by Nitram
As anyone who reads my ramblings may of noticed, recently I have recommended a blog called The Football Terrace, headed up by a Man Utd fan named Terry Flewers. He is very fair, but more importantly, on our side when it comes to calling out the media bias against Arsenal. A media bias that amazingly is still denied by many.
What’s more he has dozens of video clips to draw from, that expose the blatant hypocrisy and lies they spout about Arsenal on a daily basis, including of course, the lies about us cheating at corners that have surfaced, following the Raya incident.
The world and his dog have gone into meltdown about it. Accusations of cheating referees and VAR operators are everywhere. The PGMOL is corrupt. Apparently, they are all in on a conspiracy to get Arsenal to win the Premier League. Ex-pro’s such as Rio Ferdinand and Casper Schmichel, to name but two, are on record as saying “Arsenal have been getting away with that kind of assault on the keeper ALL season”, which is clearly nonsense.
We all know the number of decisions that go against us far outweighs those that go for us. Yes, of course, we get lucky on occasion, but the balance is skewed dramatically against us, as is born out by the ridiculously wonky penalty stats over the last 20 years.
But why is that? My contention has always been that referees know how much Arsenal are hated by the media, and as such are well aware of the ramifications for giving anything remotely debatable in our favour. They will be slaughtered on SKY, TNT, Talkshite and all across the written media, not to mention throughout the Blogosphere, should such an errant call be made. They know that giving tight, even some more obvious calls in our favour, is always going to get them in trouble with the media. And the thing is, how they are judged by the media is the match day officials and the PGMOL’s main concern. How they actually apply the Laws Of The Game is secondary.
When we see Terry Flewers analysis of the Raya incident on TFT, it appears to suggest, though I doubt he would go quite as far as me, that I am not the only one who thinks that.
During his analysis of the Raya incident, Terry specifically praised the ‘bravery’ of the VAR man, Darren England, I believe, for drawing the referee’s attention to the foul. Obviously, ‘brave’ has to be taken in context. Despite what Shankley said, it is only football. His point was, Darren England clearly knew, that despite there being a clear foul, he would get slaughtered in the media if he gave an incorrect, or even a debatable call in Arsenal’s favour. In other words, Terry obviously thinks the media hatred and biased reporting of Arsenal clearly put pressure on Darren England to make the call AGAINST Arsenal.
This is what I’ve been saying for years. This is what I mean when I say the media run football. If a relatively high-profile Man Utd fan/blogger concedes that VAR were under pressure from the media (if only subliminal), to make a call against Arsenal, then surely that pressure could be felt by every referee and VAR assistant, in every match?
As I have said before, it isn’t about a conspiracy by referees. Or brown envelopes. Maybe not even about cheating in its crudest sense. It’s about referees being human and simply taking the path of least resistance. Making the decision that will get them praise on SKY, TNT, Talksport and in the written press, is an obvious path for them to take.
As we have witnessed many times, when it comes to massive critical calls in Arsenal’s favour, even when they are correct, they are going to land you in hot water. Now, just imagine if you expand that mindset to every 50/50 60/40 40/60 call a referee has to make for Arsenal across a season, and you begin to see why we may not get those 50/50 penalty calls that our closest rivals get. That is why our penalty stats over the last 20-plus years are so skewed in comparison to our direct rivals. And yes, I know, because again it’s all over the media, that we have four Penalties for and none against this season, but it’s still only four penalties we’ve received. Last year, Liverpool had nine penalties for and just 1 against, and not a word from the media.
If we are to concede, as Terry appears to do, that how the media would react to his on-field decision would have been in the officials’ thought process, we really do have a problem. And if that is indeed the case, why wouldn’t that apply to every call, in every match? Surely that is a distinct possibility?
And just to give an example of the different media reactions you get depending on who is involved, in one weekend, we had three potential red cards for Man City in their clash with Brentford, two of them pretty stone wall, and they have hardly had a mention in the media! Yet one CORRECT call goes for Arsenal and all hell breaks loose. Calls of cheating officials. Bent PGMOL. It’s a conspiracy. Well, if there is a conspiracy for Arsenal, why then weren’t the Man City players sent of against Brentford, as they should of been?
A final word:
TFT put up £10K for anyone who could show an incident of Arsenal getting away with the same foul as was committed on Raya. Nobody came forward.
To paraphrase what was said on TFT: “VAR and the Referee were under enormous pressure to make the call AGAINST Arsenal because they knew what the entire media wanted.”
IT SHOULD NOT BE LIKE THAT
TFT put up £10K for anyone who could show an incident of Arsenal getting away with the same foul as was committed on Raya. Nobody came forward.
To paraphrase what was said on TN: “VAR and the Referee were under enormous pressure to make the call AGAINST Arsenal because they knew what the entire media wanted”
IT SHOULD NOT BE LIKE THAT
I wrote that all a while ago but hadn’t sent it as I thought I had. I rectified that this morning. But as you can see it sounds as if it could of been written immediately after the West Ham match, which indeed it was.
Never the less, the time that has elapsed since has just strengthened what I said.
We get a stone wall foul against Raya given in our favour and still they bang on about it today.
We had 2 possible reds go our way, Gabriel at City and Havartz against Burnley, and again the media are in melt down about it. Now, I concede both could of been red cards. They were 50/50, even 40/60 if you want. But they were NOT clear an obvious errors and therefore could not be overturned by VAR. That is the rules. That is NOT Arsenal cheating.
Plus of course, we see other teams, including Man City, getting away with at least as much, at least as often and it is brushed over by the media. No media outcry. Therefore no public outcry.
So, here we have it again. Referees err in Arsenals favour on a couple of tight calls, rightfully rule out a goal in our favour, and the media and blog’s have gone into overdrive with there accusations of a conspiracy to let Arsenal win the PL. Referees and VAR are all cheats. This season should have an asterisks beside it.
In other words, the PGMOL and referees should be in no doubt. The message from the media is, tow the anti Arsenal line or we will destroy you.
I dread to think what will be coming our way next season. Time will tell.