[Archived] Refs Are Biased By "big" Clubs

[USRoverME]

Mikel was the main culprit of that yesterday, I saw Halsey having to elbow Mikel out of the way once to get past him after blowing his whistle. I can't remember if it was for a card or just to get to the spot of a foul, but I was irate, and I didn't much care who won the match.

(is that better, sorry about my poor typing, I tend to type too fast when sneaking on at work)

Edited August 6, 2007 by USRoverME

[thenodrog]

err could you have another go at posting that please usroverme? I'm struggling to understand your point.

[Hasta]

Mikel was the main culprit of that yesterday, I saw Halsey once have to elbow Mikel out of the way to get to a player or a spot after the whistle.

Amazing how the ommision of two letters can transform a sentence.

Edited August 6, 2007 by Hasta

[USRoverME]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...89520-19569736/

Thats arse about face! They would be better served by appointing referees who were strong enough in past seasons to stand up to the likes of the old RFW and Jose Mourhino. To admit that their members are susceptable to bullying is a sad indictment of their selection procedures.

Halsey missed the memo then, I remember twice seeing the camera zoomed in on Rooney after calls. I'm not a great lip-reader, but I knew what he was saying, and it wasn't "Sorry, sir, I apologize"

[trueblue]

According to Graham Poll the worst player for swearing at referees and trying to intimidate them is John Terry.

It would be good to see referees this season clamping down on the likes of RFW and Jose, but I don't think it will happen

[eddiewac]

Well they werent bothered when Jason Roberts "showed dissent" last year and got a second yellow for it, they should definately clamp down on it but not just with us teams outside the top 4, a rule for one, a rule for all

[brfc fan]

If you swear in public you get done for verbal abuse now by the police and get an £80 fine so it should be clamped down on on the pitch as well.

[thenodrog]

"Reading boss Steve Coppell says the top sides are treated more leniently by referees, with his side already having players sent off against Manchester United and Chelsea this season (Express). "

Hot on the heels of Wenger priming the officials for todays match it seems Alex Ferguson is adopting similar tactics ahead of the Manc derby by accusing City of being 'cloggers'.

imo this is an increasingly obvious tactic used by big clubs to pressurise and influence the refs. 'Stop any tigerish tackling, stop the opposition putting in 110% effort and closing us down before we can put a foot on the ball, and our expensive collection of Carlos Kickaball mercenaries will win.' seems to the case.

Now I'm quite sure that the referees assoc and the FA are aware of it...... but I'm also quite sure that it is a tactic that bloody well works.

[JAL]

"Reading boss Steve Coppell says the top sides are treated more leniently by referees, with his side already having players sent off against Manchester United and Chelsea this season (Express). "

Hot on the heels of Wenger priming the officials for todays match it seems Alex Ferguson is adopting similar tactics ahead of the Manc derby by accusing City of being 'cloggers'.

imo this is an increasingly obvious tactic used by big clubs to pressurise and influence the refs. 'Stop any tigerish tackling, stop the opposition putting in 110% effort and closing us down before we can put a foot on the ball, and our expensive collection of Carlos Kickaball mercenaries will win.' seems to the case.

Now I'm quite sure that the referees assoc and the FA are aware of it...... but I'm also quite sure that it is a tactic that bloody well works.

Maybe a new ruling for next season will be that managers, club officials or media people cannot make pre match comments about officials prior to any game.

[mrsjansen]

I did find it strange that Steve Bruce said that Refs favour the big clubs. He shouldnt be saying things like that as manager of a big club. Decisions might start going against them

[Exiled in Toronto]

I am of the opinion that having professional referees is at the root of the problem. Now its how they make their living, not unnaturally they seek to advance in their profession. Advancement is signalled by the number of top 4 games you get, and the match reports of the top 4 managers has some bearing.

In the days of Alan Hardacre, complaints by a manager about a ref would automatically ensure they got that ref for their next important game, and then a few more as well. Now, the opposite seems to be the case.

Edited August 19, 2007 by Exiled in Toronto

[philipl]

Alan Wiley once again showed how difficult it is going to be for any non-Big 4 club to break into the Big 4's monompoly of the first four places.

[ace]

Alan Wiley once again showed how difficult it is going to be for any non-Big 4 club to break into the Big 4's monompoly of the first four places.

Not only in the league.

For those who may have forgotten Alan Wiley was the referee at the semi last season where he waited until the 45 min before he gave a foul fo us against Chelsea!!

( and by his changed shape he has had a very busy summer..eating!)

[philipl]

It was not just the first half either.

After Chelsea had scored their second, he effectively closed out the game for them with decision after decision going against the Rovers.

[Grabbi Graeme]

I watched The Last Word on Sky Sports last night and Andy Gray was talking about Rob Styles and how he had got the penalty decision wrong and questioning how it could be a penalty, Richard Keys tried to cut him short with the line "they are only human and make mistakes", even Gray himself admitted that he will get a call from bosses for criticising Styles.

Surely Gray is there to comment on these things or are Sky worried that if they upset the Prem League then the next time the tv rights come up Sky might not get what they want.

If players can be criticised for mistakes and bad play then the refs should also be up for criticism.

[sumps]

if the decision hadn't been made in a high profile game like chelsea - liverpool then there's no way there would be this much coverage. look at the linesmans decision against fulhum, just as bad but there's been hardly any fuss made over it.

also today on SSN they said that the decisions had to be better now that they are affecting such high profile games! just shows the mentality of the media that they only care about big clubs.

[ABBEY]

be interesting to see how many "big" decisions are evened out when the big 4 play each other overall