I don't understand why a referee would admit a mistake like this after all this time, it just infuriates supporters again, if he had come out in the immediate aftermath and said it I would have more sympathy, but then he may have been given a couple weeks off by the authorities whereas now he probably thinks no one cares - but we do. Still a better ref Clattenburg though, and most of the others who have followed them
Remember the 3-5 ? Half time and 3-0 down, Fergie walks into the dressing room, gets a cup of tea and goes into a side room, not a word spoken. The buzzer goes for the second half and Fergie comes out of the side room, opens the door and says three words "****ing sort it". The rest is history
Goals change matches - even the ref now says that you were gifted the equaliser, which gave you momentum, picked the crowd up and put all the old doubts in our players heads and the rest is history - we will never know what the score might have been had the penalty not been given, but in all likelihood it would not have been 5-2.
Hardly the only time either I remember in the mid-90s we went 1-0 up at Old Trafford through David Howells only for the goal to be ruled offside when replays showed he was onside by at least a foot We ended up losing that game 1-0, and I do recall plenty of comments along the lines of "So you drew 1-1, big deal?" as if us going 1-0 up would have affected the game in the same way as us going 1-0 down
You are the only person calling it a conspiracy but it is a fact that we have had numerous appalling decisions given against us in matches against United. Now the refs even admit it.
I can't even remember when it was but there was on occasion where the ball was booted forward into the area but not very dangerously, it bounced higher than expected and Smalling ended up clearly controlling it with his hand. Nobody near him. Not a penalty - of course. There are so many that if they had been given against certain teams you'd never hear the last of it - which is probably why subconsciously the officials tend not to give controversial goals against certain teams.
Stop press: Man Utd fan stomps onto another team's board in an attempt to shout down valid criticism, which doesn't in any way make them look insecure Oh wait, that's not worth stopping the presses for...
1. Mendez non goal in 2005. 2. Ronaldo penalty at WHL where replays show he wasn't he wasn't touched...around 2007 ish. 3. The wrongly given Carrick penalty st OT in 2009 ish 4. The Nani (I think) goal where it should have been a spurs free kick for hand ball...2011 ish. Four non debatable appalling decisions given against us in just 6 years. That's why it used to feel like united got more than their fair share of decisions in our matches with them.
But that one is even worse than just the decision. Do you remember that the ref was discussing the incident with Rio - who wasn't even the United captain, and sent Dawson away, who was the Spurs captain.