How was the ref – and one club finds a way around FFP constraints

 

 

• Are Tottenham Hotspur really a big club? An Untold enquiry.
• Teams making the most progress and biggest collapses in recent games

By Tony Attwood

Prior to yesterday’s games, two different points of view about the referee were put about.  One came from the Sun newspaper (I use the word lightly) and it said, “The appointment of Peter Bankes for the power-keg Premier League showdown between Arsenal and Manchester City lacks common sense.

“Gunners fans are up in arms because Bankes is from Merseyside and has an affiliation with the Liverpool County Football Association.”

The other commentary came from Untold Arsenal which said, “Sunday’s referee likes home wins, sees few fouls and waves lots of cards”.   Our hope particularly came from the fact that 57.1% of Bankes’ matches this season before last night were home wins.

Now obviously I don’t know where the Sun writers found the supporters who were up in arms.  We don’t know how many they were, or who they were but I didn’t meet any.   And indeed it does look as if the Sun simply made this up.

And why would they do that?  Well, most likely because after the anticipated defeat of Arsenal they expected, they could write another story, heightening the tension, then getting some Arsenal supporters who don’t realise they are being led along a dodgy path (in order for the paper to get a story without bothering with all that research malarky), to complain, and then the Sun has another story without the tea-boy who makes this stuff up, leaving the office.

The great shame about this is not so much that Arsenal supporters are being misled – that is just a part of life – but rather that it covers up the real story which is that there are home referees and away referees as our figures before each match show.

It is a plot that is adopted through all the media, either because the journalists all follow each other or because they simply don’t understand what is going on.  Robert Jones for example has run 22 Premier Leaguegames this season and recorded 63.6% home wins.  Paul Tierney has run 25 Premier League games this season and has recorded 36% as home wins.   Which referee would you sooner have for the next Arsenal home game?

And of course the refusal of the media to debate this point does increasingly look as if the PGMO has asked or told them not to.

But on the other hand, there is a certain awareness of just how good Arsenal’s transfers and youth policies are, as the Telegraph finally admits “With Rodri still on the sidelines, City simply do not possess a central midfielder with Rice’s range, athleticism and aggression and their power deficit was evident again at the Emirates on Sunday.”

The Guardian talks of Manchester City’s “collapse like an inadequately constructed French meringue,” which again shows that while newspapers will not discuss the key issue of the possibly subconscious but nevertheless present bias of referees, they can still have a sense of humour on occasion.

Meanwhile, the question begins to arise, could Tottenham go down?   I ask that not because of their position in the league today (they are 14th) but because in the league tables based on the last ten games they are actually 17th.  And since the clubs that are 18th, 19th, 20th in the league all go down, Tottenham still have a chance of fulfilling our dreams.

They are still knocking in the goals, but are conceding even more.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
16	Manchester U	10	3	1	6	11	19	-8	10
17	Tottenham Ho	10	2	1	7	20	22	-2	7
18	Ipswich To	10	2	1	7	9	24	-15	7
19	Southampton	10	1	1	8	7	24	-17	4
20	Leicester Ci	10	1	1	8	6	25	-19	4

 

It does indeed look as if no one has ever told Tottenham that part of the game of football involves defence.  And in saying that of course I am not suggesting that anyone should tell them.  I really do think we should let them carry on in their own special way and see where it leads.  And they can perhaps swap notes with ManU as well, as they go along.

But there is one really weird story that is emerging, this again from the Telegraph.

“Juma Bah, an 18-year-old central defender from Sierra Leone, joined City after paying his own €6 million (£5 million) release clause to free himself from his contract at struggling Spanish club Real Valladolid. City then reimbursed him the money.”

Now why would ManC do that?  After all, the amount of money they are dishing out is the same whether they pay the other club in the conventional manner, or the player to refund him.

In fact, if ManC pay the club that counts as a transfer fee as part of FFP calculations.  But if they pay the player that is salary, and that is not something that clubs can be hauled up for in the same way.

Clever isn’t it, and it’s probably not against the rules, but it is a way around FFP constraints, and who would have thought that?

Has anyone told the Premier League?   Oh yes, it seems they have.