By Tony Attwood
Today we publish two reports. This introduction s about how José Mourinho is waging his own battle against refereeing decisions. The next is about how the English model of utter secrecy in terms of referee inaccuracy is not the only one possible. About how other countries have come into the open and allowed everyone to debate refereeing, and to see exactly what is going on.
But first, the developing situation in England.
We now have a number of managers who will speak out when their team suffers in some way at the hands of a refereeing decision. Quite often they are then fined and warned about further conduct. If they do it again they are banned from the touchline. They tend to move into self-censorship after that.
The press have no time for such statements, calling them “rants”. No one defines a “rant”. A piece arguing a point in the media written by a journalist is not a “rant”. A strong argument by a manager is – that’s about as far as it goes.
The manager of Chelsea is however going further and I would ldare to suggest that eight years ago, before Untold started its week by week (sometimes day by day) campaign to have refereeing opened up in England, his actions would have be laughed at by the media.
Now they don’t know what to do. The Telegraph in particular is in a quandary, for while other papers do have stories about what he said, the paper which has of late reported several PGMO press release verbatim, is saying very little. There is an article, but it is tucked away and given no headline treatment on its web site.
The incident yesterday was one of retaliation – Matic sent off for pushing Barnes in response to a bad tackle. Mourinho’s argument is that the referee should have sent off Barnes earlier for two tackles, and Chelsea had two penalty appeals turned down. He is also as a sub-text suggesting this is happening all the time.
His response in the post-match interview (which sent the Sky Sports saturday afternoon team into hysterics for some reason) was “I prefer just to say that this game had four crucial moments: minutes 30, 33, 43 and 69. This is story of the game. I cannot comment because it is difficult for me not to say the truth.”
What the Sky Sports team did say however was that Mourinho was right – the tackle by Barnes on Branislav Ivanovic was a red card offence, Michael Kightly blocking a shot with his arm was a penalty, Diego Costa going down in the area was a penalty.
The media that have reported this also reported the response of Burnley manager, Sean Dyche, saying he was “absolutely flummoxed” by Mourinho’s comments.
So what Mourinho was saying was that he could state that there were four incidents, but say no more because otherwise he would be sanctioned.
That gives the FA and their PGMO buddies a problem. If they do nothing then all any manager has to do is copy Mourninho and go around saying “Minute 69” or whatever.
Football is now an entertainment industry worth billions. Sky’s billions write the script for this entertainment industry. Sky dont want the viewers to know the ending too early. Therefore the PGMO are playing out their part of the script as directed by the script writers. Expect citeh to claw back the deficit to create a suspenseful and exciting finale. The same for thr remaining CL places- the script is in progress on a weekly basis, determined by results. Simples.
This really goes against the grain as I never want to hear him speak but Mourinho should have stood on a chair and shouted at the top of his voice about the truly awful decisions in the match and dare the F.A to charge him,Our manager could also take a leaf from this book and start saying it as it is about the cheating/inept muppets who mug us up every week,or how about the club employs an ex-referee ( step forward Walter?) who analyses bad decisions each match and gives it both barrels to the PGMO. TV appeals and neutral top referees from other countries are surely inching closer?
Dean giving penalties in Arsenal games?
Atkinson showing Gazprom corp. no favours?
Did a former head of the PGMO make a public call for the sacking of the current incumbent in the not too distant past? 😉 I wonder.
As for Mourinhio’s outbursts when City have been observed to suffer more from errors this season? I refer to the second paragraph above again:
Master Riley: “I have a cunning plan” ?
Interesting post Tony, we certainly had the rub of the green yesterday, coq could easily have seen red, penalty was outside and 2nd was offside. Thank you refs, been a long time coming.
If any of you guys watched the Nice – Monaco match, the straight red card given to the Monaco player was not even up to half of what was done to Matic! Why can’t England referees be reasonable?
I’m of the minority of Arsenal fans who actually like Jose ( he’s the complete antithesis of Arsené ), and don’t think he has an agenda other than fighting Chelsea’s corner. This new tactic is excellent, but I’m sure the FA will find a way of charging him and long may he continue as a lighting rod for absorbing their fines and bans.
Not really Fred, both were the linesman’s decisions rather than Clattenberg’s, (although he was pretty even handed yesterday), and you needed a video to see them clearly, (hey, there’s an idea, video replays), and Ozil was onside when he “scored” …
BNG
A lot of gravitas is given to a ‘rant’ depending on how the media report the said ‘rant’.
I think we all know if Wenger had done what Mourhino did yesterday there is no way MOTD would of stood behind him on every point.
Take a look at the debacle at OT in 2004, especially the assault by RVN on Ashley Cole, a very similar tackle to that on Matic yesterday, to see the difference in the sympathy, or lack of it, on that occasion.
We got absolutely NO sympathy following that match.
In fact we got nothing but ridicule for being such a bunch of whinging foreign wimps.
Even when we had players legs broken we got very little sympathy.
Wenger/Arsenal have absolutely no chance of securing the medias support in any way, with regards to the weekly assault fest perpetrated against our players, and without it there is no chance of anything changing.
I do think Mourhino has/is over playing his hand somewhat here, and although he has had some good points, they are often lost in a maelstrom of whinge whinge whinge. But, as shown on MOTD last night he does still get support from some quarters, which is certainly more than Wenger would ever get.
Any ‘rants’ from Wenger would be like ‘pissing in the wind’ and would almost certainly end up working against us.
Whether Mourhinos ‘rants’ end up helping or hindering Chelsea in the long term is I believe still open to debate.
Well I dont know if anyone is “giving” Mourinho a stage – he is doing what he does, and that’s those mind games and working around the media. It had backfired a couple of times in the past, but it seems like there is mostly stuff to gain.
Now regardless of the utter despise I have for the man – he IS complaining about REFS which had made clear MISTAKES against his club.
Why shouldn’t we try doing the same? If there is a campaign against the KGB, then clearly there is a mega campaign against us …
Whatever is going on, first completely anti-Arsenal, now being nice to Arsenal, whoooa.
Something is brewing and i hope it is our turn this season.
I think they are trying to even out the points at the top end of PL “to make it a little more “exciting for TV” in the final phase”.
was Barnes even tackling Matic? it looks like he was just making a pass…
not seen other accidents, but Mourinho has made wild allegations in the past, a fair response from PGMO on every accident would have certainly helped
also, somewhat on-topic, nice article about Arsenes days in Monaco http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/feb/21/arsenal-arsene-wenger-scarred-monaco-marseille
just seen Barnes foul on Ivanovic, nothing spectacular, Arsenal receives a couple of those every game
TailGunner
Personally I cannot stand Mourhino, but more importantly, I cannot stand the way the media have there heads buried so far up his backside they’re in danger of emerging out of his permanently open mouth.
They’re like giggling, starry eyed girls laughing at the school heartthrobs every joke, and hanging on his every word.
Yes, he may get the odd fine, but what the hells that to him?
More importantly are his allies in the media. Whilst he still has THEM on his side, then he has every chance that his incessant accusations of a campaign against him has of seeping into the minds of the Referees.
The kudus given to his ‘rants’ by his friends in the media is vital to whether it works or not.
At the moment that support is at a crossroads.
If it wains, and he ends up being ridiculed he will lose. If it grows and he can build up a media head of steam in support of his theory of an anti Chelsea campaign, he will win.
As I have said before, these ‘mind games’ (for want of a better phrase) are not so much about what is said, or by whom, but about how they are portrayed in the media.
That is, sadly, how pivotal media support, or lack of it, is in this.
Sky are giving the Poisonous One a lot of air time this morning on “Goals on Sunday” where his complaints are being thoroughly aired.
Bearing in mind that Chelski, when it suits them, are extremely physical, indulge in thuggery, cheating and gamesmanship, there is something ironic about all this attention. We get screwed by the refs nearly every week & yet there is little if any reaction from Sky or BBC etc.
Para
Have you forgotten how many terrible and potential leg breakers our players have suffered this season with the perpetrators getting away with it. Or the many many points we have already dropped due to bad officiating this season alone? I think we’re so used to seeing our team getting screwed daily that when it doesn’t happen we think they’re now being nice to us. I have seen comments to the effect what’s happening with refs, we have had two penalties from refs who could never give us a penalty, suggesting things are changing for the better. Some have even argued the referees had good games simply because they awarded us penalties, even though the booking and foul calling suggested otherwise. They’re not being nice to Arsenal now, but they simply called penalties that were penalties. In other words, they did their jobs properly, albeit briefly in those matches. That’s the way it ought to be everyday.
Think Jose might be trying to influence and put pressure of refs with his antics, a la fergie, but the problem is, Chelsea is not Utd and he is not Fergie.
Some strange things happening , as been mentioned, us getting penalties,,Atkinson harsh on Chelsea…perhaps…yesterday. What can it all mean? Maybe someone up top reads untold.
Are we now getting a fairer crack of the whip, as was posted earlier? Maybe, but still think they have some surprises in store for us. If we really are, perhaps they are viewing Utd as a lost cause this season? Or are things going on behind the scenes, things that Jose knows about , and the press cannot fully expose yet….jose is just applying further pressure on the pgmol.
So many questions! But maybe some interesting times?
Mourinho had just had 45 minutes on Goals on Sunday to fight the Chelsea non decisions. As a friend on mine would say, ‘it is beyond the pale’.
Bjt
And this started with motd last night. I can assure you all week it’ll be jose is right, theres a campaign against Chelsea. It was a bad challenge on matic yes, but as you and some have already pointed out we have seen worse tackles dished on our players (some from the Chelsea players themselves!) but these have been blanked out, met with total silence in the media.
‘only one decision has gone Chelsea’s way all season – the Cahill handball at Liverpool’
i know it,s not the subject,but after yesterday,s game against palace where the pitch was disgrace i ,d like to know what your stance on it,should clubs be made to have a pitch of good quality,i think our game suffered because of it and it,s also dangerous for the players who could injure themselves,some people could think this was ploy from palace to win the game,anyway should clubs made to have better pitch and may be penalties for not doing so??
Chelsea were hard done by yesterday, and may well have had a few other decisions go against them this year, but I expect they are still easily in credit in terms of decisions for and against.
I’m amazed if any person, let alone an Arsenal fan, can think anything he’s doing is driven by something resembling honesty.
As for the platform he is being given, and the honesty of the people giving it, the very simple test, completely failed, is whether they make the obvious point that he,too, has benefitted from poor decisions this year. They tamely, tamely, put a weak watered down version of this to him on goals on sunday. But it looked exactly what it would look like if they were working in tandem with and for him (they weren’t, not as such, but in terms of effect they were) : i.e a question set in such a way to give the appearance of challenging his view while making it easy for him to dismiss the question. There was no follow up, leaving the impression he had dealt with the question and answered it satisfactorily.
Cahill, that is all it would have taken. Asking him about Cahill. Honest people would point out that the challenge was at least as bad as Barnes one. Why didn’t he bring it up himself, given this is supposedly about objectivity and getting the correct just results? Ha ha ha. Why didn’t they ask him? Because it only has the appearance of being a real honest investigation into what he is saying.
And that’s just Cahill against Arsenal. There was also West Brom and Spurs. Every point he made is directly and often grossly contradicted by previous points and behaviour, some of it very recent. If the will was there, as it would be if Wenger attempted anything remotely similar, this would be dissected at length and his credibility would be destroyed in the process.
Still, it’s pretty amazing that Chelsea were hard done by in the game yesterday, with Atkinson reffing!
Al
I haven’t watched Goals on Sunday or them idiots from the papers for years, simply because of there perpetual Anti Arsenal bias at every opportunity.
This Chelsea/Jose love-in this morning is of absolute no surprise to me. As you suggest, would we/have we, ever had such a fair hearing relating to the abuse we have received over the years? No way.
My hatred and loathing of the media, and the bias they exude instils nothing but my contempt.
As I said earlier, I do feel we are at a crossroads with Jose and his ‘campaign against us’ campaign.
I said if the media go with him it will affect the Referees, and Chelsea will start to benefit. If the media turn against him, it could backfire.
Yesterdays performance from Atkinson suggests Mourhinos whinging isn’t working. YET.
GOS’s disgraceful performance this morning suggests that it still might.
As I say, we are at a crossroads. Only time will tell.
As for our treatment in the media:
Just because I felt MOTD gave us a reasonably fair hearing last night, despite the obvious omission of the Ozil goal/no goal, it hasn’t changed my view that our overall treatment by the media (as shown by my reference to the ridiculous Mail on Sunday report) is still a joke.
As for our treatment by Referees:
I agree that we/I have to be careful not to overstate any improvement we may or may not be seeing from Referees, given that the benchmark against which we are referencing is so utterly appalling. So yes, while I am suggesting I have noticed an improvement you are quite right to point out that in reality it is still not ‘good’ per se.
WHU leads against tots
Jenkinson is doing great so far
To be fair to Mourinho he is doing exactly what we want manager to do today – he is facing down the FA and the media telling millions that there is effectively corruption within the FA and PGMOL. He has been very clear, but very clever with his words, that he believes individual clubs and players are being targeted and that the corruption is causing a significant variance in the points being achieved by clubs. It is the clearest statement yet by any manager that there is widespread cheating going on in the PL.
“Wenger/Arsenal have absolutely no chance of securing the medias support in any way, with regards to the weekly assault fest perpetrated against our players, and without it there is no chance of anything changing.
I do think Mourhino has/is over playing his hand somewhat here, and although he has had some good points, they are often lost in a maelstrom of whinge whinge whinge. But, as shown on MOTD last night he does still get support from some quarters, which is certainly more than Wenger would ever get.”
Here is a thing. People from FA don’t like Arsenal and don’t like Arsene Wenger. I bet you’re shocked. Now, why don’t they like Arsenal and Wenger?
My hypothesis is that Wenger has poked them in the eye many, many times but mostly by transforming Arsenal from his first double season to the one that had dominated between 2002 and 2004 (yes, we didn’t win the league in 2002-03 but there was a clearly visible gulf in quality between us and the rest of the league). Arsenal in 1997-98 still had a visible stamp of George Graham’s era – an English defensive core and a few Englishmen in the attack to support Dennis Bergkamp’s genius and Marc Overmars’ attempts to break the speed of light theory.
Between the first and the second double Lauren, Campbell and Cole had arrived, there were still a lot of Englishmen in the defence but Ray Parlour had remained as the only serious English player higher up the pitch.
By the time Arsene had completed The Invincibles, Campbell and Cole were our only important Englishmen on the pitch with a few significant cameos from Martin Keown. Now, it’s not like Wenger didn’t want to include more English players to his team – R.Wright, Jeffers, S.Hughes, Upson, Bentley, Pennant – but they simply weren’t good enough on the long run.
What’s even worse, Wenger has shown that football doesn’t need to be either/both ugly or/and physical in order to succeed. FA – like all traditional organizations that hate changes and allow discrimination to take place – are reluctant against a positive influence from abroad. (Just remember how Greg Dyke had openly expressed support for Liverpool before City won the league last season.) That’s why they like people like Big Fat Sam, Tony Pulis and, at some point, Jose Mourinho because all of them like traditional English football with less flair and more bone-to-bone tackles. In a (bit far-fetched, I admit) way, Arsene Wenger is like Dodi Al Fayed of English football – unwanted stranger messing with what should be exclusive British club. I would have loved to see the faces of Mike Riley and Greg Dyke when Wenger said that he would make a really good team for England in a few years. 😀
Speaking of Mourinho, I don’t feel sorry for him even if they indeed were hard done yesterday. He didn’t say a word about repeated unpunished assaults from Gary Cahill on the opponents. His sarcastic “rant” about Dean and Riley last season was funny but he should have mentioned how Dean failed to give a red card when his (Mourinho’s) Mikel tackled our Mikel (Arteta) or to point to the spot when Wilian fouled Walcott in the box.
For me, the whole Mourinho vs FA duel is a bit like Alien vs Predator clash – whoever wins, we lose.
Maybe, mourinho, for his own self serving motives and selective recall is doing something positive, if so good luck to him. And have said many times, hope someone at our club, and I don’t necessecarily mean wenger is also speaking out behind the scenes.
But as to the wider issue, I would like to think scudamore et al, seeing the money pouring in, realising the effect a match fixing scandal would have on this flow of money, have called time on all that is going on, before one of the increasingly obvious refs blows the whole thing apart, or one of them is bought by someone with a grudge against this league. This of course assumes there is corruption afoot, and the powers that be have that level of common sense, or that indeed they are still in a position whereby they still can stop it, think we can only assume the first assumption.
jayramfootbal
How is he being ‘very clever’ ?
He is whinging.
At least that’s what would be being said if Wenger had said exactly the same as he has.
How is he ‘facing down the FA and the Media’?
He’s had some decisions go against him and he doesn’t like it so he’s having a whinge.
All he’s gambling on is his friends in the media backing him up, as they have on Goals on Sunday this morning.
Goals on Sunday would of ripped Wenger and Arsenal to pieces had Wenger said what Mourhino said.
It would of been ‘whinging Wenger’ ‘Arsenal have to man up’ ‘Teams aren’t going to sit back and let Arsenal play’ ‘It all evens out’ Blah blah blah.
I’ve said it a thousand times, it has nothing to do with ‘Clever mind games’ ‘Facing down the FA/Media’ and everything to do with how the media portray what has been said.
Whilst GOS where right up his backside the Mail on Sunday on the other hand lead with the headline JOSE RANTING AGAIN.
How successful Jose’s ‘Ranting’ is, is entirely dependant on how the media either get behind him or ridicule him.
That is what is crucial. It has nothing to do with what Mourhino actually says.
Mourhino is not clever, in fact he’s a very naughty boy.
Josif, I don’t think that you are right here. I think all clubs can benefit.
What is happening more and more is that managers are starting to dispense with the stupid cliche that ‘everything evens out over a season’. Earlier in the year Gary Monk spoke out and now Mourinho. This shines a light on possible corruption and the more people talk about this the harder it is to continue. The cheating – which is clear – has been allowed to flourish because it has been perpetrated in silence and in the shadows. The FA and the PGMOL know that if it becomes a major talking point in the national media then their game is up. People will be looking for it. Not just the people who are inquisitive enough to be asking the questions and doing the analysis, but the average Joe who has been in denial about corruption.
I would like to see other managers come to Mourinho’s support on this. I personally think it would be a HUGE blow to the FA and PGMOL is Wenger was to come out in support of Mourinho now. Its a massive opportunity. Given their dislike of each other, if Wenger did it and agreed with Mourinho on this it would literally sink the PGMOL ship and probably expedite and enquiry.
Has ManUtds new (pre saturdays) league position anything to do with weird refereeing descisions?????
Agree Jayram, wenger weighing in may help, the only problem is, they would probably just discredit him, like they did when Rafa mentioned the favours Utd got from refs in his famous “fact” rant. But the more who bring it out in the open, the better.
Something I don’t think we’ve mentioned here is just how important this season is for Mourinho.
Reacting to provocation I tried posting a comment on the Mail’s website (I know, there’s no excuse) a couple of weeks ago. As is the case nine times out of ten, make a reasoned complaint against one of their favourites, and it won’t be shown and no trace of the comment is left (it’s a good way of confirming where the Mail stands on any issue)
I saved it, though.
‘I think his wager is that the reputational damage this year is worth it to slightly improve the already high chance of winning the title.
It’s very, very unlikely Abromivch would show the haste he has in the past to replace someone who doesn’t give him what he wants, but to not win it would probably mean last chance saloon next year as Abramovich has probably not changed that much.
Like everything he does, it’s a calculation; and like nearly everything he does, his numbers, so to speak, seem accurate to me.
The hope I would guess, is the same as it’s always been, to establish the ferguson type hold on the club, and league (refs, journos, whole schebang). This year’s title is near vital to that aim.
No one, not Ferguson, not Mourinho or any of his predecessors in managing that way, have sustained that sort of climate and attitude, at full throttle, for much longer than 3 years with the same club. Simeone might be getting close to the record though’
What’s happening now makes me even more sure of the importance of this year for Mourinho, of what he feels, correctly i think, is at stake, and how that will inform his behaviour.
The coming weeks will tell. What can’t be disputed is that any ref is now under absurd pressure when reffing Chelsea. For or against on any key decision clearly it will now not be a normal situation for them. In normal circumstances I expect for refs their decision making process relies on instinctiveness and being in the zone in the same way a striker does : self-doubt is the enemy as much as it is for players. But a really good ref will of course try give himself extra time and process what he’s seen optimally : hopefully they’ll end up making a good decision, especially when it’s a case of ‘I’m not sure, so I shouldn’t give it.
Now, against Chelsea, there is no normal for them, and the pressure is intense before the game kicks off. For instance, they know not to give one in favour of Chelsea which they’re not quite sure of means that, should that transpire to be the wrong call, or one that debatably is, they’re in trouble- the furore and claims of a campaign intensify,etc. Similarly, giving one against Chelsea which they are nearly sure should be given presents the same threat. Give it and there could be bad consequences for you; don’t give it and there is no such threat.
This is Jose’s thinking, motivated to go as far as it is now going by the importance of this year’s title, and i would guess it will work.. City look poised to go on a very strong run, Chelsea do not look quite as strong as they have at other times, this extra pressure may well be the thing that gets them over the line.
what if Mou just makes all the fuss about being hard done by refs to cover up for more murkier business, making an impression of things ‘evening out’ ?
btw he is clearly jealous of Arsenes job https://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/mourinho-wenger-jibe-arsenal-wait-success-wait-wait-124000025–spt.html
Go Jenks! Go get ’em for us!
Regardless of what happened yesterday, I still think Mourinho is an ass, and he should shut up. He and his friends in the media are as*holes.
This man, yes, the Detestable One, is calling for VIDEO TAPE REPLAY.
Do you mention that in your piece today? (Maybe I’ve missed it, sorry. BUT:) Whatever the motives and the character of this man and the pgMOB, Maureen-Ho is RIGHT and Untold and commentors over the years have called for the very same thing:
“He also pointedly called for technology to help referees: “If the referee can’t see a penalty three metres in front of him, an official in front of a screen can’t miss it. If we want to protect the integrity of the referee and believe that the mistake is the consequence of misinterpretation or a bad position, I think technology can help.”, reports the Guardian. See the whole rant in today’s online edition: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/22/jose-mourinho-matic-criminal-tv-outburst
Definitly OlegYch.
There is something dirty with what is going on with Chelses and Arenal and refs. Out of a sudden everything changed (just after that Hachet thing) and the whole world turned?
The most helped team this year is moaning about being cheated (by a campain) and we here start supporting them, no way. Wake up people, even that tackle on Matic was over hyped.
Chelsea uses this tactics, go totally physical on the ball, u either get it or make a foul, dont be scared no yellows will be issued. This is how they won that 6-0 against us. look at there first 3 goals, how they got the ball (it was clean, but who on earth would do that without being scared of hitting the player and hurting him, thus taking yellows/reds).
Now this is what Matic did, he started the challenge and not Burnley player, and it back-fired. Then he did make the worst reaction. If this should be deemed acceptable why didnt they do the same when Giroud just touched the simulating player with his head?
Wake up and watch again the video, they use this way of playing always, and now it back-fired. They are first cause of PGMOL, we should not support them, there is something dirty there and we should be careful mot to have it in out face.
Here is the link to Matic incident:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0r9YEbhbA9g
Chelsea and Mourinho deserve no sympathy. They are regular exponents of cheating, diving, simulation and dangerous fouling of opponents. Cahill, Ivanovic, Ramires and Costa have shown frequent examples of such conduct.
Mourinho is the man who tried to gouge the eyes of an opposomg coach.
Chelsea are a thoroughly disreputable club, bankrolled by oligarch money.
Kane dives for a penalty in 5th minute of added on time. Moss seemed to be working for Spuds. No injuries but 5 mins!!! Still Spuds only get 1 point.
“But as to the wider issue, I would like to think scudamore et al, seeing the money pouring in, realising the effect a match fixing scandal would have on this flow of money, have called time on all that is going on, before one of the increasingly obvious refs blows the whole thing apart, or one of them is bought by someone with a grudge against this league”
Mandy,
You may have it here. Murdoch and Fox have paid a HUGE some for Football Rights; and perhaps the blatant fix and blatant incompetency is not to be risked given the IMMENSITY of the pay-out. Maybe it’s simplistic, but when Atkinson – perhaps the most eager of Riley’s eager beavers this season – will be the semi-sacrificial lamb to show the world the unquestioned quality of the BPL Product, the highest paid for TV Sports Package in the World. Who knows, yet: but maybe something is brewing and Foxy Murdoch’s minions are getting out ahead of the story for “integrity” sake (having spent the King’s Ransom on the rights purchase).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r9YEbhbA9g
foul on matic by barnes…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-C9r3mGRug
foul on sanchez by cahill…
I don’t know what all the fuss is about.
It’s clear to me that Mourinhio wants to be known as “Son of Ferguson”. In that way he will get away with anything.
He even adopts the arrogant posture and manner of The One who had officials in his pocket until retirement.
Wouldn’t be surprised at,all if something is brewing Bob. The media starting to chatter, if not going into details, increasing criticism from managers, and ex refs, Howard Webb suddenly gets a high profile,job, not a peep out of Riley ,Arsenal,stay very, very quiet. Have discussed this with people on here before, but there must be some sort of claw back option in place should this league , their product be tarnished. In recent years, the refs have not even been subtle. There will be people in the corridors in European cities that would love to damage this league, including the head of UEFA, not to mention the head of FIFA.
Jambug
True, every word in your 12:18 post. This bunch goes with the wind, sure we will see some ref tilting in matches involving the chavs after this campaign by goals on Sunday. Wasn’t watching but hear Moss practically handed the spuds a point on a platter. Some things never change…
Mandy,
If something big is (finally) about to break, something that would tarnish the league and its pricey product, it would be known at this point to some, and leaked to other select mega-stakeholders (Fox, Beeb) who are scrambling to position themselves in advance of the Scandal, to look the part of decent truth-seekers when the excrement hits the fan. Perhaps the House of Riley will fall – after all, it is but an Outhouse hovel compared the the palaces, here AND abroad, that really count and are counting.
One last point : didn’t watch it all thanks to the competing forces, but I’m pretty sure part of the goals on sunday show was the analysis of Chelsea incidents from throughout the season. Think about the co-ordination (between Chelsea and the show) involved and what it means that while there was the pretence of challenging the Chelsea view- ‘some would say there’ve been times you’ve benefitted’- if there really was an intention of challenging, instead of actively supporting, those views, they would also have compiled at least some of the controversial incidents which have favoured Chelsea. If you’re going to set something up with the structure of a court case, you kinda need representation of both sides.
It was a piece of pure propaganda. The insidious part being that if Chelsea tv had put together such a show themselves it could be more obviously dismissed as the work of a partial agent.
Agree Bob, if something came out, those at the top, or behind it all would escape, the likes of Riley, a few of his employees, perhaps the odd manager, player, agent would be scape goated, but Riley would be hung out to dry if such things are as the seem to some on here at least.
It would seriously damage the EPL product and brand though., and probably dwarf even things like Lance Armstrong in global sporting significance. Extreme measures, constant auditing, proof of transparency, external agency checks, foreign refs maybe would be needed to save our games rep over time.
I would imaging, IF, and it is such a big IF things have been uncovered, they will try to clean up very quickly in the hope of putting a lid on it, unless it were to be too late. But anyone out to uncover all this will have so much to go on, the treatment of fergie and the secrecy for starters. Maybe they have been giving them enough rope to hang themselves?
Sorry, speculating wildly of course, but as an avid untold reader,just cannot see how they can carry on like this and keep getting away with it.
Mandy,
Can you imagine an amazing intrigue as Septic Bladder, currently very in trouble for suspected grand machinations has got something big (via his allies) on the BPL. Perhaps Maureen is the messenger of this ( of Bladder’s threat to the BPL). So, the outcome: each side calls off its dogs, Bladder stays and BPL goes untarnished. If someone is to take a fall – to show the world that all is well in the green and pleasant land – it could be (pick one): Atkinson, House of Riley, Matic’s assailant. This could make a vivid bestseller – kind of like classic Venetian politics: where, after a long battle to surface an inconvenient truth, it finally comes to light; but gets lost somehow in the din and soon dies a quiet death, overtaken by new circuses and spectacles, where nothing finally changes. Let’s stay tuned.
Mandy,
One last bit: Chelsea’s fan-dumb in Paris and London are now being widely slated for racist chants and actions after their PSG match. This tarnishes the brand worldwide, at least in many quarters where such inhumanity is rightly rejected. By going on his tirade, Maureen becomes a lightning rod to draw attention away from the burgeoning international story of the current search for the Chelsea Racists: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/21/chelsea-fans-who-shouted-racist-chants-at-london-station-sought-by-police
@jayram – it would be great if you were right but I don’t think it’s the case here. From my point of view, the biggest change might be that Mourinho will get his big mouth shut with a few gifts from the referees in the forthcoming matches. Any doubtful important decision will go Chelsea way as that’s the cheapest way to buy his silence. The rest of the league will get the same treatment as they have had so far.
Of course, there is always a chance that PGMO would use a carpet-bombing to kill a mosquito – they might do to Chelsea even worse things than they have been doing to us for years.
I just hope the Refs placate Mourinho before we see Chelsea in April. That match could make or break the season in the league.
Josif, so nothing would change, statistically speaking
chelski is already getting like 90% decisions their way
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/feb/21/arsenal-arsene-wenger-scarred-monaco-marseille
Great read. Showing how Arsene Wenger was once a victim of match fixing.
Who knows Bob, the murky dealings and the whole truth could be stranger than anything we could make up or imagine! But someone will be left to take most of the blame. Yes, Jose is very good at distracting the media from important issues.
On the evidence of today’s game, so far at least, seems Liverpool are the pgmol team of choice for now, Southampton should have had at least two, and possibly three penalties!
And down to 10 men Mandy!
I am not a book reader,
But if Mr Wenger ever writes a biography. I’ll be one of the first persons to buy it.
And I seriously hope he writes one.
ThomB
February 22, 2015 at 9:48 am
Football is now an entertainment industry worth billions. Sky’s billions write the script for this entertainment industry. Sky dont want the viewers to know the ending too early. Therefore the PGMO are playing out their part of the script as directed by the script writers. Expect citeh to claw back the deficit to create a suspenseful and exciting finale. The same for thr remaining CL places- the script is in progress on a weekly basis, determined by results. Simple.
This is so true, it needed saying again.
I think that it is high time that the EPL brought in European (neutral) refs
Has anyone thought that English refs have a favourite team e.g which team did Howard Webb support when growing up? Answers on a postcard. My point is the PGMO should not put a ref in charge of his favourite team. I’m almost certain that Mike Riley does not support Arsenal!
Whatever happens, however successful Mourinho is in his campaign for special favours, Arsenal can expect no favours from anyone. It will all be down to our players, our manager and our coaching staff. And our supporters. Up the Arsenal!
I agree with all the contributors who suggest Mourinho is just a self-serving unprincipled man who cannot be relied on to put up any kind of consistent campaign for refereeing integrity.
Maybe Atkinson has read all the Untold analysis and thought one more pro-Chelsea performance would be one too many.
Just found this site. Impressed so far.
Mike Riley has confirmed that his favourite team is Arsenal.
He has asked all his PGMO crows to give them as many cards as possible!!
paddywhack
There’s an urban myth that Webb supports Rotherham, but you wouldn’t believe it if you’d watch some of the United games he’d officiated.
http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/who-does-howard-webb-really-support/
Do you all remember the 0-0 at Home to the Gazprom-upon-Fulham franchise last season?
For some reason Master Dean chose to ignore as bltant a red as you could ever see, and as blatant a Webbalty shout as you could hope to see both within the space of thirty seconds. I’d have said he must have missed the calls, been in the wrong position. but he wasn’t, and considering i (& the rest of the stadium) could spot both fouls from a far worse position on the other side of the ground, I’ don’t think it would be wise or advisable to afford the snivelling Gollum such indulgence.
It was, what it was. Here was Media Luvvie Jose’s reaction:
https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/82B462EBF11181252360509538304_32d444f614e.1.5.15656231747020524412.mp4?versionId=TdVg0VEnmpFg3jb9KM0GJu0eqZUjbf_C
The definition of disingenuity.
Gazprom were the club that launched the disproven allegations upon Riley’s colleague Clattenburg. Chelsea Football Club attempted and failed to brand the official as racist :). You couldn’t make it up! What a strange institution the Gazprom Fulham franchise is.
I think we lump these bleatings about not getting the rub of the green that we can all observe that they often get into the same bin as the dubious (& withdrawn) allegations made against Clattenburg.
Gazprom: more then a football club.
PaddyWhack
Actually thats a really good idea
They should have a sort of draw each season and give refs of different countries to certain leagues. One year we have english guys doing the spanish league and spanish doing the french and italians in the prem. Then the next year it could change around….
May create more problems than it solves though i fear. A) the travelling logistics and B) opening things up to a new level of corruption….
But what it would do is break the institutional nature of reffing
Might have a problem persuading the other leagues to take our refs at the moment.
Finsbury, good post
The truly discouraging part (thanks for triggering thoughts of it!) is just how easy it would be for the media to sink Jose and badly hurt Chelsea. All they have to do is add up the many incidents of this nature over the years.
Here are a select few (don’t have dates but they’d be easy to find)
Clattenberg allegations.
Poll allegations. In a match against Tottenham Poll sent off Terry. After Terry initially corroborated Poll’s version (surely the truth) he went away, had a think and, as is common there, came up with a very different version. I forget the details, but the suggestion was something along the lines of Poll telling Terry and others that he would make an example of them and send someone off, and then finding a spurious reason to do exactly that. I believe the allegations were made by Terry on Chelsea tv and then in other media. Anyway, bug splash in newspapers, big cloud left hanging over Poll for weeks. Eventually he is totally cleared with no punishment against Chelsea for effectively having made false allegations.
Allegations that the ref had been seen- at first the suggestion was clearly by Jose himself, later downgraded to assistants- entering the Barcelona changing room to talk with Riykaard in a champ league encounter. Huge stink, big accusations. Slowly slowly retracted, though with no apologies, until they admit this event did not in any way occur, but was nonetheless an honest mistake on their part founded on a design oddity of the Camp Nou.
The famous case against barca at stamford bridge which led to a refs retirement.
The Inter years. Ah, I remember no details, but do remember the normal shenanigans took place. Accusations, protests (something about a handcuffs gesture from Jose on one of the occasions they were persecuting the poor guy)
At Real, again endless strife when it came to the crunch (as with dodgy refs, so with dodgy managers- you don’t cause any stinks when there is nothing big on the line. That’s when you behave). Most famously the Barca wars,eye poke et al, but also, and this is what the press are mysteriously not mentioning now, the tactic (might have been after a semi with Barca in the champ league) of producing a list of all the incorrect calls. There was a huge stink over this, but the details aren’t coming to me at the moment. Anyway, end result was, I think, a warning to Mourinho and, of course, no suggestion that his allegations had a foundation in reality.
This is the pattern of Chelsea and Jose’s behaviour, together and independently, over the last decade. A normal honest press would make the connections easily, and make natural conclusions from these patterns, with the beauty being that the ‘sample size’ is large enough to be confident in your findings.
Also incredibly easy for them to do ,and inexplicable for them not to do, is to look at any of his big statements from yesterday and compare them with past statements and,even better, behaviour. Every last point, even the ones which sound most right (nauseatingly, they are arguments I have used, only not for Chelsea- such as the fact the laws of the game should pay due attention to dangerous tackles above all else, and punishments should reflect this. For instance, give a three-match ban for pushing or any other infringement which carries absolutely zero possibility of any sort of injury- but in the name of decency and sanity think first and foremost of ways to try prevent terrible career-threatening challenges, including severe punishment of those who make them. Mourinho is among the last (Pulis is last) people in football who are entitled to make that argument- unless he is willing to acknowledge his own teams have been guilty in the past and declare a Damascene conversion. As a dishonest man engaged in a charade, he obviously won’t do this. But what reason does the press have for enabling him and not setting him right?
We don’t have a normal honest press.
Rich
Greta post.
Can you, or anyone else, put your above observasions to SKY, as well as ‘copy in’, for want of a better phrase, other media platforms, Red tops, BBC, Talkshite, and see if it invokes any response at all.
Could it not even be put to Chelsea Fc to see how they react to being ‘called out’ for there scandalous hypocrisy.
Just poking the Hornets nest really to see what happens.
Great post…oops.
Rich
Perhaps you could include a Video of RVN’s attempt to break Ashley Coles leg back in 2004, an event that only recently Gary Neville has defended on SKY as just ‘the way to beat Arsenal’
Or the videos of the Cahill assault on Alexis, along side Matics to highlight just how incredibly hypocritical Jose is actually being.
Anyone with the inclination, the access, and the ability to do so, could put together an incredibly damming and embarrassing dossier, exposing Chelseas and the medias complicity in this utter charade.
Chelsea and the Media. A more odious match made in heaven you would be hard pressed to find.
Breaking News on SKY
“FA will take no action against Burnleys Ashley Barnes….”
Que SKY going into meltdown !!!!!
SKY’s first words:
“We’ve heard how frustrated Mourhino is about Matic getting sent off following Barnes tackle……..”
Have we?
Blimey, I must of missed that ! :doh:
Jambug, I can tell you what tends to happen when i say something like that in the Mail’s comment section at least-they don’t allow it.
Yesterday it occurred to me to try a different tack to make the same point : a bit of satire ,which, perhaps because arseholes can have difficulty with that, was allowed through. I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier as it is a much more effective way of highlighting his absurdity than the plain homiest approach. I’t wasn’t all that subtle, mind…
—————
“It was inspirational stuff and I don’t think it’s overdoing it to say it was a call to all of us, not just to football, to live with more honesty, integrity and objectivity.
His opening speech was particularly wonderful :
look, all the things I’m furious about are things my teams have benefitted from in the past- Cahill, for instance, outrageous challenge on Sanchez, could easily have broken his leg- and which I have castigated fellow managers for complaining about- ‘don’t cry, always victims, love English blood/honesty’- but…I have changed my views about all that.
Yes, I was wrong, lost and now found; I see that. Obviously I do, you can’t have it all ways. So… will you support me England?
New Jose, New England. Next…the world? A clean game, where potential leg-breakers are severely punished.
Where ,one day, once a painful and necessary overhaul is complete, players will not harass referees and so increase the chances of a wrong decision… and managers, now trusting officials, will accept honest mistakes and not do things to make a difficult job even harder.
Where managers can state their grievances (for 2 hours preferably, and while supported by a series of pre-cued clips and gentle questioning- ‘s-s-some would say you also benefit from decisions?’, ‘No’, ‘ok then, you’re right.’- from gentleman questioners) and not be derided.
England, come with me into the new era of honesty, fairness and objectivity,’
…
Bravo old son, bravo.”
Rich
Brilliant.
I agree with jambug, great posts Rich, thanks.
Jambug, Finsbury-cheers. But now I’ve really got to stop thinking about that scumbag for a day or two!
I’d love to just forget football till Wed, then watch that game the way I used to- no negative expectations whatsoever, no thinking about referees.
Bad news is, I think they might have a Portuguese boss from the Jose school. Oh well, can’t be as bad and, even better, non-english ref!!
dunno Rich, the weirdest performance i’ve seen this season was Besiktas home 🙂
Very strange.
How Flamini avoided a yellow that match i’ll never know, a crucial performance in the context of the season by the Flame. He may have lost his starting berth to younger legs but he made a big contribution that evening.
Finsbury- can’t remember much about it to be honest apart from how nervy it was, but yeah, it’s not perfect it Europe (that Melo foul was pure filth on Sanchez) but at least I don’t watch it like some poor lab rat, who’s had half the life buzzed out of them, waiting for the next shock to arrive.
Went back on my vow to stay away from it all within about an hour- interesting development from my friends at the Mail.
They actually went and did a little bit on some of the things Chelsea have had go in their favour this year. They named five and, surprise,surprise, Cahill one wasn’t on there. He made the list twice- for that little Costa-lite kick out he had at Kane, and for a handball at Liverpool, but, yep, they didn’t see fit to include the Sanchez one.
I’d say it almost amounts to proof they’ve some sense of humour. And also that it’s one of the more blatant v’s they’ve flicked at Arsenal fans in a while.