The award of a phantom penalty vs Arsenal by referee Mike Dean in the New Year’s Day match versus West Bromich Albion has generated a storm of indignation among Gooners worldwide, outraged that once again a major game-changing decision was made this season which has deprived the club of critical points needed to regain its place among the top-4 in the Premier league.
Notably the now discredited mainstream media has studiously avoided any meticulous, analysis of Dean’s decision unlike, for example, their blanket coverage whenever Jose Mourinho engages in one of his now frequent theatrics to deflect attention from his continued failure to return glory to Manchester United despite his massive and ever increasing spending on new players over the past three years. Contrary to the data I have unearthed and which is freely available, the football media, especially the broadcasters and others feeding on the PL gravy train, have no interest in revealing the rottenness at the heart of the PGMO which would give lie to their propaganda that they cover the “greatest league” in the world.
As you read, I hope to demonstrate that the PGMOL is an arrogant, unaccountable, biased body of officials that is unfit for the purpose. They are a refereeing mafia who flaunt their power to arbitrarily apply the rules of the game in favor of or against certain clubs. This is the antithesis of honesty and even-handedness that football fans expect from officials. Until the PGMOL is reformed or destroyed and a more open, transparent system of refereeing is implemented, it will remain a permanent blight on the English game that may well destroy the country’s reputation of having one of the most competitive leagues in the world.
To best understand the flagrant, unapologetic bias of the refereeing mafia, go no further than the 2004-05 season when Arsenal met Manchester United in what was billed as “Game 50” in the then unbeaten run of the Gunners. The match was officiated by none other than the current leader of the PGMOL, the notorious Mike Riley. To say that Riley refereed the game in United’s favor would be a gross understatement. Wikipedia described it thus:
The match saw a series of unprofessional fouls that were overlooked by referee Mike Riley, such as Rio Ferdinand on Fredrik Ljungberg in the 19th minute and striker Ruud van Nistelrooy’s studs-up challenge on Ashley Cole. Arsenal dictated much of the early play and created several openings, but as the game progressed Manchester United threatened. The home team were awarded a controversial penalty in the 73rd minute, as Wayne Rooney allegedly tumbled over Sol Campbell’s outstretched leg. Van Nistelrooy converted the penalty kick and late in the game Rooney scored for 2–0. The result ended Arsenal’s record-breaking 49-match unbeaten run. Many Arsenal fans were disgruntled, as they believed Rooney had dived and the penalty should not have been given. (Battle of the Buffett)
PS: The Wikipedia report fails to mention that Riley permitted the Neville brothers to target Jose Antonio Reyes, the Arsenal wide forward, who had been scoring goals at will, giving him the kicking of his life, until he was totally ineffective and had to be substituted while his two nemeses remained on the field unpunished.
Rather than being sanctioned for a disgraceful example of biased refereeing, shamed by the mainstream media and ultimately stripped of his license as would any member of the professions who engaged in such blatant malpractice, rather than being punished, Mike Riley was elevated two years later to the head of the PGMOL. This promotion went without protest from the Premier League or the FA which to my mind is nothing less than an endorsement. To be crowned with the lucrative, ultra-powerful role as head of the referees is apparently Riley’s reward for demonstrating his loyalty to the English football Establishment, by conducting such a blatant hatchet job on Arsenal, in one of the biggest and potentially most historic games in Premier League history. Is it any wonder therefore that the tactics employed by Riley to victimize Arsenal (overlooking professional fouls, permitting violent tackling and calling a phantom penalty) have become the tools du jour of the PGMOL as part of what they now euphemistically describe as “game management”.
After doing my research on Penalties For and Against in the Premier League between 1996 and 2016, the data demonstrated the most effective weapon used by the PGMOL against Arsenal is Penalties-Against. On January 30th last year I did a piece entitled A 206% Increase In Penalties vs Arsenal Is Proof of Bias. Among my findings were the following:
- The traditional top-four clubs in the premier league (AFC, CFC, LFC and MUFC) have the lowest Penalties-Against (PA) compared to the rest.
- During the first 10 years of the Wenger era, when Arsenal and United dominated the League, they had the lowest PA, with MUFC marginally ahead within a relatively narrow range of 0.2 goals. LFC had the highest PA which makes sense since they have been less successful in winning titles although averaging 3rd in the League.
| 1st 10-Year | League | AFC | MUFC | LFC | CFC |
| Total | 684 | 16 | 14 | 30 | 24 |
| Club Avg | 3.4 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 3.0 | 2.4 |
But in the second 10-years of Wenger, which coincided with the Mike Riley reign there was a strange illogical development:
- While there was a 38% increase in penalties-against for the top 4 , not only did Arsenal experience an explosive 206% increase in PAs but the average number of penalties was higher than the average for all clubs in the premier league, 4.9 vs 4.7.
| 2nd 10-Year | League | AFC | MUFC | LFC | CFC |
| Total | 943 | 49 | 30 | 40 | 30 |
| Club Avg | 4.7 | 4.9 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
In other words, in the Mike Riley era, PGMOL referees adjudged AFC to be significantly worse than all the traditional top-four clubs in penalty-area defending. So much so that that it had been surpassed by LFC, a club whose average league position declined from 3rd in the first 10 years of Wenger to 5th in the second 10 years. During that time Arsenal’s average league position had only declined by one place, from 2nd to 3rd in the standings, but was judged to be far worse than its rival Liverpool when it came to conceding penalties. Hello!
Since I published my findings, not one single person on the internet, whether they be competing blogs, media watchers and spies who troll for potentially damaging information (trust me, they monitor this blog), none of them have disputed the facts and my conclusions. I suspect, they have concluded the best way for this evidence of clear malfeasance by the PGMOL to die a natural death is by neglect and lack of attention.
But there is more bad news dear readers. Rather than the trend stabilizing or declining, in the recently ended 2016-17 season, PAs for Arsenal took an unusual jump as the graphic below demonstrates.
In live and living color, we have the remarkable occurrence that, from one season to the next, Arsenal jumped from 1 PA to 10, from an average of 4.7 to practically double the number. I dare anyone to give a statistical justification. Is it any wonder that with so many PAs, which is proven to be a 95% probability of a goal being scored, Arsenal lost the points necessary to qualify for its traditional top-4 position.
Of course there will be insinuations that this was a mere statistical outlier and Arsenal’s PA trend is no worse than the other traditional top-4 clubs. Au contraire. Inclusive of the 2017 numbers, over the 11 year period that premierleague.com maintains this particular data, not only is AFC’s PA trending far higher than its traditional top-4 rivals but no other club has experienced such a dramatic increase year-on-year. The graphic below is self evident.
The chart is remarkable for its clarity. Since 07/08, which coincides with Riley’s promotion, there are only two seasons out of eight when Arsenal’s PA was less than all of its main rivals, i.e. 10/11 and 15/16. Moreover no other club has seen such a remarkable increase in PAs from one year to the next, a jump of 9. They all tend to trend upward or downward over time and not in sudden spurts. Moreover, none of the traditional top-4 has higher PAs for any one season. Arsenal has the record for the two highest PAs in any one season, 9 in 09/10 and 10 in 16/17. The next highest is Liverpool at 8. As most statisticians will aver once may be a coincidence, twice forms a trend.
So far this season, Arsenal is joint top-of-the-pops with Liverpool in PA, 3 is the count up to the WBA game. All its rivals sit at a measly 1 PA so far. Halfway through the season it is not looking good for Arsene Wenger and his troops. At this rate I am not convinced we will make the top-4 and return to the lucrative champions league.
While Mike Dean can act with impunity and award or deny penalties in clear contradiction to the guidelines explained to the teams at the beginning of the season (according to Petr Cech), on the other hand Wenger is to be censured and gagged for mildly criticizing the referees. He is now up on a charge of bringing the game in disrepute and will be no doubt suspended.
Yet we continue to hear loud silence from the guardians of the game, i.e. the FA, the Premier League and the mainstream media as the PGMOL acts with arrogant impunity, unaccountable and opaque. Their leader a major tilter in his days as a referee as exemplified by Game 50 yet his tenure is unquestioned.
Meanwhile disparate standards are being applied to Arsenal with adverse consequences for the club. It has been observed by many that, so far this season, major decisions by the referees have cost the club 10 points and instead of lying comfortably in 2nd place, the club struggles between 5th – 6th. Yet the PGMOL and its defenders in the football Establishment are fighting tooth and nail in the backrooms and secret hallways to have PGMOL referees make the final call when VAR is introduced in the PL next season.
Where is the outrage among the leading Arsenal fans, bloggers and tweeters? Are people under the illusion that fairness will return to the PL simply when VAR is introduced? Do some secretly hope that this continued victimization of the club will force Wenger into premature retirement, opening the way the owner to adopt the sugar-daddy model and spend billions of dollars on over-priced players and their super agents in the hope of curry favoring with the football Establishment and the media?
As is often said in politics, people deserve the government they get. Don’t we deserve an infinitely fairer, open, honest, transparent refereeing setup than the PGMOL?
Positively Arsenal 
Wow. I am a regular on Arseblog but this is just incredible. We need to unite as a fan base. As you rightly pointed out, even VAR will be of no use if rules are not consistently applied. PGMOL will just use VAR as another stick to beat us with at this rate. Perhaps, the best thing would be to have professional referees from abroad refereeing games in the PL.
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Let all Gunners call for investigation on possible corruption involved.
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Excellent Shotta.
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Ugh. I hadn’t realised even reading about Game 50 could still make me angry. That was the start of the ‘Arsenal don’t like it up em’ tactic legitimised by Ferguson, the refs and the media, further enhanced by the likes of Sam Allardyce. Reyes went on to have a good career, but he could have been a great of the game if he had remained at Arsenal.He was, though, smart to get out because he could just as easily have been like Diaby or Eduardo. (Ramsey has done incredibly well – and been lucky- to come back to the level he has)
2007/08 was the first season I considered the possibility of match fixing in football. I remember thinking Chelsea got lucky with a lot of decisions the previous seasons but chalked that up to the vagaries of the sport. In 2008, after Eduardo’s leg was broken and a wrongly awarded penalty led to everyone blaming Gallas and Arsenal, the decisions that followed (Next season Wenger called it his unluckiest season ever) and I still didn’t think it was fixing. But the last match of the season where it was between ManU and Chelsea for the title, I wanted ManU to win, and they did. Assisted by Steve Bennett against Wigan and for the first time ever, since the Korean matches at the 2002 world cup, and the aforementioned Riley 50, I was certain I had seen a match being fixed.
All the data (and anecdotal evidence) compiled over the years over at Untold Arsenal, and now by shotta here at PA quite clearly shows there being something massively wrong. And for me, it is equally damning and disheartening that not only are such things happening, but that they are allowed to happen because people keep wanting to justify this. The only way this happens on such a large scale is through ‘conspiracy’. No way can it be that the media do not see this. That the other managers don’t know this (and look to exploit it) and now we know Wenger sees it (We know deeply what is going on) but is restricted (STILL) in what he can say. That this goes on has destroyed my interest in football, at least the PL. It’s been coming ever since Dean sent off Gabriel for Costa attacking Kos and him. The only reason I’ve held on is that I didn’t want to abandon Arsene Wenger and our team. Didn’t want to leave the stadium early so to speak. I still watch Arsenal matches. But no more of the PL. Not sure I’m too invested even in where Arsenal end up actually. It’s a corrupt league and we (especially Wenger) are being punished for not being corrupt.
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Peanalties against is just one of the mechanisms used by referees, others of equal importance are ;-
offside goals
‘phantom’ fouls which are used both to give a team an opportunity for a cross into the penalty area and defensively to break up a promising attack
not given fouls on the goalkeeper – whilst an attacker can stand close to a keeper, the minute they move towards him to impede him it becomes a foul
Not given penalties
Players on one team continuing to be allowed to make fouls when the other team are punished for similar fouls.
You can generally tell in the opening minutes of a game if the referee is going to be good or not. If the first two fouls by each team are dealt with correctly the rest of the game will probably follow suit. If not then watch out for the 6 mechanisms above ( I include penalties against).
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Shard: I am with you in many ways. After Game 50 I still didn’t believe the game was being fixed by the refs despite it being in plain sight. I still held unto the belief that it was merely incompetent and permissive refereeing after the Eduardo and Ramsey legbreaks. Even after that Phil Dowd horror show up at Newcastle I thought it was an exception and not the rule. But last year when I seriously dived in the data, it revealed an unmistakable pattern. The Penalties Against is the key tool used by the PGMOL, apart from other weapons in their toolbox. That was the eureka moment explaining how for example the PGMOL enabled the Leicester fairy tale; the penalties won by Vardy and the refusal to punish the penalty box transgressions of Morgan and Huth.
I have a graphic, which I refrained from publishing as it detracts from today’s theme, which shows in the Riley era how the the three moneyed clubs (United, City and Chelsea) have a substantial advantage in Penalties Against despite the fact that in general their defenders are far more physical than Arsenal’s. That my friend is the “tale of the tape”.
Like you, I have very little interest in PL games that do not involve Arsenal. It is fixed and rotten to the core. The PL knows that rival fans from other teams will simply chuckle and chortle at seemingly sour grapes by the gooners since they are the beneficiaries. Tottenham fans in particular, as their team is now getting the rub of the green in both Penalties For and Against. But the clubs who are really being screwed by the Riley goons are those in the bottom-half of the table.
The PL and the PGMOL plan to “eyewash” and defang any criticisms by introducing VAR but have the same corrupt referees have the final say on major decisions. If they get away with it then we truly deserve the system of refereeing we get.
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Thanks Andrew Crenshaw. I know of your tireless work at Untold Arsenal in exposing this corrupt, biased system of refereeing. You have been ridiculed for being a truth-teller by the good and great on twitter and on blogs but facts are very stubborn things and will prevail in the end.
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Everyone needs to look at the situation in Italy.. the clubs punished didn’t pick referees who gave them dodgy penalties or offside goals.. they picked referees who showed bias in their decision making, the referees who would give little fouls against the opposition to break up their flow or keep them pinned in.. football games are so much about momentum these days that these little decisions kept the Italian teams on the front foot and didn’t allow the opposition to get a foothold in the game.
I think we’ve done well in the face of these little decisions, so the refs have decided to throw in a big one. We were in control at Watford until the penalty, we’d won at West Brom until the penalty, we’d gained the upper hand and deflated Chelsea until the penalty. You saw Chelsea pick themselves up after the equaliser, the momentum we got from the Wilshere goal was ripped away.
I still remember the 4-4 against Newcastle, it’s still shown by the media as this great comeback game but no-one ever mentions the phantom penalty for their third goal. At 4-2 they’re still not getting back into the game, even against ten men.. but make it 4-3 and then all you need is a 90th minute worldie.
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Thank you Shotts.
They manage ok with their officials in the National Hockey League.
Down at East Grinstead you’ll get a crowd of a few thousand, and a referee miked up for the record and the crowd (?), with the aid of a VARs that has been calibrated.
A football fan can and should accept that field hockey with its smaller ball, faster speed, sticks blocking the view, is a harder sport to referee then association football.
That would be the same field hockey that is understood to be Football’s sister sport, which is why many coaches in football work with or have worked with hockey coaches…think they had some influence back in the day in Holland over some chap called Cruyff…
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Nice one Shotts. Lots of metrics out there, I would add fouls per yellow card, UA did some research on that, and again, of all the major teams, our players committed the least fouls per card they were handed.
Everything points to the fact that the game is not right in this country. They cover things up, and seriously punish any manager or team that steps out of line.
They wont like the publicity wenger is creating
It will be uncovered eventually, and seriously affect the game in this country
I can really see wenger leaving soon, and sniping at them from the sidelines, or in his book
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Arsene Wenger now saying he is surprised and shocked at being charged given what he has seen and heard in the corridors, and from people over the last 21 years
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11196030/arsenal-manager-arsene-wenger-stands-by-his-remarks-about-recent-penalty-awards
Could be mistaken, but that sounds like a threat to spill the beans
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Shotta
Nice to see you back , after your lay-off.
Your return to good form is immediate, no running in for you.
I am not one of those, who are mad at the Hazard penalty. That type of contact is often given as a foul in and outside the box .
The ‘Real’ problem (as you’ve explained statistically) is Arsenal having had several penalties called against that would be measured as “soft” at best pushing up the PA.
It’s the not recieving clear penalties and not getting the soft penalties, has ground away at Mr Wenger.
If Arsenal recieve a penalty or a foul which is deemed anywhere near soft it is analysed to death, or search for percieved wrong doings upto 5 actions before a goal. The vested interests are then constantly hinting, cajoling and insinuating therefore insuring the Ref his family , friends his colleagues all know how they feel. In the next few games Ref’s are so reluctant to make a call for Arsenal, unless they are MORE than ‘100%’ sure.
Arsenal are judged by a different standard
Arsenal are the only club who had a manager charged with recieving a ‘Bung’ as the kids say or everyone from Liverpool ” That’s Amazing!”
This has been the case since I have been fan, but it has been made starkely clear since Mr Wenger arrived
Fouls against before a yellow card opposed to follow by before a yellow card
The number of broken bones against apart from Ivan Campo an Arsenal tackle has not put a player out for more than a week since Mr Wenger arrived
I could carry on as there are more instancies.
But a more positive note
The players are taking the set backs quite well, as it must be demoralising . None the less the group found the requiered resources,to score on short rest after another late negative decision in the previous game.
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Mandy Dodd
I think it is more to do with the industrial language that Mr Wenger used, you know akin to the sort that Ainsley Maitland-Niles mother was alleged to have used to turn Mick Mcarthy’s hair prematurely grey on the voicemail.
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Game 50 eh – that was a hell of an afternoon. I don’t think JAR ever really was the same player again. He got spoofed by the Madrid radio station a few weeks later so it is difficult to know whether even at Old Trafford things were not quite right. When we signed him he had a trajectory that out him in front of Cristiano Ronaldo – decent career but never quite achieved what his early promise suggested.
The unbeaten run was a bit of a burden by then – I know you are not allowed to say that but we were running out of steam. A pity we didn’t lose game 49 then take the Mancs apart. I seem to recall having beaten us the Mancs lost to Pompey in the next game. The Battle of the Buffet was a fucking pointless distraction and the only winner that day was Chelsea.
I know you like things tied together Shotts so just for you I dug this out – it will be ten years next month;
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Mike them up Fins (banned horrified face) !!!
Who can forget this perfect piece of Arsenal history ? ;
I think we’d probably have to do a bit of work with the players before it would work
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As you know, PA does not allow strangers automatic access to the Comments section to sabotage and pollute the blog as they often are allowed elsewhere
by those who are seeking faux controversy to gin up eyeballs and page views. As anticipated, there are are thousands of football fans who will ignore the the data and dismiss the incontrovertible facts as simply whingeing by gooners. Take this comment in the spam box by one “Jack Blakemore”:
“The writer would not be an Arsenal fan by any chance?!
Believe me (and I know) NO REFEREE ‘CHEATS’ AT THIS LEVEL. Sure they make misjudgements, just as players unwittingly score own goals but they make decisions borne out of honesty of purpose.”
You couldn’t make this up, could you.
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Good stuff.
Genuinely believe that in minds of football journalists, and maybe ex players, it is absolutely unthinkable that there could be anything seriously improper with how pgmol operates.
Unthinkable, and so any argument which strays beyond a view of them as human beings trying their best at a difficult job is automatically and comprehensively dismissed, and those who put forward any such argument are, in their minds, worthy of extreme contempt.
Their minds are completely closed to the merest possibility of wrongdoing, bias, serious structural flaws in the organisation, etc, etc.
On the one hand, the utter unanimity and conformity of their views could be seen as another sign that, hey, maybe they are simply right; on the other you wonder if there is any possibility that a mainstream journalist would be allowed to think, or rather, say, anything else.
Not one of them ever even questioning the set-up properly, basic things like the low number of refs. Is that down to extreme incuriosity? Or is it simply something you don’t do as football journalists for a national title,etc, for pragmatic reasons, or, because, simply, any editor would shut you down or there would be repercussions later.
Anyway, all that is to say that a response of anger and ridicule is guaranteed from every part of the football establishment, including journalists.
The question will always remain that, if these guys are so right, and anything improper at the heart of refereeing here is so unthinkable, and those who question it so ludicrous and contemptible, why does every single one of them studiously and surely deliberately avoid addressing any of the data,etc which looks most dodgy?
Dean’s amazing Arsenal pen stats, for instance. If any suggestion of something being wrong is literally beyond the pale, outside of what is possible, etc, then a little thing like those pen stats is nothing, and can be included, by them, in the debate, before being thoroughly obliterated by their words and logic, by their truth, basically, or the truth.
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Refs are only human, but not when it comes to the effects, direct or indirect, of working in a poorly regulated, opaque, multi billion dollar industry. There they are absolutely incorruptible machines. #CyborgRefs
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Andy
Indeed. Work will need to be done on the players to refrain from colourful language. Refs clearly aren’t afraid of putting about their authority (ask Cech about Dean), and the FA cracks down with bans and fines on post match comments whenever they want. Start fining them on a sliding scale for on field comments too.
Or if they are so very worried about the public hearing the odd swear word on national TV, start a live online mic feed that needs you to sign a waiver before you get access.
But why would they be transparent when they don’t need to be?
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A5: We must agree to disagree. I am aware of your sympathy with the poor refs who are doing a brave, lonely, thankless job holding at bay an army of cheating players and mobs of supporting fans whose partisanship trumps all principles of fair play. I used to believe that until I started digging into the numbers and saw the statistically incontrovertible patterns over the past 21 years. The PL has become a con and like the best of cons, you must keep the punters believing the game is for real and they have a chance of winning. Thus for example we see Mike Dean at the beginning of the season blowing penalty for grappling in the box but never to happen again despite a so-called refereeing directive.
I have learned after a lifetime of having my beliefs challenged by hard reality to trust in the unbiased data and not the images and flourishes by, in this case, the PGMOL faithfully echoed by the mainstream media and those with a vested interest in the status quo.
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We remember Elleray. With great fondness.
It’s been a long long time since an official from the part of the country that holds most of the practising referees in the sport was allowed to do a top level PL game.
Thanks for reminding everyone.
Even though our Tony is mildly irate there is still respect there, he stands close but he’s not trying to bully like a crowd of players we see these days.
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Superb analysis, incredible depth and research.
Congratulations on your tremendous work.
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The person who seemed most tired in the 50th game was the official.
We understand and appreciate that even the best get tired. That’s why hazard and Özil were both rested before Wednesdays match. It happens even to the best of us.
Perhaps that could rationally explain the high frequency of blatant errors and missed calls in that one match alone (online footage of the full match is available if memory is unreliable).
Yes. Tiredness. That must be it. Can’t think of any examples in sport of officials ever making premeditated decisions and bringing their sport into disrepute with their, and forgive me for using a quote here alongside these untrustworthy stats, of : “Game management”. I mention no names such as Darrell Hair, nope, can’t think of any simple an easy to find references of such stuff.
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I will expand the comment
Andrew Crawshaw
January 5, 2018 at 9:37 am
Into a blog. Unless someone else want’s to do it?
What say you?
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Excellent. Bravo!
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The Phil Dowd ‘horror show’ at Newcastle happened the week after Arsenal committed the sin of reshowing an offside goal scored by Everton at Emirates and proving the referee was in error to allow it. The payback, via the referees union, ensued v Newcastle.
Of course looking at penalties conceded over time does ignore the fact that our defenders have changed during that time and some are better at timing tackles than others.
But nothing detracts from a blatently wrong decision as v WBA or wrong offsides as v Man City (twice in the last couple of years).
It all begs the question why don’t they like us/Wenger? Or is it that Arsenal fans are just more active online than any others and are more likely to criticise? They obviously have it in for us for some reason.
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I think if I were a referee Shard my approach to players would be along the lines of of “if you promise to stop calling me a c*** I promise to stop acting like one”, or words to that effect.
Truth is of course neither you nor I would would put up with face to face cursing like that.
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I particularly admired the way Dowd allowed us to get 4-0 up at Half Time Insider – that really stuck the knife in – what a cruel swine.
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I thought this was a neat and gentle example of how the media tend to operate with us.
‘He described it as a “concerning coincidence” that Arsenal had, to his mind, suffered bad decisions in away matches this season against Stoke City, Watford and Manchester City, as well as West Brom. He neglected to mention how Albion were denied a penalty at Emirates Stadium; Shkodran Mustafi’s offside goal against Tottenham Hotspur and Aaron Ramsey’s winning of a soft last-minute penalty at Burnley.’
The key is that the bad decisions we suffered are, ‘to his mind’, i.e Wenger’s, whereas the opposite ones, in our favour, they flat out happened.
A very popular journalistic trick whereby one moment it is not for them to make a judgement, they can only report ,ghostily, what people have said, and events which happened, but the next, they’re back! Back, capable of judging events, interpreting them, telling you what happened, forming opinions, presented as fact, about what happened.
This trick is used very extensively.
That one is probably in at number 2 for me. Number 1 is the incredible ability to lose a perception of time as a continuing series.
The first great example of this I know of was back in, yep, game 50. For the four or five biggest incidents against us the commentator, Gray, expressed surprise at the ref’s decision and characterised it each time as bad luck for us, but these incidents were, crucially, not added together, as they naturally should be, where at the very least you’d then say (f**k me) ‘what extraordinary bad luck this is’
The Hull cup final was another great example. 3 or 4 excellent pen claims, described each time as being bad luck not to get them…but no adding them together.
I thought about this again last night, as Spurs got lucky, with a decision I am admittedly fine with, for their goal. A commentator or two described it as lucky for them, which it was, but again that complete inability to place it in a sequence of time :
The luck of their two top players escaping reds for definite red cards; those players scoring most of their goals over a very successful period afterwards; the luck of the last game with an offside goal and a ref showing remarkable leniency not to send a guy off; then this latest incidence of luck. A merry old lucky Christmas and New Year for them.
As with number 2, this comes and goes mysteriously. Combine the two and the job is nearly done of dismissing those who question concerning and highly damaging coincidence as ridiculous cranks.
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I think it’s safe to say we all know how Elleray would’ve reacted if someone else (let alone himself!) would choose or have chosen to describe his work as “Theatre”.
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–
Only caught up with the sad news about Eboue this morning. Hopefully this gig in Turkey at his old club will him out.
Wishing a happier 2018 to Cazorla, Eboue and to all associated with this great football club.
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< help him out
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Rich @12.36 pm, I see I wasn’t the only one who spotted that little journalistic trick in the article. They have to give us the occasional sweet in hopes that we’ll overlook the greater number of dodgy decisions against us.’How can you complain, when you’ve benefited from dodgy decisions yourself?’.
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I still find it amusing that people question the Burnley penalty.
Their manager actually said ‘Yes it was a penalty’ and then used it to point out that he feels they don’t get any decisions from the refs because they’re a small team.
I don’t think he was complaining about that penalty, but pointing out that when the same happens for them they don’t get it called correctly. So basically correctly having a moan at the refs (even though he’s had some unbelievably good calls playing us, like the infamous George Boyd handball incident).
Unfortunately every idiot and hack journalist (usually idiots as well) read that as it wasn’t a penalty despite Dyche saying it was…
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anicol any ref letting a player swear at him has only himself to blame, card the fucker, each and every time, and within days not a single player will do it, Refs in other sports don’t allow it, and the players know it, so don’t do it, Rugby stamped it out almost instantly. The refs in football have claimed several times they would have a zero tolerance to it, famously one of the season’s they were to implement it, Wayne Rooney was shown live on TV to have swore almost 50 times in one tirade at a ref, no booking, and worse still, no disrepute charge. Why.
I’ve said it before, everything is there for the game to be cleaned up, it only takes the actual will of the Refs, the PGMOL, and the FA for it to happen,
Come down hard on the cheats, put proper punishments in place too, enforce the bloody rules and the punishments already laid down would be a start.
We have a retrospective punishment panel and a dive panel that in both cases had by the insistence of the PGMOL, its powers and scope downgraded. For example Wilshere’s dive v CFC, at the insistence of the PGMOL no charge can be brought, as Taylor seen it, and he took no action, so the dive panel can not charge him. Take the Kane lung v City, he got a yellow, so again at the insistence of the PGMOL, the only way he could retrospectively get the Red it deserved, is for the match ref to decide to review it (he can’t even be asked to review it, he has to decide it for himself), and then once reviewed he would have to had made the decision that he got the decision wrong, and then ask for the FA to review it and upgrade it to a red by including his mistake in his match report. Again I ask Why
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shotta, good article, one thing I thought you might have included in your article, althoug not stat based, was the way a ref refuses a penalty call for Arsenal, say like Dean v LCFC when we were 1-3 behind, for a defender blocking the ball with his hand that was over head height, and then like we seen v WBA the same ref, Dean, give the CC penalty,
shotta have you looked into the stats for yellow cards per foul, and red cards per foul, for each ref and each club. You will not be surprised to hear that a year or two ago someone checked it out, and oddly enough Mike Dean cropped up with Arsenal, very high ratio of yellows per foul, and over several seasons Arsenal had overall the lowest rate of fouls per card.
I mention it, cos its one of things that stands out for me in Arsenal games, so often one of our defenders or midfielders will get an early yellow, while opponents get a talking to for the same or worse foul, then they do it again and its a final warning, then another final warning, and finally a reluctant yellow.
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Reading FCVerified account @ReadingFC
Club can confirm that Academy Manager Lee Herron is set to leave @ReadingFC to pursue a new adventure. We would like to wish him the very best of luck in his future endeavours in football -rdng.co/Herrondeparts
He is joining Arsenal to be head of football relations at the academy.
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wenger On team news vs Forest
Before Chelsea nothing has changed. Kolasinac, Koscielny, Giroud, Ramsey, Monreal are still out.
From Wednesday we will lose Xhaka who finished with a tight groin, everyone else should be available.
On whether he will rotate the squad
I will rotate a little bit.
We come out of a high loaded period because we played three big games in six days, twice away, we have to keep our level of focus because the third round is always very difficult. Especially away from home against a Championship team.
And we play on Wednesday again. I have to rotate a little bit.
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I agree – I’d give them a card each time they swore at me, its disgraceful. It is also pointless. In the Ellery film write up he is accused of treating the players like unruly 5th formers. Seems to me he probably was treating as you would an eight year old throwing a tantrum as that was about their level.
Cant help wondering whether referees who had a real job and a real career outside football did not offer a little more gravitas in dealing with players
As far as I know rugby never had to stamp swearing at refs out because it was not a feature of rugby or what rugby players did, either code. Or cricket although weirdly you can just about say what you want in Test cricket to opponents.
Beautiful snippet on how to referee about 30 seconds in from Nigel Owens;
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The fact is, Mike Dean shouldnt even be an issue, a ref has to be seen to be clean, therefore Mike Dean should not now be a referee
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/feb/27/newsstory.sport4
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more wenger comments
Have you responded to the FA?
Yes, I have been asked. I maintain what I said in the press conference, 100 per cent.
I have nothing to change on that. Nothing has changed.
I have been in England 21 years, I try to serve this game with honestly and integrity. When I have something to say I say it.
On that front nothing will change, never.
Do you stand by your comment that the penalty was farcical?
100 per cent.
Others have said it was a penalty
I respect everybody’s opinion. I think it was a yellow card for Hazard. 100 per cent.
I have a right to have my opinion, I respect everyone’s opinion.
There are accusations Jack Wilshere dived as well
Yes. Maybe he did. But why should that change my opinion on the penalty.
Every situation is different, that has to be assessed by the referee. After the you have your opionion and I have mine. I’m long enough in the game to know that everyone can have a different opinion.
So you still stand by what you said about these decisions being more than a coincidence?
I have nothing to add. I maintain what I said. We can talk and talk. At the end of the day we spend always time talking about things that are not important in the game.
What we want to see are big football games, with big players on the pitch and you want them to be refereed by top quality people. And I think I contributed a lot to give referees a great opportunity to be at their best because I had a huge influence on the fact that they became professional or not.
I believe I had more influence on that, a positive one, and that’s why I can be as well demanding. I want from them to be at their top and a I am quite surprised that that is shocking.
So will you contest the charge from the West Brom game?
I don’t know. At the moment I am focused on football. Can you imagine I am 21 years in the game, what I’ve seen and heard from people in the corridors, you can understand why I’m surprised and shocked at having been charged.
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See Poch has rushed to the defence of the refs, quite touching really
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/mauricio-pochettino-tells-managers-to-help-referees-following-arsene-wenger-spats-a3732521.html
To quote another Mandy, “well he would, wouldnt he”
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anicol under the rules of the game
A player who is guilty of using offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures must be sent off. (think this applies to using it to either officials or opponents)
so why do refs put up with it, without even a yellow, its a red card offense
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I have no idea – players should be carded for a first obscenity and sent off for a second. Clearly someone at some time has told referees to ignore the rules. from the U13 contests in the local park to the wide open turf of Wembley Stadium. .
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17-year-old attacker Xavier Amaechi has signed his first professional contract with Arsenal.
https://www.arsenal.com/sites/default/files/styles/large_16x9/public/images/AMAECHI_0.jpg?itok=dxFk7uj0
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Wenger on Walcott being linked with a move to Southampton and other clubs…
I heard that, yes. Personally I want him to stay.
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We announced the signing of 20-year-old Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos on Thursday, but Arsène Wenger has said he intends to send him back abroad before he makes his Gunners bow.
Having arrived from Greek Super League side PAS Giannina shortly after the transfer window opened, Mavropanos trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Friday morning. But he might be on the move again soon.
“He is with us and the plan is that he goes out on loan somewhere,” the manager said. “It could be a German club.”
“I prefer him to play. Where? It doesn’t really matter. It’s just that he plays in the top level and gains experience. He is 20 years old and he needs experience for a central defender.
“He is not ready to start for us so it is important he gets experience.”
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/wenger-our-plan-konstantinos-mavropanos#oesWLtZDYYh2mgpw.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/wenger-our-plan-konstantinos-mavropanos#ojD4B0bxRSXF55CC.99
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Konstantinos Mavropanos is training with his new teammates this morning.
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The officials inside a modern stadium have a little bit more protection these days then a young ref getting heckled by parents (more then the kids on the pitch).
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It’s not like they are officials in professional (or amateur) games in South America where conspiracies sorry mafia and baying mobs have had a few stories involving refs in recent years
This is an example of an official being abused:
https://as.com/videos/2017/11/30/en/1512079961_934864.html
The pgMOB? They’ve never had it so good (insert whatever).
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