “team” of officials, who would be put in a pool. Each team would be assigned to a country that wasn’t their home country, to work as a team in a “foreign” league.
This is slightly difficult, as most of those officials have “day jobs”, and this would mean being able to either take a year off work, or to be transfered.
But it would spread experience in officiating.
Main reaction I get when I ask about the hate for arsenal, we are smug and Wenger being french
I think the next topic is how are refs trained to the currently level so that can be exposed the level of incompentence
Pete/Gord
I have proposed this European pool of Referees idea myself a few times, the latest time being on here last week.
Even if it was a pool made up of Referees from say just the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, it would help.
Any FA that wanted to be part of it could contribute Referees and share randomly from the ‘pool’.
But there are many obstacles.
a) Why would Spain, Germany etc. want to use our crap Referees?
b) The vested interests in this Country actually want this small, malleable group of Referees.
c) Our Media seem to actually believe our referees are sooooooooo superior to those useless foreign Referees.
We have this small group of crap Referees that pander to the medias every whim because that’s what the media want, and the media run football in this Country.
Jambug
In the case of England, they could pay for some other country to use them.
—
The BBC is reporting, that now an ex coach of Wales is saying that Wenger is responsible for Ramsey getting injured, and that Ramsey should join another team.
Isn’t there some parable about ex-coaches should be seen, and not heard?
Va Cong
The main reason I get is because of Wenger.
They cite he:
– never stops whinging
– I did not zee it
We know these are both myths perpetuated by the media. It has in fact been suggested on here many times that Wenger doesn’t whinge enough. AS for ‘I did not see (zee) it’, we all know EVERY manager, at one time or another says this because a) it is true or b) they want to protect there player. Wenger is no better or worse than anyone else but is only him to whom the accusation is addressed.
They also still mention Pires and say we are ‘divers’ suggesting he and Henry where 2 of the worst in the PL ever.
Again a total myth perpetuated by the media. Gerrard, Rooney, Bale and many more are/where far far worse than either of those 2.
They say we are dirty, pointing out the Red Cards and suggest that Vieira was one of the dirtiest players ever in the PL.
Again, another fallacy. Whos had all the broken legs? How many legs have we broken?
I’ve even had people say ‘I cant stand all that ‘tippy tappy’ shit you play’
No, they much rather cheer the Taylors and Shawcrosses of this World braking players legs.
My point is most of the hatred for Arsenal is a result of years and years of media propaganda to show us in a bad light in almost every aspect of the game. The sad fact is if you tell people something often enough they usually end up believing it.
Jambug
Spot on.
Actually, I noticed another trend in the last two games – both in which Arsenal have scored first.
The referees seem to be having reasonable games till we score.
Things go downhill from that point on!
You are right Jambug, I was told the whinging wenger thing I always ask when was the last time that he moaned? pause no answer!! Gord what you say about Ramsey is true someone needs to be shot!
Gord
“The BBC is reporting, that now an ex coach of Wales is saying that Wenger is responsible for Ramsey getting injured, and that Ramsey should join another team.”
Standard media bullshit. We win and get back above there beloved Spurs so they HAVE to find something to have a go at.
You can bet your life they just asked as many people as they needed until they found someone prepared to point the finger at Wenger.
The sad truth is, once they’ve loaded the gun with the bullets they want to shoot Wenger with they are guaranteed to find someone to pull the trigger, because if all else fails there’s always old faithful, Robson.
Our media. Sad and pathetic doesn’t even scratch the surface.
Jambug
[ humour ]
I was watching the game, and I seen Wenger swing a field hockey stick at the back of Ramsey’s leg as he ran past. So it is definitely Wenger’s fault.
[ /humour ]
Even the write ups about Kane are funny. Wenger was asked about Kane, and Wenger gave an answer. I suppose some other managers were asked as well. All of a sudden, the media is going to build the team around Kane, and all the existing strikers will be taken around back and shot.
Oh well, back to fighting with man pages and writing.
So, Kane wore an Arsenal shirt as a kid. That’s a mahoosive story to idiots like Ashton & co!
zzzzzzzzzzz
Gord –
That Verheijen bloke has been discredited before.
Players get injured – it happens.
I think we have proved on this site in the past that the big increase in injuries since about 2008 are unrelated (or very weakly related) to training methods. Logically, Arsenal’s training methods have likely to have evolved steadily over time given that the backroom team have been very stable. However there is a possible correlation with the departure of the previous physio and doc at this time.
I do think that Forsythe will have an improvement over the longer term – but probably won’t really kick in until next season.
Pete
I was kind of hoping, that part of the reason why Szczesny and Wilshere are “taking longer” to come back into play, was that Forsythe was being given a little time to work with them before bringing them back, seeing as we have “excess” personnel.
—
I also seen a number of stories about Podolski being surprised that he will be coming back to Arsenal in the summer. It was only ever a loan, so he always was coming back. But, Podolski was spending too much time on the bench for the national team. He comes to Arsenal, and is spending too much time on the bench. He gets loaned to Italy, plays a couple of games and then starts spending time on the bench. Lowe, Wenger and Mancini are accomplished managers. What does Podolski think the problem is? The one constant in all of this bench sitting, is him. The important point (for me), is where were all the news articles coming from when he first got to Italy. If he was spouting all this bad stuff, I would imagine he won’t be staying at Arsenal. But then again, I’m not Wenger. And it is up to him.
On the Sky edited highlights last night the Giroud “incident” and the resulting incomprehensible yellow card were not shown – that would fit very nicely with the Type 111 match fixing described above; but, so would the missed penalty and the missed thug tackles which Jones let go.
I have re-watched the tackle which injured Sanchez – while I will defer to Walter’s view, to me this tackle looked like a deliberate attempt to injure.
Sanchez seems to be the No1 target for opposition thuggery every match – does his leg have to be brocken before he gets protection?
The worrying thing is that the refereeing by the PGMO vipers is not improving and with particular regard to Arsenal it is still (season after season) putting our players in danger.
The appalling refereeing could well be the result of an influence comparable to Type 111 match fixing – if so that type of match fixing must have been around for quite a few years.
I noted a report that old Red Nose is still on the payroll – which seemed strange – can anyone confirm this?
Riley’s reluctance to bring in video technology to assist refs would seem to make it difficult for him to claim that he is not aiding (by failing to take steps to prevent) the possibility of Type 111 fixing.
FA Regulations
Appendix C, Page 159, Rules for Referees 2014-2015
PGMOL
The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd is responsible for officials operating in the Premier League, Football League and Panel Leagues.
Appendix A is the Club report on the referee.
Appendix B is the club marking of the referee.
The question is, what happens to these reports?
Notoverthehill
I think the head of the FA has a cat. He uses those reports to line the kitty litter box. 🙂
—
Campbell is on the subs bench for the game against Barcelona.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31301152
Mike Dean is the ref for the Middlesborough FA Cup game on Sunday
Villa just sacked Lambert.
This Verheijen fellow is quite keen to get his name in the press. The problem is that he is burning bridges by doing so. At last count he has criticized the training methods of Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, ManU and Man City. It would seem that nobody knows how to take care of injured players nor how to train them save for…himself.
usama, you got to be joking????
Interesting that about Alan Green, who incidently seems to despise Arsenal, changing his tack. Sounds like he probably was reeled in and asked if he likes his job. Like it or not most of us who are consultants in a commercial world outside the public sector have to compromise our values every day, and our careers and livelihoods depend on doing just that. I guess the pgmo, consultants to the Premier League are no different. With so much money at stake it can be life threatening. Believe me as a consultant in oil and gas industry, i know.
I think we need to take some kind of action as fans. I know it’s hard to coordinate but this has got to stop. They’re getting bolder and bolder, before it was like one decision against us all match but now it’s like 10 or more per game. And I can’t see it getting better if they have been doing it for 10 years or so without being challenged. All that’s necessary for evil to prevail is good men do nothing.
Should Type 111 match fixing be taking place, the interesting question would be – which club(s) are not being screwed over?
Unfortunately Walter, the only person laughing at this joke is still Mike Riley.
Referee Michael Dean
Assistant Referees Stuart Burt & Andrew Garratt
Fourth Official Oliver Langford
http://www.thefa.com/thefacup/more/match-officials
Our 3rd time getting Dean this year.
He’s already done 3 United games as well (1 vs us)!
City 3 times (1 vs us)!
Chelsea twice already as well.
Examples in recent threads about how wenger has stood up against these refs at times, and has certainly paid the price, he may still pay it, along with Primorac over the Marseilles exposure. He is more silent, but more calculated now. But essentially, wenger is a purist , a romantic, and ultimately,you don’t use a romantic to take down the mafia. I hope our cause against these refs is being taken on by execs, but I suspect it is not. They may be taking wenger for granted on delivering. If they cannot, or will not take this on, as I said yesterday, bring in someone who can, they will not have to look far.
There are many clubs who may use type three against us. They are all media darlings, all have very wealthy and influential fans, some of the richest clubs in the world , two very well versed in bullying tactics , a couple of them,…..well, wenger has cost them a fortune keeping them out of the champions league for the most part….for so many years. Few tears would be shed outside purists and supporters if we dropped out of the top four, even some of our own so called fans would be delighted. The media would have a field day.
The fact is, after yesterday’s TV rights announcement, the stakes just got even higher. Wenger can do a lot but he can’t take on the world. He needs help from upstairs, just wish out execs would stop giving the appearance of meek acceptance of an unacceptable status quo, and one that will cost the club dearly if some who may or may not be behind this get their way.
Re Dean for the FA Cup.
It is very important for the FA that Arsenal remain in the competition. The only other ‘name’ teams left are MU and Liverpool. The FA will very much want a final with two of those three teams in it.
The real danger will be in the final where there will be a strong preference for MU (resurgence starts here!) or Liverpool (Gerrards fairytale ending).
But, hey, I could be completely wrong. Dean may just hate us. But should be no PL influence…
Interestingly, I can’t recall which team Dean supports? Guess either Liverpool or Everton? May make a difference to whether or not he wants Arsenal to progress.
The other 7 appointments
1 Crystal Palace FC v Liverpool FC (5.30pm)
Referee Robert Madley – West Yorkshire
Assistant Referees John Brooks & Harry Lennard
Fourth Official Michael Jones
2 Arsenal v Middlesbrough FC Sunday 15 Feb (4pm)
Referee Michael Dean
Assistant Referees Stuart Burt & Andrew Garratt
Fourth Official Oliver Langford
3 Aston Villa FC v Leicester City FC Sunday 15 Feb (12.30pm)
Referee Mark Clattenburg – County Durham
Assistant Referees Jake Collin & Constantine Hatzidakis
Fourth Official Roger East
4 West Bromwich Albion FC v West Ham United (12.45pm)
Referee Martin Atkinson – West Yorkshire
Assistant Referees Gary Beswick & Stephen Child
Fourth Official Christopher Foy
5 Bradford City FC v Sunderland AFC Sunday 15 Feb (2.30pm)
Referee Kevin Friend – Leicestershire
Assistant Referees Simon Beck & Lee Betts
Fourth Official Christopher Kavanagh
6 Blackburn Rovers FC v Stoke City FC
Referee Anthony Taylor – Cheshire
Assistant Referees Darren Cann & Scott Ledger
Fourth Official Andre Marriner
7 Derby County FC v Reading FC
Referee Craig Pawson
Assistant Referees Mark Scholes & Daniel Cook
Fourth Official David Coote
8 Preston North End FC v Manchester United FC Monday 16 Feb (7.45pm)
Referee Philip Dowd – Staffordshire
Assistant Referees Michael Mullarkey & David Bryan
Fourth Official David Webb
Pete, Dean is a Liverpool supporter….so he cannot do Liverpool games, though a fondness for spurs under Arry has been detected on this site back in the day. A strange one, that. but raises the question on reffing games that could impact Liverpool, arsenal going out would increase Liverpools chances certainly….actually, probably not fair to even go there. We just need to trust refs, but under Riley, that is impossible.
It has been noted on this that in the FA Cup, the refs can appear to operate freely, as if they are not under orders, we can but hope.
Wonder if the Sky BT deal has clauses in the event of a match fixing situation coming to light? This would wipe billions off the product should it happen.
If there are any such clauses based on the guarantee of a clean league, they had better get rid of mike Riley, because, though he is clearly a protected species for now, he isn’t even subtle.
If there are such scandals within our league, I am sure jealous type from continental Europe, and further afield would love to have them exposed.
@Mandy Of course, it is standard for ‘ethics’ clauses to be put into contracts where your brand may be affected by the other party’s messes
I sent the ref preview to Tony earlier today, Cup or League, Dean is never good news and Middlesbrough are a good team.
You have to ask yourself if the execs want to take it on, or are they happy with their slice, their seat on the gravy train. Professional sport has become a seedy business.
Does make you wonder ThomB. Or maybe they know the consequences, guess we will never know. But I do wonder how a man as powerful as Ivan Gazidis can sit on all those committees and not raise a few issues.
Mandy Dodd,
The whole issue here is about English supremacy and corruption by a few. Ivan Gazidis is an South African. It can’t get any harder to raise any issues anywhere. Ivan was brought in for economical reasons and he has done brilliantly within the law of financial and within the ethics and moral of the club. I don’t think he is as good or rather a player in politics like David Dein.
It is an interesting point that other Leagues would have an interest in undermining the PL – particularly given the overwhelming wealth now in the English game. Only Read Mad, Barca, Bayern and PSG can still compete financially with the leading English clubs. Indeed, I understand that the entire PL are now in the global Top 40 of wealthiest clubs.
It is getting dangerously imbalanced from a European perspective.
Ob1977
“The level of refereeing against
us continues to somehow get worse, and to
those that say Arsene doesn’t do anything,
he in his press conference said “tackles
that we get” he keeps telling the media but
they don’t understand him or just leave it
alone, he’s not blatant but then the rules
don’t allow him to be.”
I sometimes am also sad coz Arsène doesn’t point out 2 d press d hacking down of our players,but I realize now that he actually is just applying wisdom. He said abt d push by arnautovic which led 2 debuchy’s injury as being totally unneeded, abt Atkinson not being up to scratch and so many others. Yet, d press ddnt emphasize it. I now absolutely believ that there r many things dirty with the referees and the FA. The only way to win our games 95% of the time is to be very better than the opposition. Arsène really does have his work cut out for him. But I hope that spurs him to produce the extraordinary. COYG. In arsène I trust.
If this blog honestly believes what it is saying, go to the media, go to SSN and book time in. Do something. Sitting here moaning is like pissing into the wind.
Yes, I believe we are on the end of a lot of very dodgy decisions but I don’t have a blog with masses of stats….
Football has gotten to the stage where a lot of data about player movement is gathered. Following the Leicester match, I saw a graph with the (six) passes Walcott completed with his exact position and the direction and length of the pass. Somewhere else I read Walcott made the most and fastest sprint (33km/h) in the first half of any player. Then we have heat maps, average position of the player, etc.
In short, technology is embraced for data gathering to extreme levels. Yet, when it comes to fair and just officiating of matches, the use of technology is scorned. Makes you wonder…
The talent pool for referees is at an all time low. Tuesday’s performance was inept. The cherry on top of the Belgian bun was Giroud’s booking. It was beyond poor. Beyond laughable.
By rarely communicating anything, let alone effectively when they do finally get around to saying something, PGMOL leave themselves open to accusations as put in this blog. I doubt much will change while money is still pouring into the Premier League as shown by Scudamore’s comments this week on the living wage. The attitude will be that nothing is broken. They should spend some of that money improving the standards of referees and enticing talent to becoming referees. Lastly, PGMOL needs to operate with complete transparency and until it does it will be open to accusations of wrong doing.
Where there’s a Will there’s no way!! Do you really think that some of us haven’t tried? The problem is even the BBC are complicit in ignoring truth. There was a time when the BBC was as close to the Oracle as skin but now it is toothless & queer.
Strange thing about Jones is that I am pretty sure there was a time he was one of the only refs who would treat us normally (i.e. you get some, you don’t get some).
I’m fairly certain he was a the ref who gave us penalties against West Brom and Norwich, one of which probably shouldn’t have been a pen- when someone swiped hard in Santi’s direction but appeared to make little contact- the other which was- grappling with Giroud- but which you rarely see given but especially not for Arsenal.
So, I thought, hmmm, someone doesn’t appear to be trying to cheat us. Then I backed the same ref for showing an understanding of justice and fairness, if not the laws themselves, in some hullabaloo last year when Fer committed epic bad sportsmanship by ‘scoring’ a goal after ball had been put out for his injured teammate.
So, still holding onto my belief Jones was a rare good guy. All the same, he was not backed for that one and was promptly demoted. My chronology may be wrong but I believe it was around then he was involved in a decision I strongly disliked. Tiote smashed in an unbelievably good goal against City, disallowed because a Newcastle player was in the box, though it looked like he was not in the keepers way, and the keeper had no chance whatsoever anyway. Ah, Jones, I thought, I expect better.
Then along came Stoke. I remember little from the match. Those experiences tend to be such agony these days my brain doesn’t take this much of them in, but I remember the penalty well enough. A truly crap decision and one which looked so familiar to me, that of a ref looking for an opportunity to go against us. Koscielny, jumping from an unbalanced starting position ,and so lopsided and with an arm in the air seeking to gain balanced; wham, Walters, in what may be the most accurate bit of play in his life, whacks it against his arm from a few yards. So much for Jones.
A week or so later, up at Stoke, just to add salt in the wounds, one of their players Muniesa, jumps with his hand in the air and makes contact with a ball which has travelled much further. No pen, of course.
Back to the present. The same ref, the very same ref, has a chance to give the home team a pen after a player clearly moves his arm to intercept a ball struck from not too far, but certainly further than the Koscielny one, but his interpretation of the laws has-surprise,surprise-changed.
Jones by this stage looks something of a haunted man out there. Put it all together, and it seems to me somebody had words with him a while back; the choice presented looks to have been, ‘this treating Arsenal normally thing has to go, or you do’.
The results speak for themselves. Jones now seems to be operating in the best traditions of a Riley man- from totally ignoring any rules exist for him to punish reckless play (Upson) to the absurd use of a talking to instead of a booking for one team, but of course not the other, and all the rest of it.
The cherry on the cake is that, having performed terribly the last time he refereed Leicester, giving them two dodgy pens when away at a big team (oh, to get those normal big team home benefits), whichever team were next to play against Leicester with jones reefing could consider themselves very unfortunate. This would be a man under huge pressure, and it would certainly be hard for him to give a big decision, especially a penalty or sending off, against a team he had so recently wronged. In other words a perfect example of why a big pool of refs is necessary. Or, in Riley world, let’s get him back reffing them soon, against….hmmm, Arsenal.
Well. Considering that PGMO representatives and others read the Untold reviews and the referee decisions website too and maybe even more (like Hackett 🙂 ) i think it’s fair to say that the only people showering themselves with their own excrment are idiots like “Will” above, as can be seen repetively. In their own words.
My favourite attempt at a previous insult to the readers and commentators here by the troll was to describe readers of the site as “Children”. I don’t mind kids myself. Hard work, but they can be funny. Unlike some. I mention no names.
I guess Will is/was a fan of Stuart Hall’s football plunditry alongside the likes of Barton’s and Neville Neville’s.
Type III Match-Fixing?
a) Unpunised hacks on Sanchez? Game after game?
b) Plundits on national televsision inciting their fellow professionals to cheat on the plunditry prigrammes with specific images and references assaults on Sanchez that would be reds if they were committed against a petro-club? e.g.: the contrast between Gervinho and Ivanovic ‘raising hands’.
If anyone can produce evidence of incitement to attack the players of any other football club in the UK, I’m all eyes and ears. Waiting with anticiapation.
It is, what it is.
“Type III refereeing describes a situation in which one club wants to inhibit the progress of another. So a club (we’ll call them Club X) approaches a few referees and says, “that summer family holiday in Italy at the luxury villa just along the way from Giorgio Armani’s country home… it’s yours. Just helps us out a little in slowing down Arsenal and… ” Several teams might be named at this point.”
Do you have ANY proof that this “type III refereeing” exists, or is it just a wild conspiracy theory that you’ve formulated?
“Such a request can be made at any time in the season – and the requests can change as the season progresses.”
So you’ve even got a set of terms and conditions for this figment of your imagination????
“Obviously if the side you are trying to stop is simply so far ahead that they can’t be caught the ref doesn’t do anything at all, in order to protect his reputation”
So, your logic means that if the ref is doing his job properly it can only be because Arsenal are winning comfortably? Not that there is no “type III refereeing”?
“Type III match fixing is incredibly hard to stop”
More importantly it’s also bloody difficult to prove a single damn word of this rubbish you’re spouting!
Will
In the late 90’s or early 00’s evidence was sent to the fa about the poor reffing decisions against arsenal. Nothing came if that.
If wenger or any manager (except Brenda) complains about a ref they will be charged.
There is no way of officially questioning a refereeing performance that I am aware of.
This is what I believe should be available. After a game, if a team feels that a ref was poor, that team should be able to write to the fa for an explanation.
Refereeing is the worst I have seen it in 40 years of watching football.
I watch alot of football from around the world and the standard of refereeing is most of the time worse. There seems to be a fundamental problem with refereeing And no establishment or association wants to acknowledge that there is a problem. Until one does we are going to go around in circles talking and writing about referees
with their own excrment are idiots like “Will” above, as can be seen repetively. In their own words.
My favourite attempt at a previous insult to the readers and commentators here by the troll was to describe readers of the site as “Children”. I don’t mind kids myself. Hard work, but they can be funny. Unlike some. I mention no names.
I guess Will is/was a fan of Stuart Hall’s football plunditry alongside the likes of Barton’s and Neville Neville’s.
Playing to the crowd?
Children, Will, idiots.
3 into 1 does work
Trapper, agree with all you say, and it may be hard to officially complain about this mafia, but if you scroll down on the link, you will see the bodies our CEO sits on…..surely he can have a quiet, behind the scenes word, or resign from these committees leaving nobody in any doubt as to why he has resigned…..without resorting to slander/libel of course?
http://www.arsenal.com/the-club/corporate-info/the-arsenal-board
Trapper it’s true: “Troll” is a more efficient and accurate use of language in this instance.
Same old same old turd.
Great article Tony. Many very revealing facts.
Trapper it’s true: “Troll” is a more efficient and accurate use of language in this instance.
Same old same old turd.
Your parents must be so proud.
Why the insults? Have I insulted you personally? Do you feel it is ok to insult someone? Would you say this to my face of do you feel safe behind a screen?
The dark tetrad expsoses itself. Yet again. In all it’s glory.
Or perhaps in the year 2014 it is unaware what an internet Troll is? What are the odds?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/10/internet_trolls_dark_tetrad_personality_defects/