The view of the Video Assistant Referee about the WBA penalty

By Walter Broeckx

I remember some 9 years ago one of my first articles I wrote was about Dean. It is out there somewhere and it was after the match at Old Trafford where Dean did his usual biased tricks to cost Arsenal points.

Since then I have written umpteen articles showing the bias from Mr. Dean. Every now and then we got an honest performance and we thought that the tide had turned. But make no mistake every honest match has been followed by half a dozen performances that leave a lot to be desired.

The penalty decision in favour of WBA was another such case where Dean couldn’t hide his bias. It looks as if he wanted us to drop points and so he did what he has done so many times before.

Will we see an improvement in the future? After all in the Chelsea match in the semi final for the League cup we will have a Video Assistant Referee to help and to correct the ref on the field. In most leagues in Europe this is already normal. In Germany, Belgium, Holland and Italy we have VAR as it is called. Maybe I am forgetting a few countries. And so we will see it in work in the matches in the league cup.

What would a VAR have made of the utterly wrong decision from Mr. Dean in the WBA – Arsenal match? Well we have asked a working VAR operator from a European league. This is the opinion of someone who does this job on an almost weekly basis in one of the European leagues that have VAR.

And he said: the decision should have been overturned as there were enough reasons to NOT GIVE A PENALTY. The distance between the shot and the arm is one of them. And the other is that he had his arms in a position where he didn’t make himself bigger. As Ndidi did when Arsenal played Leicester in the first match of the season and he made himself bigger and blocked a cross from Kolasinac. The ref on that day? A certain Mr. Dean.

So is it a coincidence that this time Dean gives a penalty and in the Leicester match he didn’t? The only reason I can come up with is that Mr. Dean does this deliberately. As he hates Arsenal or Wenger and so he just does what he can to derail Arsenal. As he has done so many times before.

So the VAR operator we have contacted has said the penalty decision should have been reversed. I hear most pundits say it was wrong.

But at the end of the day Arsenal lose two points. And if we count the horror shows from referees in the matches against Stoke and Watford we have lost eight points already this season because of dodgy referee decisions. Eight points. Look at the league table and add those points. If I can count properly this would have resulted in Arsenal having 38  + 8 =  46 points. And being in second place.

But thanks to the highly secretive organisation which could be said to be operating in a mafia-like style we are where we are.

Shame on you Mike Riley.

Shame on you Mike Dean.

Shame on everyone who keeps their mouth shut about such flagrantly wrong decisions.

Oh and please Mike Riley explain us why no English PL referee will be a the world cup? Probably because 98% of the decisions are correct…..??????

And if you want to see some video evidence just check this account on twitter https://twitter.com/mrarsenal93/status/899035664997548034

And if you are on twitter follow that man.

And if you would like to see what we said in advance try this…

West Bromwich Albion v Arsenal; Sunday 31 Dec 2017 – The Match Officials

38 Replies to “The view of the Video Assistant Referee about the WBA penalty”

  1. That ref is a cheat.
    Riley should be sacked as its a disgrace that England is not represented in the world cup, similarly if England did not qualify the manager would have been sacked.

  2. the only way this will be sorted if a club sues a referee for professional negligence if one were to win the referees would be begging for video replays as it is they are protected will Dean be refereeing again of course like the solicitors of old form a unitedf front

  3. I thought as much. Dean works against Arsenal. I could not believe it when he awarded the penalty. We have seen such handball uncountable times, not in any of those cases were penalties awarded.

  4. The most unbelievable thing is when you watch the Leicester handball incident, Dean seems to say to Elneny and Monreal “too close” to justify his decision (Why not). Yet yesterday, not only the “too close” argument doesn’t exist anymore, but he actually shows with his arm an elbow raised at head level, which he is absolutely not what happened, as Chambers arm was low and in front of his body…

    I cannot thing of a most obvious proof that Dean doesn’t make decisions based of what happened on the field and the Laws of the sport, but only based on his own agenda. Where have I seen this before?

    Ah yes, that’s exactly what Clattenburg described…

  5. Agree with Eliot. As long as MD officiates ,Arsenal will be playing against13 men.
    MR is another guy. Once these guys are removed,the game will be more even and it will be the players who decide the outcome of games.

  6. dean the death of football. will he sit one day with his grand children relating tales of how his biased decisions killed the game?

  7. Penalty decision notwithstanding that was a bloody awful game of football. I know it was played in horrendous conditions, but neither team really looked capable of winning and it was with relief that we scored (albeit with a massive deflection), and up until that moment when he self exploded I thought Dean had been having quite a good game. He missed a bad challenge by Barry on Kolasinac, but all told he wasn’t so bad. I must have been lulled into a false sense of security because he out-Deaned himself again.
    There’s a bit of a media buzz over this, so some good may yet come out of it.

  8. Wolfgang – ” Once these guys are removed” These puppets are doing far too good of a job to be removed by their pay-masters. Even if Riley was removed or eventually retired, he would only be replaced by Atkinson or Dean.

  9. Let us fight this injustice and not ever be silenced. May take quite awhile , but with Usama’s videos on Twitter , we could viral it further and bring down this clown show.
    We will preservere and get our just deserts . Hopefully those crooks end in jail.

  10. Maybe we ought to kickstart a project to have Dean brought to court by supporters… for professional negligence
    Even if it went not all the way, the costs for him would be expensive as he’d have to consult lawyers etc anyway…
    Or have 50 supporters do it, so there are 50 cases he has to defends himself against…

  11. I keep saying, but nobody wants to commit. Every one of the 106k who signed the petition against Dean – throw in a tenner, and we’d have a million to engage “opinion” from someone like Michael Mansfield QC!

    Just to re-iterate the role of MSM – there is NO mention of this on the Sky web site. Obviously, Redknapp and Co have been told to behave!

    Dean can’t be THAT incompetent – there must be another reason for that decision, that needs investigating at a higher level than the FA.

  12. Great idea Chris, but you can bet your life that “someone” would step in and pay his costs!

  13. Also wasn’t there a late penalty shout, when Welbeck was fouled. Dean did that dramatic garden shears gesture and we never saw a replay. His performance was complete at that point. Despicable cheat he is.

  14. An England manager who didn’t qualify for the World Cup would be sacked.
    How come Riley, with no refs there avoids a similar fate, ok we all know why

  15. @ Merlin

    “There’s a bit of a media buzz”. I agree that many newspapers and websites have mention the matter. Sadly though, “controversial penalty” is as far as any of them go. Not one of them has the balls to call it a “wrong decision” or suggest that Arsenal were robbed or propose that Dean is not fit for purpose. It’s all a bloody charade.

  16. However, Mandy, PGMOL would have us believe that they have TRAINED most of the referee’s who are going to the world cup. Were the only two, Atkinson and Clattenburg? One has left PGMOL and the other is too old for FIFA duty!

  17. As I said on another thread I didn’t think it was handball what I would suggest however is had that. been at the other end many non here would be in no doubt it should have been a penalty.

    Even if there had been VAR in place it’s not a given that the decision would have been reversed for the role of the VAR is solely to ask the on field ref to look at an incident again and not to reverse an on field descion.

    The non inclusion of an English ref at the next World Cup is not as simple as is being suggested.

    On the FIFA. elite list ( drawn up 2 years ago) there were 4 English refs. Clattenburg, Atkinson, Marriner and Oliver.

    Clatttenbug would have gone but as we know he no longer is aPL ref. FIFA decided that at 47 years of age both Atkinson and Indeed Marriner are too old and in the case of Oliver he was considered to be too inexperienced.

  18. 1.Does Arsenal FC has the right to reject Mike Dean referring in their matches henceforth with, and demands a change of him be made when next the PGMO appoints him to referee in Arsenal match?

    2.Or alternatively, can Arsenal FC lodge an official protest to the FA to review the penalty incident that led to referee Mike Dean awarding WBA a penalty purportedly for handling by Calum Chambers in the box in our last match in the PL away to WBA?

    3. Instead of Arsenal FC through Le Boss, us the Gooners, football pundits and the media just talking, talking and talking over this latest Mike Dean anti- Arsenal referring seemingly ordered by his employer, the PGMO but no official action is taking on the issue by anybody to address the matter, I think Arsenal FC should explore the possibility of lodging a protest to the FA to review this penalty award by referee Mike Dean against Arsenal yesterday at the Hawthorns against WBA and wait to see what decision will the FA comes out with.

  19. @The Ledge,

    well maybe. But imagine the signal that it wozuld give to all other referees…. would they bet their peace that someone nice would jump in ?
    I doubt it.

  20. Mike T and Clattenburg admitted that he would fix machtes to avoid media headlines (I never heard that saying in my courses as a ref that this was something to consider) and he also admitted that he would do matches differently in Europa compared to the PL.
    And that last thing is something that goes everything that FIFA (I know, I know….) has been saying for….as far as I can remember. Because it is the fact that the game is played with the same laws and the same interpretation all over the world that makes football so attractive.
    The fact that one of the leading refs in the world openly states that this isn’t the case is something that shows that there is something wrong in the PL.

  21. I’ve got a few friends with whom I sharde watching Arsenal matches games on TV and talking about it.

    Well, all of them have stopped watching Arsenal, and except on, the PL.
    They re fed-up with the hearthbreak, they are fed-up with Arsenal’s (perceived) incapacity of competing seriously for the PL Title.
    And fed-up with what they see as a systematic refereing failure/bias not only in Arsenal matches, but in others as well.

    And I’ve heard that explanation in the US and in several african countries

    If I were the Arsenal board I’d start worrying, because far-away fans can disappear in droves – they have no emotional bound to the stadium, to watching the games at the Emirates. They just switch channels.

    They do not understand what they see as a passive attitude of AFC leaving Mr Wenger as the only one to dare saying something and having to avoid sanction by the crooked FA.

    I’d be worried as a tipping point may be reached sooner than later and then marketing revenue will just tumble. And that will be it.

    At some point something will have to give.

  22. MikeT
    Whether you thought it was or wasn’t handball and whether some on here would have wanted a penalty had it been at the other end of the pitch is completely irrelevent, the fact is that according to the laws there is no way a penalty could have been awarded. Dean cocked it up plain and simple and his past record in screwing Arsenal, including at least one infamous match against Chelsea, suggests it was probably done with malice aforethought.

  23. Mick, MikeT,

    If you look at the footage, one thing that does surprise me is that on the spur of the moment, Kieran Gibbs does NOT react. Not at all. He fights for the ball, that’s it. And then he wayves for a corner. And if someone did see it it is him. So he did not expect it.

  24. Walter
    I am not sure that Clattenburg said he fixed games. I was at the game which so much attention has been drawn and he was terrible that night.
    As for how games are approached well there is a difference league to league and the fact is such differences are allowed . For instance VAR is in place in a couple of leagues but not all. The same applies to a high foot or indeed physical contact.
    Mick
    The irony of your comment is that in accordance with the laws it was a penalty. Before I am jumped on the laws talk it being in the opinion of the referee.
    As for the reasoning behind the penalty as I said I didn’t see it as a penalty but I have no doubt that had it been outside the box just about every referee would have given handball.

  25. “Theatre” for the luvvies is what Clattenburg said. To be exact.

    Nevermind the Football darlings. Eh? And that is how you end up with a national team that can’t draw with Iceland even though it has World Class diving cloggers who get protected in the PL but exposed against the likes of Gent(Ghent?). Or Iceland.

    Mwah.

  26. Though I do have Wonga on England to have a good world cup.

    No EPL refs? Seems like a good story for the “Theatre” 😉
    just as i had money on AFC to win Dean’s matches at Home he was given at long ontervals after the “shambles” in Fulham which everyone around the world saw.
    As opposed to the predication in the ref review that he’d revert to form now he was given an Away match.
    Not predictable lol! No, I don’t have a crystal football, and I am not decended from Nostradamus.

    Keep your eyes on the Foobtall
    (hands were way too low for any call to be given, which is why the Brummies were appealing for a corner…only a Liar would attempt to argue otherwise 🙂 )

  27. As for the ‘planning’ aspect, we have to admit we are ‘lucky’ the Spurs are playing on January 2nd and January 4th…..
    Not that I care about what happens to them, but this is not right, whatever the involved team is.
    Same for West Ham.

    This, as well as the fact that referees are in charge of some teams more then twice a year are all reasons we do not have a ‘basic’ level playing field.
    I’d say this needs to be adressed first and foremost. You can’t build a sturdy house on a swamp.

  28. Mike T……if you can, go back to the post I made under the match report Walter did. It summarizes all the points about how a handling decision should be made. I re-watched the video in slow motion and indeed Chambers did move his hand a little towards the ball but was it to control the ball, that is always the referee’s opinion. The call didn’t meet the FIFA criteria mentioned in the Laws on at least 4 points, so it was a very harsh call indeed and one that most ref’s would have ignored.

  29. Omg
    I did read your post .
    The ref has to consider the things you mention other than point 3, which is not a consideration at all, for it’s the deliberate act that is the issue and not what the action has avoided.For instance if a player receives the ball in his own area from the goal keeper with no opposition player say with in 30 yards and he picks it up in the area then that is a deliberate act and a penalty should be awarded
    It’s interesting you suggest that Chambers made a deliberate movement albeit not much, of his hand and if you are right, which I am not convinced that you are, then all of a sudden Deans descion may not have been so obviously incorrect
    The position of the hand can be an issue but not an overwhelming factor.

    I guess it’s what you mean by the word criteria but that word actually doesn’t feature in the International Boards publications they use the word consideration and that in my mind is deliberate because the refs have to on every occasion make a judgement call based on a unique set of circumstances

    I repeat I don’t think it was handball but at the end of the day I suspect Dean would argue that he did factor in the 3 things he is required to consider and I really don’t think he would have changed his mind even if VAR had been available

  30. 8 points, momentum, sales, reputation damage, the losses are amazing! Last season we would certainly have made the top four if not for the same thing!

    But the appointment of such a controversial officiate, means it goes all the way to the top!

    Mafia style, I have been Mr. J Bourne for a while now, nothing surprises me!

  31. When they named Mike Dean as the ref for this match, the writing was on the wall. We know that we need to run like 12 men to counter whoever plus MD. I would suggest selecting a team and formation that stop runners getting into the box, so they can’t get penalties.

  32. The simplicity is that Dean & the PGMOL are a selection of cheating morons. They have no regard for decency, honesty & law.

    Quite honestly I do not believe Dean saw the incident as his view was blocked……but then with his wild imagination & the baying crowd he pointed at the spot.

    I wish him happiness with swellings of his ego, testicles & eyes for 2018.

  33. Chris 3:58pm
    That’s exactly what my son said! He was like dad did you see how Gibbs didn’t even appeal for a penalty, and wanted to prepare for a corner kick instead. I had taken my eye off the telly and sure enough Gibbs was just standing there looking kind of lost. Anyway Wenger has been charged now but he was unrepentant in his presser this afternoon.

  34. I’ve also looked at it in slow-mo and indeed chambers instinctively moves his arms towards the ball. Dean gestured as such when he did the shoulder move thing. I personally wouldn’t have given a penalty, however
    1. This whingeing is getting out of hand
    2. Im 150% certain if it had been westbrom player handling Walter would have found a way to justify the decision

  35. No Chem what is getting out of hand is your belief that you can read people’s minds. I’ve never been in favour of that position on this site, because almost always when people write to say that they can read my mind, they are wrong.

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