To all dearest Chelsea FC fans, you might agree with Mr. Nadim Bedran below.
Wonder why referees who give United bad decisions
never repeat the trick? It's because they get taught a heavy lesson from
Fergie, The FA & PGMOB. The conspiracy unravels within....
Chelsea fans will soon be demanding answers as An
investigation into the worrying relationship between United &
referees continues…
After I wrote my
last piece, on
Manchester United’s relationship with the FA, I was taken aback by the
response I had. I suggest to people who haven’t read it to jump to that
post now as it gives a lot of background on what we will look at in this
article.
As stated in my previous post, the fortunes of the institutions
surrounding football in the UK will be negatively hit should any proof
of corruption come out. It is naturally in their interest not to
investigate the matter. In fact, the managers that have come out and
questioned the refereeing selection process (Rafa Benitez, Andre Villas
Boas) have been turned into laughing stocks by the English press corps.
So, investigate some more I did. And some of the stuff I found out surprised even me.
During United’s title winning 2010/11 season, they only lost 4 league
games. I looked at who refereed those games and how long they then
spent without being assigned
Manchester United games as well their subsequent trend of behavior towards United.
"The second game United lost was away to Chelsea. Martin
Atkinson was the referee then and some of his decisions incurred the
wrath of Alex Ferguson. Atkinson was not given another United game to
referee for an ENTIRE YEAR."
Michael Oliver took charge of their first defeat, the February 2011
2-1 loss at Wolves. He was not given another Manchester United game to
referee until December 2011. Since then, Oliver has had 2 United games.
United have won both, with Oliver refusing to give a clear Fulham
penalty in the 1-0 United win late last season at Old Trafford; a game
came right at the end of the title race. A few weeks ago, Oliver gave
United a penalty for a shocking dive by Danny Welbeck in the home win
against
Wigan.
The second game United lost was away to Chelsea. Martin Atkinson was
the referee then and some of his decisions incurred the wrath of Alex
Ferguson. Atkinson was not given another United game to referee for an
ENTIRE YEAR.
Atkinson was further punished with his decisions that went against United that day. He was not given a single
Premier League
game to referee for a full month. Even worse, he was subsequently given
3 lower league games to referee that season- when he’d previously not
officiated a single one that campaign.
It seems that Atkinson was given a clear message that day.
"Giving United penalties in the very next game you referee for them after having been criticized is a trend we’ll soon notice."
The 3
rd United loss came at Anfield, where a Dirk Kuyt hat
trick secured a 3-1 home win. The referee that day was Phil Dowd. He
was criticized by Ferguson for not sending Jamie Carragher off. In the
very next United game Dowd refereed, he gave them a penalty which
secured a 1-1 draw at
Blackburn and their 19
th league title.
Giving United penalties in the very next game you referee for them after having been criticized is a trend we’ll soon notice.
The final United loss of the 2010/11 season came at the Emirates,
where Chris Foy refereed a 1-0 Arsenal win. It will come to no surprise
to people to know that Foy was subsequently not assigned a United league
game for, again, AN ENTIRE YEAR.
He did however referee 2 United games in the cups during that time.
The first was in the Carling Cup against Crystal Palace. He awarded
United a penalty. The second was at
Manchester City in the FA Cup. United got a penalty and Vincent Kompany was sent off early in the game.
To resume, we’ve just analyzed what happened to the 4 referees that
officiated United’s 4 league losses in the 2010/11 season. 2 of them
were not given any more United league games for a full year (Atkinson
and Foy), a third for 9 months (Oliver). 2 of those referees gave United
penalties in the very next game (Foy and Dowd) they took charge of and
one refused to give a blatant one to the opponents (Oliver). Martin
Atkinson, was not given Premier League games to officiate for an entire
month and assigned to 3 lower league games.
"When Halsey gave WBA a debatable penalty in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in May 2005 it was his 5th United
game that season. He then also went an ENTIRE YEAR without being given
any United games to referee. From 5 games in a season to none for a
year…"
I also looked at Mike Jones after prompting from the comments board.
Jones refereed the 1-1 home draw with Newcastle last season and falsely
awarded Demba Ba a penalty.
Subsequently, Jones was not given a single football game, at ANY
level, to referee for an entire month. The next United game he was
handed came a few months later, the 2-0 home win against
Stoke which saw… You guessed it: 2 penalties awarded to Manchester United which, according to reports, were “very soft”.
How about Mark Halsey? Well, when he gave WBA a debatable penalty in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in May 2005 it was his 5
th United
game that season. He then also went an ENTIRE YEAR without being given
any United games to referee. From 5 games in a season to none for a
year. His record since then? He’s refereed 11 Man Utd games which have
seen 11 United wins: the latest coming at Anfield, where 3 controversial
decisions went the away team’s way.
In terms of trends, considering what we discovered about Alan Wiley
and Mark Clattenburg (whose record with no United games to referee now
stands at 36 league games since he took charge of the 6-1 home loss to
City), there’s enough to make you wonder what exactly is going on in
the referee selection process. It also ties in perfectly with ex referee
Jeff Winter’s comments about The FA being reticent to assign United
games to referees Ferguson has criticized in the past.
"I don’t blame the referees…The people I blame are the ones that are letting this happen"
The whole world revolves around incentives and punishment. From a
young age, kids are brought up that way. Positive and negative
reinforcement are at the very core of child psychology. You can’t blame
people who are well aware of the punishment awaiting them (through the
form of demotionsand suspension from future United games) if they’d
rather go for the safe option of keeping Ferguson happy.
I don’t blame the referees.
The people I blame are the ones that are letting this happen. The
media who have not uttered a peep or written a single article about this
for 2 decades. The FA who run the game in this country and have allowed
this situation to fester. The clubs who see no issue with having David
Gill, United’s CEO, on the board of the FA. And of course, the PGMOB:
the people who regulate officiating in England
The person at the head of the PGMOB and who is in charge of selecting
which referee gets handed which game is Mike Riley, an ex professional
referee who is most famous for giving a penalty for a clear dive by
Wayne Rooney in the 2004 Man United 2-0 win against
Arsenal which ended the Gunners 49 game unbeaten streak.
Riley was accused of pro United favoritism throughout his career. For younger readers, he’s my generation’s Howard Webb.
"Riley’s bias was so suspected than when was awarded the
Everton vs Man Utd FA Cup semi final to officiate in 2009, David Moyes
actually called for an investigation on whether Riley was a United
supporter. This is the man who now decides which premier league games to
assign to referee"
According to the Guardian’s research, which goes to back to the
beginning of the 1997-98 season until 2004, “Riley refereed 23 United
games in all competitions and gave 12 penalties for United in that time,
but only three against them. And he has sent off five of United’s
opponents.
At Old Trafford, Riley’s record is weighted even more heavily in
favor of United: He gave 10 penalties in the 14 games he officiated to
the home side, Manchester United.”
Riley’s bias was so suspected than when was awarded the Everton vs Man Utd
FA Cup semi final to officiate in 2009, David Moyes actually called for an investigation on whether Riley was a United supporter.
This is the man who now decides which premier league games to assign to referees.
Add that to everything we’ve found out: the year long waits for
referees who take charge of United losses to be given another United
game to officiate, the penalties that are given to United in
said referees next United games, the punishment for making mistakes that
cost United points (Atkinson’s month long suspension from premier
league games, Jones’ 1 month suspension from ALL PROFESSIONAL games),
the comments from ex referee Jeff Winter (see
my previous post),
the fact that 18% of Howard Webb’s career penalties have gone to
Manchester United,the retirement of Alain Wiley after being called unfit
by Alex Ferguson and, of course, the presence of David Gill inside the
FA and surely there’s enough there for some investigative journalist in
the UK to actually look more into this.
"Why did Foy’s errors on Saturday lead to his demotion to
the lowest professional league in England while Webb’s and Jones’
mistakes didn’t cost them?"
If only to put the millions of football fans’ across the world’s minds at ease.
Because we could all be wrong and all of this may just be a set of
freakish coincidences. Maybe English football is squeaky clean like they
make us believe and the referee selection process is completely
unbiased.
Maybe we’re just paranoid…
Or maybe not… Chris Foy failed to give Manchester United a penalty in
their 3-2 loss to Spurs last month. The PGMOB did not handed Foy a
Premier League game to referee last weekend: instead, he will referee in
League 2 for the first time in more than 4 years.
Mike Jones meanwhile, who missed a blatant penalty on
Luis Suarez
at Norwich the same weekend, took charge of West Brom vs QPR in the
Premier League. Finally, Howard Webb (who sent off Jordi Gomez on
Saturday; a red card today rescinded by the FA) took charge of
Newcastle’s home game against…Manchester United.
Why did Foy’s errors on last month lead to his demotion to the lowest
professional league in England while Webb’s and Jones’ mistakes didn’t
cost them?
I guess we all know the answer to that question…
This article originally appeared on The Dim In Beirut You can follow Nadim on twitter@dimmybad