[Football]

[Borboski]

shaka-shaka-boom

[Borboski]

1. Yeah it doesn't really matter, I'm over it now - neither is it the most outrageous thing in the world.
2. On Nistelrooy's challenge - come off it, you can even see him smirk after the challenge.  I used to think he was brilliant - it felt like I "discovered" him on Eurosport before Man U got interested, but I'm rapidly losing any respect for the big horsefaced diving plonker.
3. On Pires - again, we'll have to agree to disagree.  I'm not blind to Arsenal players diving, I've seen some pathetic flouncing over following a too hard touch, but that particular one against Portsmouth wasn't that bad a dive.  It looks bad but you can see the contact, genuine contact - and even if you're not happy with that (I don't really like the practice of strikers "playing" for penalties by knocking it past the keeper and running into him), there was more contact there than Rooney's.  
4. On Liverpool's penalty - I don't seriously think Riley is a prejudiced towards Man Utd. It is a noticable that those big three (ManU, Juve, and Real Madrid) have been shown some quite amazing leniancy by refs. That said, you make you're own by and large, and they've all dominated their leagues.  But I do think Riley in particularly is a shoddy ref, I felt that before,  Allerdyce is aways moaning about him.  He appears intimidated by the big occasion, and also too keen to even up games if he makes a mistake by making another dodgy decision - like not allowing Ronaldo's pen - I wouldn't be surprised if that was intentional.  He's also always smiling and laughing with players, which pisses me off.

Go on then - what others refs are bobbins?  I didn't mind Jeff Winter personally.

[Make me smile]

When watching Norwich in the 1st Div for the past few seasons I have noticed refereeing standards get worse and worse, with the worst offenders usually being the 'Premiership standard' referees who drop down to do their bit for the little leagues.

Worst offenders were usually Dermot Gallagher and Uriah Rennie.


Just an aside on the Man U vs Arsenal match, how is it that RVN stamps on Cole and an almighty investigation is launched, yet Dietmar Hamann nearly snaps Damien Francis' leg in two when we play Liverpool and nothing happens? Supporters of big clubs should stop whining on about how hard done by they are and try imagining being a fan of a smaller club where fuck all is going to be given your way.

The amount of double standards and hypocrisy in this division astounds me.

[Hobo]

Mark Clattenburg is an absolute joke. Then again so are the team I support.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Yeah, but no better place to play than Fratton Park!

Bloody Portsmouth.....

[phes]

Yeah, but no better place to play than Fratton Park!

Bloody Portsmouth.....

Liverpool, Southhampton...???  dontGeddit???

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

No,my point was, they'd just knocked my team out of the Carling Cup after we'd done so well to beat the mighty Huddersfield Town.  And don't think we've forgotten that 6-1 mauling last season...

[The Duck Man]

Watford versus Saints - 4th Round.

GET IN! That's revenge for the 2003 FA Cup Semi Final debacle and a nice trouncing of the local team all rolled into one delicous package.

You 'Orns!

[Jimmy]

There is nothing, I repeat nothing like being 2-0 up away from home with 12 minutes left, then throwing the game away by allowing Swindon to score three goals in that time to lose 3-2.

Fuck you Wednesday you bunch of minge, I've decided to support Arsenal instead.

[Mr Colossal]

Go on then - what others refs are bobbins?  I didn't mind Jeff Winter personally.

Winter was my favourite ref too due to his no nonsense approach. When he was in charge of games he was in control, not the other way round... he used to let a lot of the 50-50 physical stuff go too.

I was shocked to read in his public criticism of wenger  yesterday that he'd retired after the FA cup final last year... I think the F.A should stop recruiting these public schoolmaster gimpy refs and get some more 'winters' in.

Im totally for video evidence as well as there are a few easilly implementable systems that wouldnt interfere with the game available. All this 'its not in the spirit of the game' business is nonsense...Too much money rests on the decisions being made.

Some players are so good that they look miles offside when latching onto a through ball when the replay shows that the run was timed to perfection... I think they could easilly come up with a two man button system. E.g. one man hold button whenever a player is offside, other man presses his when a through pass is made. 2 buttons = buzzer sounding.

And why is Wenger moaning about the physical game like hes got a team full of cotton wool wrapped kiddies...  Its not everybody elses fault he decided to invest in a front line of tackle shirking  nonses. Besides wasn't it Adams and Keown who perfected  the art of  box-rape?

The lack of physical aggression is the one big difference between the Manchester United team that dominated the 90's and the Arsenal of today. Probably  the main factor in why they are so shit in Europe. They may have the pace and technique to take the piss out of your average premiership nobody, but none of their players really consistently cut the mustard on the continental or international scene.

EDIT mind you, neither all of uniteds really have either... But a few of argueably their best players wern't really given a proper chance or flopped. Bruce never got a full England cap, and Pallister and Cole only ever got 30 full caps between them.

[mayer]

And why is Wenger moaning about the physical game like hes got a team full of cotton wool wrapped kiddies...  Its not everybody elses fault he decided to invest in a front line of tackle shirking  nonses. The lack of physical aggression is the one big difference between the Manchester United team that dominated the 90's and the Arsenal of today. Probably  the main factor in why they are so shit in Europe. They may have the pace and technique to take the piss out of your average premiership nobody, but none of their players really cut the mustard on the continental or international scene.

hmmmm... i thought that too many Arsenal players of recent years (Keown, Berkamp, Paddy) were too aggressive, hence all the yellows and reds.

and whilst Arsenal's record in Europe after the mid-90s has been dire, they got knocked out down the road last year after embarassing Inter in their own back yard.

Wenger moaning is like the Earth revolving on its axis. Nothing you can do will ever stop it.

[fanny splendid]

So, does the new found sympathy streak of the Liverpool fans extend to not chanting Munich '58 at every opportunity?

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Fuck you Wednesday you bunch of minge

Better supporters than those Blades meatheads though....

[Partridge's Love Child]

Go on then - what others refs are bobbins?  I didn't mind Jeff Winter personally.

Funnily enough, Jeff Winter was the only ref I really couldn't stand.  And get those bloody beads off your neck, you're too old for trendy ethnic jewellry.  Paul Durkin was easily the best ref, but he's retired too.

I think this idea that the referees always favour Man Utd is ludicrous.  You have to ask quite why they would.  Virtually anyone interested in football who is not a Utd fan hates them  - "Anyone but Utd" is a well known footballing expression.  Quite why the referrees would be any different I can't fathom, surely you're not suggesting that under every single black shirt they're wearing a Nike swoosh on their right tit, a circular crest on their left and "Vodaphone" emblazoned across their stomach.

Anyway, I didn't come on here to say all that, I came for this:

BBCi[/url]"]Chelsea have sacked Adrian Mutu after he failed a drugs test.

[...]

A statement from Chelsea explaining the decision read:"We want to make clear that Chelsea has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs."

[...]

Chelsea's statement added: "This applies to both performance-enhancing drugs or so-called 'recreational' drugs. They have no place at our club or in sport.

No Chelsea players are allowed to go out drinking according to that statement.  I look forward to them all being sacked over the next few months.  We'll pick up Damien Duff for nowt then.

Fifa's disciplinary code stipulates that a first doping offence should be followed by a six-month ban.

If that's the case, why did Rio Ferdinand get an eight month ban for missing his test?  They kept repeating that it was as serious an offence as failing the test itself, so he should've got the same punishment, not a harsher one.

It emerged that Mutu had failed a drugs test on October 18 and, although it was initially reported that the banned substance in question was cocaine.

The Romanian international later suggested it was a substance designed to enhance sexual performance.

He just wanted something to help him score.

[Hobo]

Go on then - what others refs are bobbins?  I didn't mind Jeff Winter personally.

Fifa's disciplinary code stipulates that a first doping offence should be followed by a six-month ban.

If that's the case, why did Rio Ferdinand get an eight month ban for missing his test?  They kept repeating that it was as serious an offence as failing the test itself, so he should've got the same punishment, not a harsher one.

The reason being that if the ban for missing a test is shorter or the same as that for actually taking the substances, is so that any offenders cannot then just miss the test knowing full well that with nothing proven their name is still clear and they get a six month paid holiday.

What are the rules in the Dutch league on recreational drugs though? Personnaly I believe that recreational drugs are none of the FA's business and any players caught should be refered to the police.

[Hank Aviary]

Ferdinand was a tad fortunate - failure to take the test by choice (whatever he said) is as close to an admission of guilt as you can get, and they were well within their rights to ban him for 2 years

The lay-off doesn't seem to have affected him too much, though.  Bar the Ljungberg incident, when he understimated the Swede's pace, I thought he was immaculate in everything he did on Sunday

[Make me smile]

Funnily enough, Jeff Winter was the only ref I really couldn't stand.  And get those bloody beads off your neck, you're too old for trendy ethnic jewellry.  Paul Durkin was easily the best ref, but he's retired too.

I think this idea that the referees always favour Man Utd is ludicrous.  You have to ask quite why they would.  Virtually anyone interested in football who is not a Utd fan hates them  - "Anyone but Utd" is a well known footballing expression.  Quite why the referrees would be any different I can't fathom, surely you're not suggesting that under every single black shirt they're wearing a Nike swoosh on their right tit, a circular crest on their left and "Vodaphone" emblazoned across their stomach.

I think it is more the enormous pressure that can be brought to bear against a referee and his career if he displeases Man Utd that influences their decisions.

A more cynical man might suggest there are rewards for refs for pleasing Man Utd, but not me.

Anyway, I didn't come on here to say all that, I came for this:

BBCi[/url]"]Chelsea have sacked Adrian Mutu after he failed a drugs test.

[...]

A statement from Chelsea explaining the decision read:"We want to make clear that Chelsea has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs."

[...]

Chelsea's statement added: "This applies to both performance-enhancing drugs or so-called 'recreational' drugs. They have no place at our club or in sport.

No Chelsea players are allowed to go out drinking according to that statement.  I look forward to them all being sacked over the next few months.  We'll pick up Damien Duff for nowt then.

don't be silly, alcohol's not a drug, it's a drink.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Come on PLC, I don't think anyone is in any doubt that Mike Riley shouldn't be let anywhere near a football ground ever again. Over the past ten matches at Old Trafford he's refereed, he's either given Man U a penalty, sent off an opposition player, and one a couple of occasions, both.
It's also highly disproportionate to the amount of penalties Man Utd get throughout the season, home and away, with other referees.

Decisions he got wrong:

-Ferdinand should have been sent off for barging Ljungberg to the floor. It was obvious that Ljungberg was going to go down, but if you observe the incident, it was a clear red card offence. Not only did Riley and his linesman fail to spot that, they even failed to book him, and award a foul. And you wonder why other fans get paranoid about special treatment?!

-Van Nistelrooy should have been sent off. My hatred for him deepened even further for that Keane-esque tackle. Even though he is a petulant dutch cheat, I wasn't expecting that level of cunt-ness, even from him. It was obvious Ferguson had the idea to kick them off the park, with the knowledge that Riley was as likely to bring the Man U players to book, as Lynda Lee-Potter is to write John Peel's obituary. There is no doubt either than he sohuld have been sent off, and for such a tackle (which in my opinion was as savage as Keane's infamous lunge, and Cantona's kick) he should suffer a severe punishment.

-Ronaldo should have been awarded a penalty. This is how shit Mike Riley is. When you make a mistake the last thing you do is make another one to 'balance things out' . It just reinforces every football fans opinion that you are an incompetent loser, and the linesmen are even more inept than we first thought.
On a rare occasion, Ronaldo actually let the opposition player touch him going into a tackle, and the penalty was obvious.

-It wasn't a penalty. Rooney saw Campbell sticking his leg off as hurled his greasy arse to the deck. Both the linesman (well obviously), and He Who Must not Referee failed to spot that the velocity in which Rooney his the floor was about 100 times faster than the speed he was moving before and had he connected with Campbell's foot, he would have fell down on his face, not sprawled forward. The fact that Lehmann's attempt at distraction during the penalty was pathetic is irrelevant, as he shouldn't have had to do it in the first place.

Add in several other occasions where very bad tackles from Man Utd players that went unpunished in the match, and it's not very hard to see why we all think Mike Riley is an incompetent referee, and a liability at Old Trafford, linesmen are people dragged out of invalid facilities/hostels for the blind, Fergie is a hypocrite, and is still on a downer as are his team, Wenger for all his constant whining sometimes has a point, even if it is blurred by his relentlessness, and lastly, Arsenal will still win the title.

This article was written by a Newcastle Utd Fan.

[Utter Shit]

-Ferdinand should have been sent off for barging Ljungberg to the floor. It was obvious that Ljungberg was going to go down, but if you observe the incident, it was a clear red card offence. Not only did Riley and his linesman fail to spot that, they even failed to book him, and award a foul. And you wonder why other fans get paranoid about special treatment?!

-Van Nistelrooy should have been sent off. My hatred for him deepened even further for that Keane-esque tackle. Even though he is a petulant dutch cheat, I wasn't expecting that level of cunt-ness, even from him. It was obvious Ferguson had the idea to kick them off the park, with the knowledge that Riley was as likely to bring the Man U players to book, as Lynda Lee-Potter is to write John Peel's obituary. There is no doubt either than he sohuld have been sent off, and for such a tackle (which in my opinion was as savage as Keane's infamous lunge, and Cantona's kick) he should suffer a severe punishment.

-Ronaldo should have been awarded a penalty. This is how shit Mike Riley is. When you make a mistake the last thing you do is make another one to 'balance things out' . It just reinforces every football fans opinion that you are an incompetent loser, and the linesmen are even more inept than we first thought.
On a rare occasion, Ronaldo actually let the opposition player touch him going into a tackle, and the penalty was obvious.

-It wasn't a penalty. Rooney saw Campbell sticking his leg off as hurled his greasy arse to the deck. Both the linesman (well obviously), and He Who Must not Referee failed to spot that the velocity in which Rooney his the floor was about 100 times faster than the speed he was moving before and had he connected with Campbell's foot, he would have fell down on his face, not sprawled forward. The fact that Lehmann's attempt at distraction during the penalty was pathetic is irrelevant, as he shouldn't have had to do it in the first place.

Add in several other occasions where very bad tackles from Man Utd players that went unpunished in the match, and it's not very hard to see why we all think Mike Riley is an incompetent referee, and a liability at Old Trafford, linesmen are people dragged out of invalid facilities/hostels for the blind, Fergie is a hypocrite, and is still on a downer as are his team, Wenger for all his constant whining sometimes has a point, even if it is blurred by his relentlessness, and lastly, Arsenal will still win the title.

This article was written by a Newcastle Utd Fan.

Right, a few things to take issue with here.

Firstly, what you're writing is from the perspective of someone who had access to several instant replays of every decision, from multiple angles. In two of the examples of 'bad refereeing' you mention, the referee's decision was the same reaction that everyone in the pub where I was watching it (90% Arsenal fans, I might add) had - that Rooney's WAS a penalty, and there was nothing untoward about Van Nistelrooy's challenge. It took about 5 replays to actually realise that Rooney had dived - there were 5 angles that looked a dead-on penalty, then one which showed he hadn't been touched. More importantly, the 'referee's view' angle looked like a certain penalty. He got it wrong, but from his point of view it WAS a penalty.

Same with the Van Nistelrooy thing. Live, all you saw was Cole go down. On the first replay, the first thing you notice is Van Nistelrooy weakly wave an elbow in Cole's direction, no one even noticed the boot to Cole's knee. Again, as more replays were shown the truth was unveiled, but again on first inspection the referee couldn't be blamed for not seeing it.

The Ronaldo one was a penalty, and I think he bottled it because of the debate about the first one, I'll admit that.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Different referee, different result, that's my opinion.

Even though we have the benefit of slow-motion, multi-angle replays, doesn't it emphasize the need for them more than ever? If they were introduced then the game would be much fairer. I can't tell you what the result of that game would have been, but I doubt it would have been 2-0, especially as Man Utd should have been down to 9 men.

It only takes a glance at a slow-motion replay to appreciate how bad Van Nistelrooys assault was. A direct boot-scrape to his knee. when I was watching it, I thought "Why is has Ashley Cole just hurled himself to the floor in agony?"
I wouldn't put it past cole to cheat, but his reaction, the reaction that most people would have to a player scything your knee with his studs would be to hit the floor in pain. RVN could have ruined the career of the best English left back in 25 years. I think even Man Utd fans would have sided with Cole then.
That's the risk you take when you adopt such a dangerous strategy, and I'm sure Arsenal were intimidated when the opposition looked so determined to win the game by any means possible.

[Partridge's Love Child]

I can't believe we're still talking about that match.  How's about this for a point of conjecture: shut up.  All these complaints are a thin veil over one important point on Sunday's game: Arsenal were not good enough on the day to win.  It's like all that "Ver ref robbed us" after Euro 2004.  Yes, it was a perfectly legitimate goal, but at the end of the day England simply were not good enough to win.

All this fuss about Riley is funny.  I didn't see the game until the BBC highlights, but I did listen to it on Radio 5Live on the way back from the Lake District.  Throughout the commentary, the men behind the microphone continually said what a good game they thought the referree was having.  The commentary team included Alan Green, and surely everyone knows how much he hates Man Utd.

It's also highly disproportionate to the amount of penalties Man Utd get throughout the season, home and away, with other referees.

And your proof of that is?...

I suggest you check how many penalties Manchester United were given last season.  I think you'll be surprised.

[Utter Shit]

Everyone goes on about these 8 penalties that Riley's awarded United in the last 8 games, but they ignore the fact that of those 8, only Rooney's on Sunday is debatable. The other 7 are stick-on, doesn't matter who the ref is.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Arsenal were not good enough on the day to win

If being good enough means having to resort to foul play, and benefiting from several dodgy refereeing decisions, i'm sure they aren't too concerned.
And I won't ever shut up about football when people like Riley, Ferguson and Van Nistelrooy continue to bring it into disrepute.

The other 7 are stick-on, doesn't matter who the ref is.

I can think of three of them that weren't penalties. Besides which, is that even relevant when you consider that he has only given one penalty to the other team in 10 matches, when there's been valid appeals, and he has also sent opposition players off whilst Man Utd players have got off scot-free (heh).

The commentary team included Alan Green, and surely everyone knows how much he hates Man Utd.

Alan Green is more famous for taking the opposite view to everyone else just to get attention. On this occasion almost everyone thinks the referee had a shocking game, and it being Mike Riley at Old Trafford just rubs it in even worse.

And your proof of that is?...

I suggest you check how many penalties Manchester United were given last season. I think you'll be surprised.

You mis-interepreted my point. I was actually say what you were. Man Utd haven't had more penalties awarded than any other side, but if you look at penalties awarded at Old Trafford whilst Riley was refereeing, it is disproportionally higher than anything else.

Telling people to 'shut up' about the match is a pretty crap tactic. Reminiscent of Blair when he told us to 'move on' from Iraq, basically because it's a disaster. I'm not surprised you want people to shut up about it. The number of people getting a little bit peeved with the Riley-Old Trafford Penalty correlation is growing.

I just think he shouldn't be allowed to referee another Old Trafford match. He's still a crap referee in general when I've seen his performances in other games, but no more than other other big bag of bollocks that strut around in black in the Premiership. (Lower divisions have an even bigger problem with bad referees, but that's another story.)

[Partridge's Love Child]

Lower divisions have an even bigger problem with bad referees, but that's another story.

Indeed it is, but one worth taking up.  I remember a ref, can't remember which one, made a shocking decision and was threatened with demotion from the Premiership to the Nationwide.  Great, so just because a team is in a lower division, it's okay to put crap officials in charge of it all.  Smells of disrespect to me, no wonder Nationwide/Coca Cola clubs (or whoever sponsors it these days under it's umpteenth rebranding) and their supporters feel like the glamour clubs get all the breaks because, to some extent, they do.

Yes, I realise the "shut up" tactic was weak, though I enjoyed your Blair comparison.  It's not that I think I'm wrong and I just want you all to stop, it's just that I'm so bored of it all, especially on the subject of Arsenal.  I live in North London, and if I don't hear about how Arsenal are the greatest thing in the world and are surely the cure for cancer, then I'm getting an earful of how Utd and all their players throughout the history of everything are all cheats and that Ferguson should be banned for peeling a banana the wrong way.  Perhaps I'm just old and tired.

[Peking O]

Might as well stick this in here. Did anyone see the violent scenes from the Chelsea vs West Ham game the other night? A friend of mine told me that former Hammer Frank Lampard, while doing some warm up exercises before his introduction as a substitute, ran past the West Ham fans and kissed the Chelsea badge on his kit several times. This is bourne out by numerous West Ham fan forums on the net as well. Now, if that's not incitement I don't know what is. Not that I'm condoning what happened, but I think some action should be taken against Lampard in this case. Still, he did miss a penalty against our reserve keeper, which was fairly amusing.

[Mr Colossal]

Lower divisions have an even bigger problem with bad referees, but that's another story.

Indeed it is, but one worth taking up.  I remember a ref, can't remember which one, made a shocking decision and was threatened with demotion from the Premiership to the Nationwide.

That was Uriah Rennie, i remember one minute he was being hailed as the first black ref, the next he wasn't deemed fit to manage premiership games, though i cant remember if they said why.

There was talk of Collina comeing to the premiership as hes officially too old to be incharge  of italian games, but the premierships retirement age is 4 years later. Though personally im not actually convinced of his true ability, most of his notoriety comes from his slap-headedness.

Anyway, quit moaning about the Arsenal  game, Arsenal are still top, if they don't come first they've only got themselves to blame. Anyway, how many of you cheered on Owen when he blatantly took a leaf out of Heskeys book against  Argentina?  



the decisions Riley made in the arsenal game were very hard to determine on the spot, both the commentators and myself were convinced that there was contact at first instance, and the direction of the ball did suggest Cole got the ball in the Ronaldo claim. Jeff Winters interview suggested that if Wenger hadn't pulblicly slated Riley for being 'pen happy' at Old Trafford prior to the game, then he might have been less reluctant to teach the miserable old git a lesson.

[Almost Yearly]

Of course, one synonym of 'sport' is 'mockery'.

[chand]

I can think of three of them that weren't penalties. Besides which, is that even relevant when you consider that he has only given one penalty to the other team in 10 matches

That's one penalty more to the opposition at Old Trafford than ANY other referee since 1993! 100% of all penalties the opposition have had at Old Trafford since Ruel Fox in '93 have been given by Mike Riley.

Stats, eh, you gotta love 'em.

[phes]

I just got a ticket for Fratton Park today and I'm over the moon.
Hopefully this year Manchester United wont be pants again. Much as three points would be great, part of me wants to see them in full swing ripping apart the opposition!

Play up Pompey....

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

100% of penalties at Old Trafford against Man U were given by Mike Riley. All one of them.

That was Uriah Rennie, i remember one minute he was being hailed as the first black ref, the next he wasn't deemed fit to manage premiership games, though i cant remember if they said why.

I think it was because he was a useless, overweight, preening, attention-seeking idiot.

And after extensive research, they discovered that he wasn't even black- he's simply achieved the illusion with a system of pulleys and two-way mirrors.

Seriously though, that Gallagher chap who refereed in the Premiership was demoted to Division 1 too, because of a couple of bad performances. This season will be remembered for bad refereeing decisions. So many! Maybe it's just because the cameras are discovering more and more of them...