Some Gooners went through the trouble of doing this. http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/ref-review-2012 I salute them ;-)
No manager of any team should be allowed go to the head of referees in order to try and influence decisions. I hope from our point of view this does not impact on the refs performance this weekend. All we can hope for and wand is a good fair ref unaffected by any comments in the media. Sadly diving is rife in the game and hopefully it will be cut out sometime soon.
Wiley is there for the express reason to be the go between between referees and clubs, therefore BR hasn't broke any rules by speaking to him has he? BR is concerned about what he sees as a bias shown against Liverpool players by referees, which is his right to do. If he spoke to Wiley about our game against Norwich in particular you'd have a point, but what makes you so sure it wont backfire against us and Norwich benefit from BR's actions?
You mean you wouldn't have been up in arms tomorrow about a dodgey penalty if he hasn't said it?!! What kind of supporters are you, just accepting non announced dodgey penalties against your team without the slightest whine! And he didn't say it you plonker. Nowhere in that interview does he state that he has instructed his players to cheat. He was merely making a point that they weren't getting the rewards for NOT cheating. Some of you really do struggle with concepts like Irony & context. How did you cope with the British comedians of the late eighties & early nineties???
I never said he broke any rules. All I am saying is that the referees should be neutral and if you have managers trying to apply a bit of pressure to get decisions it makes this harder. Really if they have concerns I feel they should report it to the league and then the league converse with the refs if needs be. Do you really feel there is a conspiracy/bias against Liverpool? Or is it more down to a poor standard of refereeing?
[/QUOTE] You mean you wouldn't have been up in arms tomorrow about a dodgey penalty if he hasn't said it?!! What kind of supporters are you, just accepting non announced dodgey penalties against your team without the slightest whine! And he didn't say it you plonker. Nowhere in that interview does he state that he has instructed his players to cheat. He was merely making a point that they weren't getting the rewards for NOT cheating. Some of you really do struggle with concepts like Irony & context. How did you cope with the British comedians of the late eighties & early nineties???[/QUOTE] No, we would whine about it. But i certainly wouldnt expect our manager to meet up with the chief ref and basically ask him to start giving our club some more favourable decisions. Its clear as day that hes trying to influence refereeing decisions against poor old hard done by Liverpool, and no amount of irony will change that. As i said 'LOW'
I'd agree with you in theory Tips, either no one but the FA should criticise referees or be able to approach them or all can. I also think it would all be by the referees having to make an explanatory statement to the media after each game for any big decisions. Might make them sharper on the pitch. It also depends on the type of approach. The FA encourages managers to liaise with refs to find out if their team is repeatedly guilty of the same rule infraction or for clarification of the accepted referees opinion on certain fouls within a year. I personally see nothing wrong with that. The reality is (not going down the referees in certain managers pockets route) that certain managers: I'll name Fergie &Wenger have been successful in putting pressure on referees as a group. Over things like protecting their star players or diving. As their competitors you can either sit back "play fair" and not get decisions leaning your way or you can join the unsavoury clamour. Are you telling me that if someone told you with 4 games to go & PL survival depended on it that if your manager publicly criticised the refs & met with the head ref that it results in two vital penalty decisions going your teams way you would want him to do it?
You are wonderfully naive! When you have a working PL referee advising a club in response to criticism from a manager that his players should be less honest & go down more & he'll give the decisions we've already hit "low". See my response to Tips as well. I guarantee you you'd say yes in those circumstances & would not blink at being in the trough with the rest of us!
Finally an honest answer. Its just a shame your manager has felt he needs to go down this route in order to try and win matches. Says alot for the game today that people cant do there talking on the pitch. I truely hope tgis backfires on you tomorrow.
Well firstly we would be fighting for the title I would rather the game was just played in a fair manner even if that meant us going down.
Incompetent referees, such as Falsey and Atkinson, are nothing new but they tend to spread their incompetence out. But in the case of Halsey, the last twelve gaes he's officiated for United they have won. That's not just incompetence, that's bias at least.
Well I'm talking about Liverpool as on this occasion we happen to have you in the next game so it is possible this could impact on us. Its not because you are Liverpool. As I said I would prefer it if refs were neutral and were protected from comments such as these that may impact on the way they perform. Saying this the FA could help a lot by sorting themselves out and helping the refs either with video technology or by viewing each game after its played and imposing any sanctions for diving etc but I guess thats another argument.
I see you ignored the question: Would you want your manager to do it if it meant obtaining PL survival? I'm also taking the piss.: where is your proof he has done anything other than ask the head referee to look at a couple of examples (say highlights of the two penalty claims we didn't get) & explain to him why they were not deemed penalties? What is untoward about that? You're really just looking for excuses just in case we hammer you so you can bleat like sheep about how it's a conspiracy. If we get two dodgey penalties do you think your manager might arrange an appointment with the head ref eh?
Truth of the matter is you and your fans will be booing Suarez every time he touches the ball on saturday, ostensibly because he's a 'racist' (don't get me started ) but in reality because you want to influence the referee when Suarez is clearly fouled in your penalty area not to give a penalty (as has been the case in our last three league games). This is just an extension of the Tony Pulis strategy of claiming that any penalty given against his side must be a dive, and getting his own defenders to play act innocence and outrage when they give one away (or should have), as when Higginbottom clearly upended Lucas a few seasons ago and managed to get Leiva booked for a dive. Influencing referees works on many levels.
After some horrific decisions against us in a few games I think BR is justified in doing this. Norwich fans: welcome to the premiership, where 90%* of it is psychological! It is no surprise that the two most successful managers in the premiership, Wenger and Fergie, are the ones who put the most complaints about officiating staff, both formally and informally. That's partly how the games are played ... and won. Sad but true. *Slight exaggeration, but you get my point!
I don't for a moment believe there is an actual conspiracy against Liverpool. However, refs are human (allegedly) and they're football fans themselves therefore will have their prejudices towards or against certain clubs or people. Yes, as professionals they are not supposed to let that cloud their judgement, but that's easier said than done. Favouritism can always creep in in subtle ways, and as LFC are not, rightly or wrongly, the nation's favourite at the moment then it's not too unreasonable to think we might be treated a bit harshly. I think any unbiased observer would find it difficult to explain how Mulumbu got away with his tackle (stupid belated yellow,btw) whereas Shelvey was sent off for his.
Well those 2 incidents were in different games. At Norwich we have had some terrible decisions but I wouldn't say the refs are biased, although they do have a tendency to give a little more to "big" clubs. Really the FA just need to help support the refs as I said previously through video during or after the game. I don't blame the refs to much for taking reputation into their decisions either. If someone who had dived a lot previously went down "easily" you probably would assume they dived. Maybe it is just there fault for how they behaved in the past. Anyway hopefully the ref at the weekend will be fair to both sides and it will be a good game (that Norwich win)
Well even if they do give more to big clubs its not really because they are knowingly favouring them. Maybe just more pressure on them. I am reasonably sure none of the refs are biased even if it may seem that way sometimes.
