by Tony Attwood
The essence of the always-famous novel “1984” by George Orwell, published in 1948 which predicted the dystopian world to come, is that history can be changed, re-written, re-told, manipulated, re-imagined by the powerful in order to keep the thoughts of the proles in order.
George Orwell was not a great football fan, but he did go to matches and described football as “war minus the shooting” In “1984” itself he wrote of the working classes, “Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbours, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.”
It is the sort of cynicism that must surely be at the heart of those who run the Premier League, and their collaborators in chief, the PGMO. Instead of taking the book as a warning, they have taken it as a blueprint, especially when Orwell writes, “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
And so it is with that latest Premier League + PGMO plaything, VAR. And if you think I am exaggerating, just have a look at the Guardian’s piece on the topic, published a few weeks ago, which opens, “The year in VAR begins in June.” That June being June 2019.
Talk about re-writing reality! By then we had already had a year of VAR in top level competitions across the planet. VAR was introduced in the Premier League from 2019-20 – a year late – because PGMO wanted to be ready for it. They didn’t want to make the mistakes those silly foreigners would undoubtedly make. Ha ha let the foreigners get it wrong then we can laugh at them.
Except even with a year’s notice PGMO still couldn’t get it right.
And except that now it is such a total and utter disaster, that bit of history is written out of the records. Worse, from PGMO’s position, Mike Riley said that by delaying for a year, VAR would help referees “make more better decisions” and aid the correction of “clear and obvious errors” during a game.
By taking the cautious route and delaying the introduction of VAR (a delay, as noted, now written out of all official histories – “official” meaning, licenced by PGMO) we were told that the mistakes the hyperactive foreigners would make (what with their desire to introduce VAR at once) like interrupting the flow of a game which might cause confusion among supporters, would not happen in the PL. There would be no interruption in the flow of the game. (I think I feel the need to repeat that. THERE WOULD BE NO INTERRUPTION IN THE FLOW OF THE GAME).
If you, like me, you have been watching matches at Arsenal, you might know a little about that. Neil Swarbrick, the man i/c VAR in the Orwellian-PGMO style, told that bastion of football analysis, the Daily Mirror, “The different variations we’ve got we hope will stop the long stoppages and the long reviews with the screen.”
And of course we have had none of that at Arsenal. Instant it is. Straight off. No mucking about. 10 seconds. Well, ok, 15. 20 seconds tops. Two minutes. Well, that’s fairly fast ain’t it?
Relating to that, the Premier League has taken steps to keep the supporters and those watching the game on TV “informed about the process and rationale of decisions,” according to their own publicity.
So part of this unique, revolutionary, ultra-fast, let’s not make the mistake the silly foreigners make rushing in to get it all going before it’s been properly tried and tested by the experts like PGMO approach, was to take the VAR decisions out of the referees’ hands and give it to the invisible VAR Ref at HQ, a man properly trained in the ways of PGMO, Big Brother’s own man, a man who could be relied on to “do the right thing” without interference from the crowd.
Even the Guardian, which mostly obeys the diktat of not mentioning that VAR was deliberately delayed for a year in the PL, they are getting mightily annoyed, noting that, “The technology has been applied inconsistently (and slowly) by people with limited experience.”
It is an interesting point. We had an extra year when in fact PGMO employees could have been gaining experience so they didn’t enter the affray cold. But it seems not. Because they didn’t need it. Because they are English, not foreign. English referees don’t make mistakes. That is why the media does not need to publicise the fact widely reported in the rest of Europe that match fixing is now so widespread that Uefa has admitted it can no longer cope. If you lived in Germany or France or Switzerland and read your daily paper, you’d know that. In the UK, as far as I know, only Untold Arsenal ran that one.
By November last year, Mike Riley admitted that the PGMO-VAR gang had made four errors. That was good of him, because one was a match-defining error in an Arsenal game, which could cost us millions of pounds come the season end. Sokratis scored five minutes from the end at Palace, and Atkinson ruled it out because Chambers had committed a foul.
It took over two minutes to work it out, and even then they got the decision wrong. Chambers had committed no foul. Arsenal have been docked two points. That is clear and obvious. PGMO did that. That is clear and obvious too. It could cost us millions. Will PGMO give us a refund? [Please stop laughing, I’m just asking the questions.]
And why? Why was it missed? After we had an extra year to get ready… Ah well, you see, the cameras they have been using were not fast enough. Except no one realised. Not even with an extra year to work it out (Rule One of VAR: don’t mention the extra year).
We also found out something else. They don’t show VAR messages and information at Liverpool and Manchester United home games. Apparently they don’t have the right sort of screens there. How funny.
PGMO has manipulated VAR, delaying it by a year. The media has manipulated our understanding of what is going on by omitting to remind us that VAR was delayed by a year so PGMO could get it right, while letting all these stupid foreign people play around with it. We would of course come in this year and show the rest of Europe how to do it.
And we did. By deducting two points from Arsenal.
Oh George Orwell. If you came down from heaven now, what would you be thinking?
- Our videos explore some of these issues in depth – do take a look
- The grotesque and disgusting behaviour of the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal, enemies of our club.
In Germany they even started in the season 2017/2018 so that is 2 years earlier. I think in Belgium they also started it that season. As in Holland it has been used in 2016/2017 for the first time in the cup competition.
Also interesting to know is that Helmut Krug a former Bundesliga and FIFA referee was “supervisor” at the “Kölner Keller” (the headquarter of the VAR in Germany). As he was from Gelsenkirchen he never had been allowed to do matches of Schalke04 (from Gelsenkirchen) in his regular referee days.
But as supervisor he was involded in Schalke matches and he used his influence as supervisor to arrange decisions in favor of Schalke04. The VAR referee complained about this and so he was removed as supervisor from VAR.
This shows two things:
a) in other countries they know how to deal with corruption and cheaters by removing them (compare to Riley who got promoted for having cheated in match 50)
b) they are open to the possibility of possible corruption. (compare to there is no such thing in the PL and the PGMO….)
What I can not understand is that the clubs must know what is Riley happening and there is enough of them to oppose it and bring it to end – but they don’t!
Funny how Manure aknowledge the total ineptitude of the press in a conference call to investors….
“Despite being linked in the media to 111 players in January, our acquisition of just one of them – Bruno Fernandes – is an important step in that direction, demonstrating our commitment to adding experienced, world-class recruits to the exciting crop of academy graduates that are at the heart of this developing team. We will take the same planned, disciplined, approach this coming summer.”
One out of 111, talk about a success rate…but then, thanks to UA we know that, don’t we… !
One in 111 that sounds like the pigmob success rate with their decision making. I can not help but wonder if the pigmob think this, what appears to be deliberate sabotage, helps their cause. surely consistent incompetence can not be what the poem expects of its officials
OT: Making fun of headlines
Headline: How Arsenal could line up against Olympiacos
_On the ground?
Headline: Arsenal prepared to make a summer move for La Liga midfielder
_1.e4 White opens by moving Kings pawn to e4 (2 spaces forward)
Headline: Arsenal’s Nketiah comments on his relationship with Lacazette
_Yeah Lacazette and I are both members of Arsenal.
Headline: Paul Mrson sends transfer warning to Arsenal players and praises
_Some time in the next 20 years, you will be transferred.
Headline: One key element Arsenal must adopt in the end of season run in
_Win more games
Headline: Mikel Arteta’s start assessed by Paul Mrson and Gary Nville
_PM – Who is Mikel Arteta?
_GN – Who is Mikel Arteta?
Tony,
Thanks for the George Orwell quote. It probably means more to those of us of a certain age (I’m 70, lol) but always worthwhile to remember. I’m living in Florida in the States and we need minds like Orwell;s more than ever. Also Aldous Huxley. In Brave New World the populace was controled ny drugs and ‘entertainment’. If one thinks that’s a stretch, tune into American TV and watch the adverts, it’s all either ads by pharmaceutical companies or ads for things to make your life better. These people were writing in the 30’s and 40’s FFS. Are they still part of the syllabus?
Looking forward to Riley and Corruption analogy from 1984 discuss.
being part of the English language exam .
The Daily Mirror saying the VAR official (Coote) who didn’t press for a Lo Celso red last weekend has been dropped from the coming weekends fixtures.
No mention of any punishment for the VAR official, or ref who permitted Man Utd’s McGuire to kick a Chelsea player in a delicate place.
If Mike Riley is still in post next season, it is because A/ he is following orders from the powerful B/ because he knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak
Mandy
My feeling about a big part of Sir Red Nose, is that somehow he came to know of where a lot of bodies were buried.
@ Gord – 26/02/2020 at 2:48 am – My take is that it was then very conducive and mutually beneficial for certain vested interested parties , to pool together their respective resources and ‘expertise ‘ for their own financial good.
With the retirement of SAF , and some other subtle changes in club owenership, the encircled wagons are no longer safe havens .
Not yet over ran , but the chinks are there . VAR might be the Gattling guns that prolong our agony !
A man visits a 5-star hotel in Paris.
As he sat there at the bar, enjoying his Black Label, a devastatingly hot French girl in a red dress, came to him and said something in French, which he wasn’t able to understand.
Unable to get over her heavenly body mixed with the heady aroma of her alluring French perfume, he invited her to sit down next to him, took a napkin and drew a picture of a champagne glass (🍸)
She nodded, and he ordered a glass of champagne for her.
After a while, he took another napkin, drew a picture of a plate with food on it (🍝), and she nodded.
They ordered dinner, after which he took another napkin and drew a picture of a couple dancing(👫).
She nodded, and they got up to dance.
When they were back at their table, the young lady took a napkin and drew a picture of a screw (🔩)
Till now he is scratching his head trying to figure out how on Earth, did she know about his hardware store in his native country !
Of course you would criticize. Everyday whining, press, pgmo, FIFA, uefa. If pgmo said the sun rises in the east you would criticize. The clubs (including arsenal) voted to delay the use of var while the technology underwent more trial last season, but no, it’s pgmo’s fault and of course your band of yes men agree. You will say even FIFA refused to use English refs in the world cup, despite the public explanation that Mark clattenburg had been nominated for the job, but jumped ship to Saudi Arabia afterwards. Will your band of yes men set the records straight? Of course not, why let the truth get in the way of a big old untold moan. The clubs voted to delay var while pgmo continued trials, does that mean pgmo is supposed to be perfect when they eventually implement var? Have pgmo ever made such a claim? Where and when did pgmo claim there would be no interruption of the flow of the game when they implement VAR?
You are not perfect, at least I know you have claimed to have been a journalist and a publisher (although other than your claims I’ve never heard any commendation of your work), I doubt you were perfect in those, maybe you would have been a success story often told if that was the case, yet everyday you criticize/abuse other people/blogs/ political thoughts/ organisations. You obviously are not young from pictures of you, I expect elders to be wise and temperate however you sound grumpy all the time. Arsenal lose or win there’s always someone for you to quarrel with. Please live and let others live
I fear you are making a judgement based on the last two years rather than the whole 12 years Untold Arsenal has been running.
Untold was a 100% supporter of the team and the manager until Mr Wenger was encouraged to leave by the Board. Go back and have a look. There are almost 10,000 articles to choose from.
‘ The young are apt to think themselves smart , just as the drunk are apt to think themselves sober’.
The officer said : ” You’re staggering !”
And she said : ” You’re quite handsome yourself !”
The they laughed and laughed .
Now she needs bail money !
Tony really? You started being this eternal moaner only when Wenger left? Really? Really?
P7, A moaner…
In a situation where something is not right just complaining, crying and whining is therefore moaning.
What a moaner doesn’t do is suggest a) an analysis of what is wrong, b) the cause of what is wrong and c) how to put it right.
Now I admit I am struggling with c) but I would argue I am trying to get there, but a) and b) are both certainly covered. You on the other hand a simply complaining.