Yesterday I read this.
” Manchester United’s troubled defence of the Premier League title is harming the English flight’s world wide brand, says competition’s chief executive Richard Scudamore ” he said “ It’s a double-edged sword.when your most popular club isn’t doing well, that costs you interest and audience in some places ”
Two or three years ago I suggested on ACLF that it was in the interests of the Premier League , that MUFC continued to win . I also suggested that with the huge sums of money at stake trough Sky and other broadcasters there is every possibility that they had been given a helping hand over the years.
Obviously I was attacked and accused of making up conspiracy theories and told to sit in the corner with some tin-foil on my head. I was “just making up excuses“.
The fact that penalties against MUFC were almost as rare as Chicken’s teeth was dismissed as mere coincidence.
That they were allowed to foul us at will , while a sideways glance at one of their players got our lads a booking was just incompetence by a nervous referee.
But it went on for 20 years. The same things over and over.
Remember Vidic tipping over the crossbar with the assistant Ref looking right at at ? It was a great save , but fucking hell !
But people assumed I was saying it because I was an Arsenal fan. When the reality was it happened to evey team they played.
Well I hate to say I told you so but I told you so
When you are selling a product, such as the Premier League, it helps to have a flagship club. That was United.
Just look at Golf. When Tiger Woods is out the viewing figures are down together with course attendances. Why? Because he is the PGA’s flagship player. And they will help him in any way they can, because its to their benefit.
The Premier League needed MUFC to be successful, I believe they made it so.
Where there is muck there is brass.
I cant for the life of me think of any massively rich institution where there has not been skullduggery ,illegality and corruption when there are large amounts of money to be made.
Governments all over the world- corrupt
Churches all over the world throughout the ages-corrupt
Big Business-corrupt
Local governments-corrupt
Time and again, we see the evidence of this
Sport then? You bet your life !
Cheating and corruption being exposed with monotonous regularity.
Just recently we have had Cycling, Swimming, Snooker, Horse racing, Cricket, Rugby, Boxing and on and on.
Football then?
Well hell yes.
Not on Hackney Marshes, but in Italy, one of the world super powers in the game.
Of course that could never happen in England though ? Eh? What with the English being so free of such greedy bastards?
Oh, it could you say?
But it doesnt. Or at least its yet to be proven. But seriously, what are the chances its not when everything else in this country seems to be ?
Its not just MUFC that I feel there has been a dark hand in, oh no !
The Premier league is watched(and paid for by subscriptions to Sky and all) by millions of people world wide. That’s of £billions of income. Its sold as an exciting and close league. Where any team can beat any other team. Thats why its the most sold League worldwide. That image must be maintained to keep sales up. It has to be competitive and blood and thunder. Thats the “hot spot” selling point.
I believe if Referees applied the rules as they should it would be far less competitive. It would become like La Liga where the big clubs routinely dispatch the lesser teams without breaking sweat.
This would have a terrible effect on their ability to sell games.
The English game is about “power and pace” (thanks for that Mr. Hansen) because they make sure it is. Not because its good (the England team has proven that for almost 50 years now) but because it sells. Nothing can be allowed to damage that selling point, especially some intellectual French bloke and his team of sissies .
Play blood and thunder football or play at a disadvantage. That’s my opinion.
Of course City and Chelsea did go some way to altering the landscape. They started introducing new selling points ,like Galacticos . They greased the wheels and have also benefited. Again the huge sums of cash they injected helped the League sell itself.
I know we don’t like to believe it but City got into the Champions League that first year by benefiting hugely from Referees being lenient and generous toward them and the opposite with their treatment of Spurs. Spurs were the better team and the Refs effected about a 12 point swing in City’s favour. Coincidence ? Yeah right !
In short, I cant prove it , but I’d bet my life the game in England is bent.
Written by pedantic george @Blackburngeorge.
Positively Arsenal 
Gaz
Incidentally, I agree with you about ManUnited…..but they did get a lot of sympathy over the years and this did help their cause…..
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Thanks George – important to keep this at the front of everyone’s minds – including many of our own fans. That Riley clip was real x-rated stuff, but uncannily like Taylor’s performance in the Aston Villa match. That so many at The Emirates that day turned on AW given the appalling officiating beggared belief. One-sided refereeing has a much, much greater impact than most give it credit for – and it is a disgrace that it is not exposed by the TV pundits. One yellow card not given for a cynical foul at the start of a game sets in motion a whole series of skill-spoiling assaults.
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George, my Sunday supplement has been delivered. Man U supporters called Gaz are welcome. http://wp.me/p4FeF9-cX
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Ospina is official
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Gaz, like all fans has a first thought to defend his club. And rightly so.
Of course by doing this he misses the point of the article.
United did nothing wrong, they did as they should,They tool advantage of the prevailing wind.
Had Liverpool manager to win the first or second PL title I feel that they would have taken the mantle of “flagship” club and benefited accordingly. Sadly for them they missed the boat.
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NB
I really hope I didn’t spoil your day by posting that video of the man that is head of the refs. I know it’s an anger making comp but it has to be visited from time to time.
Looking at PG’s article, it was obvious it’d spawn a Gaz, who happens not to have any idea about ManUs help from refs. Indeed, Gaz friendly-ly appears to put any failures of Arsenal down to Wenger not seeing anything. (Just as he won’t have seen any king fu kicks, hand balls, vicious tackles, diving, et al, against Arsenal. Even in the season past ManU weren’t going to be allowed to lose against Arsenal).
So that’s why I posted.
I don’t envy you your friends, PG.
I do envy your creativity, NB. Love your paintings.
Where’s the podcast?
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Gaz
If the laws of the game were fairly and impartially enforced at Old Trafford, Paul Scoles would have had a very brief career… and as for that potato faced ogre for merseyside, don’t get me started.
Good luck paying him £300,000 per week.
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alabama gooner
I hope you had a magnificent time.
I demand a full report on all proceedings, meetings with players, impressions, shopping, match, the lot.
Please, pretty please.
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Goaly is leaving:
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The battle for No1 should be very interesting this season and can only make us stronger. Lets hope the defence in front of them don’t suffer any long term injuries if we don’t get the cover needed.
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Gaz, I think you hated Wenger because of his early success and stopped hating him because of the trophyless years. You should start getting ready to hate him once again(smiley face).
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Gaz Bailey July 27, 2014 at 12:37 am
– when fletcher wiped out arshavin’s ankles tackling from behind inside the area ..was that the rub of the green?
– when rooney dived over almunia in the same game was that rub of the green too?
– what about when solksjaer got sol sent off
– what about rio kicking sagna as last player
– what about rio barging freddie in that video above
– what about nevilles and co allowed to kick superior technical players
– what about vidic handballs
and these are just from quick memory…there are many more incidents involving other teams too.
rub of the green ??…… yeah well if one team is allowed to kick and do whatever they want and the other team gets punished at first instance then yes that creates an air of invincibility and a positive psychology for one and a feeling of frustration to the other team.
just cause youre good dont mean you can win the league …when you would have bad afternoons your draws were turned into victories and potential defeats to draws with the help of opponents getting sent off, a penalty there or here etc.
in every country the big teams will be helped…but what was happening with alex and manu was utterly sickening…the whole worlds knows..in italy they call saf the ref.. those who know what they are watching cant be fooled mate. yes of course you had a good team with big players and all… but they are not robots and on their bad days they d still get the points and we would have to deal with bollocks like “desire, the winning mentality blah blah” and such bollocks.
as for wenger and his specs what you on about. i objcet. end of the day wenger answered diplomatically to protect players…something all managers do…why is wenger singled out when saf called them unfit and went into direct verbal assaults ? how can you even compare the two?
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pedantic george July 27, 2014 at 11:27 am
thats not defending though…thats mocking us.
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Hunter, hes my mate, I’ve fought by his side in real fights, I’m not going to step aside now.
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Fuck Manchester United and their over leveraged ownership.
I liked Ignasi Miquel yesterday.
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was it not against blackpool and holloway..they were 2 or 3-1 down ..nec or rafael should have been sent off stayed on and they did the ‘heroic’ comeback….lol .. whats he talking about rub of the green?
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Great piece George. I guess we’ve always knew the waters were murky. We can expose this all we want though, I doubt the English FA will hv the guts to try out some alternatives systems. Its the way of the world. This is why we support Arsenal after all. We enjoy swimming against the current, and in Wenger we hv a proper salmon.
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ha gains!!….we agree ! is it april 1st? ..
george my apologiesbut i dont think i havent offended your friend , he is my friend too..i just want to clarify that bit about rub of the green.
” i have fought…” . “defended..” …… very suspicious minds…
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And then there was Fergie time.
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wrong mickey…rub of the green.
after all….when you bombard the area with 5 players youre bound to win a penalty…someone will kick…
and if that dont work..there is always some ricochet panicball pinball machine …desire mate…winners…..from 1st to 7th
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I’d agree that Manchester United, and more recently City have had the best kind of luck that money could buy.
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Diaby was a joy to behold yesterday.
George – get Alabama to write up something!
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Top quality striker, replacement Gk and Rb, long term investment in talented young English defender. All sorted.
And it’s still July.
Even Le Groan can’t complain.
Money left over for one or two more super duper surprises, and Diaby is fit.
Good times to be a Gooner.
Now just have to work on squeezing into the new puma shirt.
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Hunter13 July27th, 2014 at 1:54pm
First of all I will keep my reply to the above very short and sweet as I’m quite busy to chat to much shit at this time but I will be putting in another appearance when I have a bit more time to give to this great post.
I do not and have never mocked Arsenal and I shall tell you why. Man U is my team and yes George as you rightly pointed out I defend my team as everyone else does theirs BUT I was pointing out that everyone else seems to wear blinkers and that does include me..
Rub of the Green is self explanatory! RUB OF THE GREEN .. But I shall explain it another way for you. You win some you lose some.
Now let’s get back to hating My Wenger, yes early days when Arsenal were our main rivals my blinkers like most people with their rivals we on, and after game interviews were about shouting bollocks at my tele because AW was having a go.
Now I’m sure you all shouted bollocks at SIR Alex too. So that’s why I hated him, but god I would love to turn the clock back and have the Arsenal vs Man U games we did back then they were amazing. You will have noticed in the comment I also shown my respect for a great great manager and when a big big % of your knowledgable fans were beginning to question him and his qualities I for one never faltered once in who should take Arsenal forward to the good times their fans or some deserve..
Now let’s clear 2 things up quickly.
1 – I when you say mocking us I take it that would include my friend PG, I would never mock him out of respect and I also by the way after looking at my own team results I then look out for PG team results as I love it when I know he will be smiling because Arsenal won. So you could say there kind follow them but not support them..
2: You are a football friend and you could never offend me haha, I’m not and never will get offended by football banter or football politics as it really is just a game.
So I will jump in and out of PG’s blog throughout the forthcoming season and having my MUFC option blinkered or not haha.
Hunter13 good luck to your team obviously second place will be a great improvement for you.
By the way I noticed you put up a few examples involving united players so I tracked down the same amount by Arsenal players so when I get a chance if you doubt your own blinkers I shall put then on..
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Wtf?! Guess I’m missing some irony or some such. When did the positive bit disappear from this blog to be replaced by the jumping on the victim ‘ they’re all out to get us’ bandwagon?
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Please expand Steve.
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Don’t say that Steve – what about all those blokes with slide rules who have worked out there is a conspiracy ?
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Is there a Calum Chambers compilation anywhere?
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FH
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Above vs. The Tinies, plays RB & LB I think.
Arsenal game below.
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Bonus material:
A new goalkeeper too!
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Steve
The way i read george’s post was more about the PL doing their utmost to uphold the high profile of one, annointed club above all others.
Which is very different to your take on it.
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And let us not forget Campbell:
Interesting times.
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Thanks Fins,
I tried to email you the other day but it kept bouncing back.
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PG, I have always respected the achievements of Manchester United. The first English Football Club to pursue the commercial $$$.
Red Football are now, a Manchester “brute” touting all the “marks”, for a few pounds more? A “brute” is a prostitute!
My own view, is that Gaz should have turned up at the Rooney mansion, taken off his jacket and said “Right, mate, let’s deal with the Ferguson thugs in the balaclavas, standing in your driveway”..
Gaz, my apologies, if you did your duty, before the £300,000 per week deal?
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The Premier League are the clubs of the Premier League and the purpose of the Premier League is to screw as much cash out of the market as possible – the cake is very large indeed and as a result every club feeds well at the trough
Now if you are flogging tv rights – which is the biggest earner – you are reliant on big clubs with a global brand dominating the competition
The Manc clubs, us, the Blue Satan and the Scousers constituting that key commodity
In consequence the Premier League that is to say all the clubs in the PL * are not interested in promoting a Burnley v sunlun title decider
*Including Burnley and Sunlun
And that is why no one is seriously ever going to kick off about the advantages big clubs from generous referees
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Good evening Notoverthehill
Rather than stand at Rooneys gates to his mansion with my jacket and risking a criminal mark on my CRB(criminal records bural) I would rather had knocked on Sir Alex big mansion a couple of miles down the road from Rooneys and told him he should have got shut of Rooney the first time he spat his dummy out.
I’m Sure LVG will soon move him on if he feels his wages need to be improved again in the near future.
I’m not a Rooney fan.
I might just knock on Mr Wengers big mansion door and advise him he’s made a big error of judgment buying Alexis Sanchez and it would be a great move for the Arsenal if he has a chat with LVG and brokers a deal to swap Sanchez for Rooney.
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I wonder what odds a bookie would give for a Burnley vs Sunlun title decider and I guess that would definitely have the worlds attention on the premier league. The premier league gives hope for the underdog making the premier league even more excitable, watchable and promotable world wide, even bigger money machine.
Of course not reality but at least if your a Burnley/Sunlun you can still always dream
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“The premier league gives hope for the underdog making the premier league even more excitable, watchable and promotable world wide”
That is what the blog was about. Or did you miss that in your desperation to stand up for your fallen giant ?
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A Sunderland fan might feel the occasional flicker of optimism once every few seasons
But the Makkems know, they understand in the marrow of their bones, that Fate has decided they will suffer, they will teeter on the abyss of footballing catastrophe – before tumbling forward into nothingness
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PG from a fallen giant a hero will rise! but yes I see your point my concentration to the point of your post was taken away by my mission of defending MUFC
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Something else i’ve taught you Gaz. I’m the gift that never stops giving to you.
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Sure Gaz, i will also be able to give a better reply when i have the time, i just disagree with you passing the systematic assistance of united as a random event…rub of the green, win some lose some, it evens out etc ..and its got nothing to do with blinkers…i could be the fan of any other team ….its not only arsenal that has had to deal with fergie time and neville rio vidic kicking the shit out of everyone and not even seeing a yellow…..im sure you got your share of isolated incidents like nani getting kicked by carragher but im mostly talking abut decissions that influenced results..results that got your team points they didnt deserve..
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