Below is the list of the ‘Select Referee’s’ for the Premier League, who actually selects them remains anyone’s guess. But according to the FA they are appointed by the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB) to officiate matches not only in the Premier League, but the Football League, FA Cup and Football League Cup as well. The panel was established in 2001, when referees in England became professional and is headed by Mike Riley, who was born and bred in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
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(Thank you to Tsgh for making that grid look tidy)
Two things stand out from that list of referees.
1) Apart from Lee Probert and Roger East, all the referee’s are from the North of the country. Mark Halsey was born in Hertfordshire but now lives in Bolton, Lancashire.
2) Apart from Mark Clattenburg, Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor, all the referee’s are 40 years old or over.
Oh, make that 3 actually, they are all managed by a man who is also from the north of England.
Everyone and anyone who is involved in the game of football, surely grew up supporting a club. Some fans stand by that particular club all their life, others just get ‘attracted’ to a side in their early years, regardless of where they are based and stand by them instead.
This might be a sweeping statement but it’s my own experience which draws me to this conclusion, and that is not many people support a club other than their local one, which is outside the top clubs in the Premier League. What I mean by this is, throughout my life, people local to me either support Reading or at young age, they picked Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal or maybe even Chelsea but I am yet to find a local person who ‘decided to support’ a club like Aston Villa, Stoke or Sunderland etc etc and I mean no disrespect to any of those clubs but they have been up at the top and winning silverware so they were always less attractive.
My point?
Each one of the referees must have supported a club when they were young, and I suspect they still support that same club now.
Marriner grew up in Merseyside so let’s assume that he would have supported either Liverpool or Everton as a youngster, maybe he still does. The rivalry between the two clubs is huge so let’s say for example that he supports Everton. How will he feel the night before or moments before he officiates Liverpool v’s Manchester United? Could he truly remain impartial, would a little part of him want Liverpool to lose?
Even if you think that not all people or referees for that matter support a ‘big’ club and assume Marriner supports Stockport FC or Tranmere Rovers, you can assume a Tranmere Rover supporter will feel more hostility to Liverpool than Everton as an example. Its human nature.
I am not suggesting for one minute that Andre Marriner is a crooked referee, nor am I suggesting he is biased towards any team, I am using him as an example.
Just imagine if anyone one of you, knowing how you feel about Arsenal, had chosen to be a football referee and you ended up at the highest level in England like those listed above, could you, hand on heart, remain impartial? If you were officiating Fulham versus Tottenham Hotspur, who would you want to win?
Another question that needs to be asked is why are most of the so-called ‘elite’ referees’ in England over the age of 40, surely they should be a lot younger and fitter in order to keep up with the pace of today’s game?
Why are the FA and Referee body not doing enough to recruit across the whole country and why are they not a lot younger as for example in the French Association …
| Referee | Year of birth | International since |
|---|---|---|
| BUQUET Ruddy | 1977 | 2011 |
| CHAPRON Tony | 1972 | 2007 |
| DUHAMEL Laurent | 1968 | 1999 |
| ENNJIMI Said | 1973 | 2008 |
| FAUTREL Fredy | 1971 | 2007 |
| GAUTIER Antony | 1977 | 2010 |
| LANNOY Stephane | 1969 | 2006 |
| THUAL Olivier | 1976 | 2007 |
| TURPIN Clément | 1982 | 2010 |
Surely, younger and fitter referees will only improve todays game, they will be able to keep up with play a lot easier and just maybe a lot of the mistakes that we witness each week will lessen.
Or is that me being ageist?
Finally, Sagna, Wilshere and Frimpong all played the full 90 minutes last night in a behind closed doors fixtures against Chelsea. As far as I know all three came through without any problems.
In the squad for Norwich maybe, I reckon they could be and if all goes well on the day, a little cameo would be pleasing on the eye..
Two players who won’t be back for Saturday are Fabianski and Szczesny, both are reported to have suffered a set-back in their return to fitness. Lukas Fabianski will face a further three months on the sidelines after rupturing his ankle ligaments in training and Woijech Szczesny is at least 2/3 weeks away.
That’s it for another day, Saturday will soon be here……
Morning rico,
A very interesting post. Maybe someone should email this to the FA.
by the way I dont appreciate ‘thank yous’, next time send me an e-jam dough nut… 😉
great post,all the questions raised need answers….. over to the FA.
Morning all,
😆 Tsgh – you saved the day with the grids, it would be all over the place otherwise 🙂 thank you…
Thanks bondex
Hi Bondex, the referees in this country are shocking..
Memory of Atkinson spitting his gut out after 20 minutes during the chavs match is not a sight to behold…
Against WHU the ref (Dowd) who has surely chosen to wear a fat mad suit was a disgrace too.
Pierreluigi Collina was imho one of the best ever referees i have seen, how old was he when he retired? Maybe i will wikki him
I don’t understand.. cant the FA see beyond their red nose? this is really serious.Sometimes I find it hard to believe that things like this happen in more developed countries.. referees mismanaging games is fast becoming a norm…I hope it doesn’t get to the point where fans stop watching the EPL just because the FA isn’t doing the right things.
I know I sound like a broken record but Dowd failed his pre-season fitness, how on earth, when looking as sluggish as he did at West ham, did he then pass another?
Gosh rico…..he is just FORTY TWO (42) years.
pierre luigi collina born 13 February 1960 (wikipedia) can’t the FA loan him or something…in my opinion rico he was the best .
In all honesty,who’d want to be a referee though??
It’s an afterthought for those not good enough to play the game,and takes a special kind of individual to endure constant abuse and pressure.
Most fair minded people don’t really mind errors,its when those errors consistently assist the same side/sides that we get the shits.
Taking the emotion out of the discussion isn’t easy,but let’s try.
How many points have Arsenal won over the last 5 seasons due to obvious refereeing errors?
Compare that with how many we have lost in that same period.
Now,take Arsenal out of the equation,and replace them with UTD…..the statistics would be astounding,and these aren’t spur grapes,they are facts.
Morning all.
The media are going on about our ticket prices again without putting things in context. Yeah our top tickets are expensive but that may be for the patrons of the Diamond club which is by far the finest place to watch football. Maybe not better than what I have be told about Rico’s front lounge (just kiddding)…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19984968
Bondex he retired 5 years ago. But he could do a fine job as the head of the referees in this country
The mandatory retirement age is 45 years old for FIFA referees
The FA could get rid of six of the so called ‘elite’ next summer if they implemented that same rule. One which I don’t know why is not the same across the game…
bondex – manure fans will never stop watching the game, they get all the decisions….
Apparently Arteta has been discussing a possible managerial career in the future.
I for one think he would be just sensational!!
He is head of FIFA referees tsgh…
ooh really sorry Pierluigi Collina is FIFTY TWO (52) and not forty two as earlier posted
You only have to go to untold arsenal site and you will see they take on ref bias which I am sure exists.
Morning Scott – not for all though, Collina’s love in life was only ever Basketball…. 😉
Well he couldn’t have been much good at that,either then Rico lol.
@tsgh I bet he can still do a far better job than all the referees we have in ENGLAND
😆 bondex, don’t worry… But agree re him being the best. There was a Swedish guy who was quite good too wasn’t there, but he got hounded into retirement. Can’t remember quite why.
Collina wont be the Everton fans fav though, he denied them a goal against Villareal in the CL qualifiers…
Morning Rico and all. This is how it all started in Italy. There is just too much that doesn’t add up about our refs. The statistics from a couple of weeks back shows clear bias where Man Utd are concerned. Riley allocates the games to specific refs. The same Riley who officiated when Rooney took a blatant dive to end the 49 match run. The same Riley who allowed Neville, Scholes and Co to kick Reyes off the field. The same Riley who doesn’t send officials who have displeased Ferguson back to Old Toilet. If only one decent, honest journalist investigated this whole stinking business it would be great. But he would also become a pariah in the sport as the FA is cosy club growing fat on the success of the PL. Uncovering any corruption, because in essence that’s what it is, would have a disastrous effect. Look how nobody takes the Italian league seriously any more. Too many vested interests, so an unspoken bond of silence and denial exists. Rather like that creep Jimmy Savile and the BBC.
Hi scott, I made a similar comment here yesterday on manures unwarranted points etc.
Over the last 2-3 years I have been trying to tally the amount of points redNose gets free of charge due to factors such as time of playing matches especially after champions league etc andref decisions.
This year for instance they have 7 points they should not have. fulham 3-2, and then the liverpool 2-0 win.
we on the other hand were not awarded a penalty against sunderland and WHU plus the fouls that led to the chavs goals.
We have not had only 4 penalties at home since the Eduador celtic incident. Not a single 1 in 2 seasons whilst the others have over 10 a season.
Maybe I am paranoid.;)
Ha ha Scott…
Tsgh, just seen your comment about my lounge 😆
adam good point on italian referees – most italian referees mostly come from the northern Provence and have had match fixing issues when it has come to match fixing involving northern clubs such as Juve. An example is Massimo De Santis, who was banned until 2011 for match-fixing in the 2006 Serie A scandal. Before the allegations, De Santis was well respected and officiated many high profile Italian Serie A and international games. He also controversially disallowed an equalising goal by Parma against Juventus in the penultimate round of the 1999-2000 season, which caused accusations of match-fixing already then, although there was no proof.
Jump on Untold Arsenal for an hour,and be elightened.
Actually,you will be amazed!!
Morning Adam.
That is the biggest problem, finding a journalist who would be prepared to write, he/she would really be putting their neck on the line…
However, they would be made for life, uncovering such corruption that we believe is in the English game would be some story…
Bring back the News of The World I say…..
bondex he is much better than Phil dowd and his boss Graham Poll
But the audience needs to be bigger than Untold Arsenal and that isn’t me being critical.
What do they do with all the work, does it go beyond gooners on Newsnow?
I know Rico,but the data is there…why don’t Arsenal run with it?
Where’s Roger Cook when we need him?
That’s my point Scott, they have done all the hard work, I wonder if they are sending it to the right places? Would AFC even know of Untold Arsenal.
Must check the clubs media watch, that’s where they will be…
Morning Lee, didn’t he go sailing?
Sky Sports report that Djourou could be off in January…. Good for him if he does..
Scot because Murdock will not want that.
If ref investigation is allowed Tv money goes down. Same as it was with Italy in the 90’s and Marseille in france in the late 80’s where AW should have won more trophies but there was campaign again Monaco to lose matches.
Ask yourself why dowd or atkinson officiate our matches whenever it is a must win like Chavs and WHU this season.
Spain and us have the worse Tv rights issues even though they are different. The Germans have the best model ie matches are not schedule for best Tv rights.McRedNose has a say on when matches are played.Why did we have to play against the chavs at 12:30 after 2 away games?when they played a day before in the UEFA Cl.
Benitez knew it and tried to go against the grain but he was run out of town, munchini will learn the hard way if he is not careful…
Interesting comment there tsgh…
re the 12.30 ko’s, did you guys see Kos’s comment about how he hates playing at that time and when we play then, he often feels sick…
Blow the Tv rights, this is big money and out of football fans pockets. Someone needs to grow a pair and investigate it… But we know they won’t, not until Fergie has retired at least…
Just a useless piece of info for you all, Murdoch no longer has anything to do with Sky TV…
Murdoch is a cretin.
Melbourne Storm are an NRL side here who have had massive success…..they are also guilty of the biggest systematic rorting of the salary cap in the history of Oz sport.
Guess who owns them…News Ltd.
Guess who owns it??
The media are an all powerful force,and we ask them to expose themselves??
It won’t happen,unfortunately.
Theo Walcott is hoping to face Queens Park Rangers on Saturday week as he recovers from his horror injury.
The Arsenal winger, 23, suffered a bruised lung and spent a night in hospital after being clattered by San Marino keeper Aldo Simoncini in an X-rated collision in last Friday’s England win.
Walcott is now on the road to recovery though, and will return to training later this week after being given the all-clear.
Good morning all,
Are we getting just a bit paranoid?
OK We haven’t had a home penalty for two seasons, does that mean those evil northern born refs have got it in for us?
Our top ticket price is the highest in the country, well actually it is. so what’s the point in feeling aggrieved when it’s reported.
Our top price for a ticket, a pie, a cup of tea and a programme is an eye watering £134.40. If you take the cheapest ticket the cost is £100 pounds cheaper.
So you can get a match ticket, a pie,a cup of tea and a programme at Newcastle United for £23, but which would you prefer to watch.
If you want a cheap cup of tea 50p, try Alloa or Brechin, at Arsenal it will cost you £2.00 but in the two Manchester sewers it’s £3.00.
Nobody has to pay to watch football, it’s a free choice, if you don’t want to spend the money, stay away.
Lukas Podolski’s move to Arsenal is making him a more complete player, according to Germany coach Joachim Low, who named him as one of the very few “indispensables” he has in his squad.
Podolski earned his 100th cap for Germany during UEFA EURO 2012, but found himself relegated to the bench for the quarter-final against Greece and came off at half-time of the semi-final defeat to Italy.
With the likes of Andre Schurrle, Mario Gotze and Marco Reus all coming through, it had been speculated that Podolski had only a limited future ahead of him in the national team, but Low has refuted such claims.
According to the coach, Podolski is a player whom he can always rely on, including tonight against the Republic of Ireland. “I can only say positive things about him, even when he does not play,” said Low.
“I have always been able to count on him for many years. That makes him indispensable for us. Even if he did not always start games, I always rated him very highly.”
Playing in the Premier League along with his national team-mate Per Mertesacker is adding another string to his bow, according to Low.
“I always said it would be a good move for him,” said Low. “I think the progress he is making at Arsenal is very positive. He always has such a positive energy about him and is benefiting from his experiences with Arsenal.”
Morning JW,
Yes, I believe quite a few of the refs have got it in for us, not all, but a few, especially those who are in Fergie’s pocket…
Popping off for a while, it’s that walk time of day, back in a couple of hours…
JW,the facts don’t lie.
Some teams in the league most definitely and without question gain an unfair advantage from decisions.
It’s a tired old chestnut but these ticket price surveys never mention the number of games on the season ticket. It’s a lazy way of taking another dig at the Arsenal.
Hi Scott,
Refereeing decisions are so often entirely subjective. Even with endless replays it is almost impossible to decide one way or the other and listening to the so called experts brings no clarity whatsoever.
Referees, despite their demonization, are in fact human and as such have the same frailties as the rest of us. I think you will find that on the whole they tend to get the majority of decisions in a game right. We surely cannot expect them to get 100% of decisions right AS WE SEE THEM, if they did the opposing teams supporters would be calling for their heads.
I would be prepared to bet that at one time or another Old Red Nose has lambasted every referee on the list, I really don’t think that the whole refereeing organisation is in cahoots with him to the detriment of either Arsenal or any other club.
Potter. Bang on. My Chelsea supporting mate pays less than I do but he doesn’t get the 9 cup matches. If you add those then the difference is not too large. Obviously they are still too expensive, but then so are many things, not least, parking in London and the bloody congestion charge!!
Hi Potter,
Yes it is lazy journalism, surely some account must be taken of the number of games played as well as how well the customer is accomodated as well as entertained. Saturday afternoon at the Emirates or tuesday night at Brechin City.
Hi Adam,
Don’t your Chelsea supporting mates deserve a bit of relief? having to watch objects like Terry and Cole week in week out.
JW,just read a few of the articles on Untold Arsenal,and i guarantee you that your attitude will change.
JW. I think the point that Untold Arsenal make is that their decisions are not very accurate and this drops with regard to the bigger ones. I can remember a startling statistic when we played Chelsea at home a couple of seasons ago. I believe Clattenberg was the ref. during the first half his calls were very good with a high percentage of correct decisions. We went 2-0 up. But, in the second half his accuracy dropped to about half of what was in the first half and we suffered from a string of poor decisions from him. Was he, consciously or subconsciously trying to even things up? Or did he just have a bad half and if so, why? These are strange anomalies as is the lack of home penalties when we can all think of several stonewallers, even with our sensible hats on.
JW. 🙂 Yes, I cane him endlessly about Terry and Cole but, since the Russian took over he has developed that smug sense of entitlement that is attractive in the Chelsea follower.
Adam….its catching amongst Citeh fans now.
Makes me proud to be a Gooner.
Scott. I have noticed that too. Those that can actually speak are full of it. The others just grunt.
Jw- just re-watch the liverpool vs man u match and tell me something is not up?
Its not about the decisions during the field but also the lack of retrospective decisions.
Every one knew ‘you know who’ elbowed Cabaye but what happened? ziltch…
If a ref did the same in south america he would not just receive twitter abuse, he will get’ Andrés Escobared’ too.
Adam,
I have to ask, in whose opinion were those decisions correct?
The term “stonewall cert penalties” could just as easily apply at the other end of the pitch. By common consent, Koscielny has got away with one or two in recent matches. Swings and Roundabouts?
12 months ago,i very,very rarely saw a Cieth shirt anyhwere.
Now,they pop out from every corner!!
It pisses me off.
JW,the professional referee dissecting the games for UA makes the calls mate.
I’m by no means saying that our Ref’s are perfect, nor that they don’t get decisions wrong, just pointing out that they are human and that this idea of a collossal conspiricy in favour of Old Red Nose and his team, or against Arsenal is a tad far fetched.
JW,you can argue in defence of the refs all you like,and thinkng all is well is your right of course.
Your willingness to elieve that ia admirable,but the facts do not lie mate.
Of course,to make mistakes is human,but when those errors go one way in a massive majority of cases,then the human element is gone.
Scott,
I can’t say that I have ever seen any official publication detailing the accuracy of decisions. The professional Game Board only in extremely rare instances ever publishes criticism or praise of it’s referees.
No governing body of any sport is happy to criticise their officials,and that is understandable.
It is also unfortunate.
I am off…let the debate rage on lol.
Next time guys.
JW. The games were studied, retrospectively by Walter, who is a qualified referee. From what I have seen he is impartial. We have all seen a game where we believe the ref to have made a shocking decision against us, but when we watch it on TV later we realise, possibly grudgingly, that he was right. An interesting side issue is that, when the game is televised live people in the ground seem to be in constant contact via text etc with those watching it at home. Last year we knew that Bale had dived within minutes as the texts were rolling in from Sky viewers at home who said that even Glenda Hoddle admitted it was a dive. This has changed the dynamic in the stadium somewhat.
Lopez is 7/2 to join us in January
The 24-year-old, who scored his first senior international goal for Spain in their friendly against Serbia in May this year, is thought to have a €18 million release clause which would render his club obliged to allow him to discuss terms with the Gunners.
Adrian had an impressive season for Atletico in 2011-12 as he helped them to claim the Europa League title and his goalscoring exploits for Spain’s Under-21 side at the 2011 European Championships underline his quality.
Despite that, his first-team opportunities could be limited this term, not least because of Radamel Falcao’s eye-catching form. Adrian has made just two starts for Atletico this season.
Lee. Is Lopez any good? Better than Gervinho? 🙂
rico @10:52 am- you will find that is just to appease the masses.
He still has a say say as he does with AIG. It is what corporate pyramid structure is all about. people hiding behind people.
example is Starbucks not paying tax but still giving dividends to shareholders. Someone once asked why the old moneys are not involved with football and you will find they are behind the TV stations that dictate things to the teams..
A-Lo, don’t know too much about him tbh Adam.
is goal ratio is like 1 in 7
I meant A lopez
You may find the following website worth a look:
http://www.refereedecisions.co.uk/
They have referees reviewing as may Premier League matches as possible per season then write reports on how the referees have done.
Until last season it used to be Untold Arsenal (http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/) who carried out this massive task, but of course, there were accusations of bias from supporters of other clubs. So they set up the new website and got referees in who support clubs other than Arsenal.
The referee reviews from last season are on the Untold Arsenal website.
just went to untold arsenal and it seems all they do is review the refs…. maybe be we could all instigate an investigation by raising banners that says things like ….. DOWD, we are watching your every move…
Afternoon guys….
You all still moaning about refs and ticket prices 😆
hello!
And what’s the solution? Foreign Referees?
How is Rosicky?
hi again
Lee, 12.11, re: Lopez….
Sounds a great move to me…
I think that Jennifer will be very popular in the dressing room.
Tactically I’m not sure how she would do, playing ‘In the Hole’…
Lee, Adam, Rocky, great times lads…
Wath, let me down, ‘again’…
Why Adrian Lopez? Another winger/striker? we need a proper poacher. Personally, I will wait and see on Lewandowski next summer.Or possibly James Rodriguez of porto.
Hi JM, I’d be for that idea, or just younger, fitter and less northern english ones…
Hi Ak, 😆 re Lopez….
Hi Tsgh, Lopez is a striker isn’t he?
Ah, winger/striker, another Theo
He scored 19 goals in all competitions last season playing as a ‘walcott’. What we can say is that his goal return is better than gervais at 24 but is he a hard worker? No
He will add goals but is he capable of leading the line. I haven’t seen him do that so i will say no. His link up play is good but as you said 2 days ago Rico, we need players who can contribute by scoring goals like drogba. I will rather give TW14 95k and keep him for 2 seasons than get Adrian. He is another player AW will have to convert into a striker. do we need that again? I will say no,just my opinion.
Adrian Lopez is a very good player, but will be our man?
In that case, no from me too tsgh….
£7m for Ba would be a smart move…
I don’t think so JM….
I think so too. He basically does Theo’s job better…
He is a good player but we have to look at the balance of the team as a whole. I wouldn’t mind getting him if we were to get Ba or Bent or even LLorente too but him as a striker at 12m or more….?
Also tsgh, he is now a Spanish international, he’ll want more wages than TW wants and he may just turn out to be another Reyes.
I say get a PL proven goal scorer, maybe even someone with just a couple of years left at the top, giving Afobe AND Campbell time…
Bent is getting on a bit now isn’t he?
Bent – 28 years old, 29 in Feb, ideal 😉
Bent will even do an Arteta to come to us. ie take a pay cut i reckon.
In my opinion in January if we have to buy we need someone from EPL for immediate impact.
Only downside on bent is that AV paid 18m for him. AV will want similar for him. His agent sold him out there. He should have waited at Sunderland and left for free or cheap this year.
talking of footballers being shafted I truly feel sorry for Lee Hendrie. His advisors really shafted him. Over 30 properties at one point but is not bankrupt playing in conference league.
He didn’t even drink or snort his money like one of our ex-players. A true family man too.
I’d love us to get Bent, as we said the other day, another gooner in the camp has got to be a bonus…
Sometimes though clubs have to accept a loss on a player tsgh, just as we are going to have to do with Arshavin – but look how much they earn for doing nothing…
Rico,
Darren Bent? Really! Do we want an ex-spud who can’t command a starting place at Villa?
JW – I’d be happy if he signed for us…
Sol wasn’t bad for an ex-spud…..
Rico,
Sol was a class defender, Bent is a mediocre striker who can’t get into the England team despite the shortage of strikers, and in the case of Defoe I do mean short….age. 🙂
arsenal fans want big money signing…
RedNoses best signings have been on the cheap apart from Van Nistelrooy, wooney, ferdinard and ‘you know who’.
cantona 1m
Anyone remember David Bellion, Forlan, Sebastian Veron at 28m and Owen Hargreaves at 18m. We go on about Chamakh being rubbish but he was wanted by everyone in europe including the Chavs and he was free and is on maybe 60k a week. That is roughly 11m over 4 years. Its easy in hindsight to say he is rubbish but when he was sign it was seen as a bargain and a half
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/8698112.stm
http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item396221/Arsenal-win-race-to-sign-Chamakh/
I disagree there JW, I think he’s a good striker, just always been at the wrong club.
And we all know England have their favourites, Bent wasn’t one of them…
He would be a good option from the bench…. imho 😉
Bent is such a journeyman- not sure why he has never settled. He certainly is a decent poacher.. What wages would he want????
Ba worth a punt at 7 mill, even with the dodgy knee rumours.
I still think we blew it by missing out on Mirallas. He is a super finisher, who puts in a good shift. OG goal for Les Bleu will hopefully merit a start against the Canaries as his confidence must be sky high.
Cheers
I can understand you JM, but Bent is not playing for England because he plays for Av. He was England’s number 1 choice as striker last April for the euros before his injury.
He has scored over 100 goals in the EPL playing for average teams including ‘arry’s spuds. I prefer a player wo is guaranteed to come in and settle than another import who will need 4 months to settle. In the mine time we will be sitting 4th with the same fans who were initially cheering upon his capture turning around to say he is rubbish.
Even at spuds Bent scored 18 in 60 matches.He has scored over 20 goals in 45 matches for Villa and you say he is shite….
Hi a11730..
Not sure re his wages, but I can’t imagine Villa pay vast amounts….
Ahhh bah humbug, not into any of these referee conspiracies myself, in all the time I’ve been going down Arsenal I’ve never come away afterwards thinking ‘that game was a fix’ seen more decisions go our way than against us down the years.
Your always gonna get the likes of Pulis having pops at the ref, claiming decisions never go his way, it’s called small club mentality, always easier to blame the ref when the truth is much closer to home.
Can’t comment on Untold Arsenal as I don’t bother with any other blogs, that includes our noisy neighbours, HH is enough for me.
I like Mirallas but he chose Everton for playing reason. Honourable I shall say. he is not what we needed though. He is not a pure striker but then again AW could have sprinkled some magic dust on him…
what we need is a proper poacher and they are very scarce or very expensive. falcao will not come to us, dzeko well 4hitty will not permit it…
Just as Crouch isn’t playing since he left the Totts Tsgh….
tsgh,,
I’m not saying he is shite, just not good enough for the Gunners, I’d rather see Theo play as a front man, at least he has some pace.
Arsene doesn’t do poachers, think it’s the reason we didn’t go for Michael Owen when he returned from Spain, you have to have an all round game to get into our frontline, something Bent doesn’t have either, seems having a nose for goal ain’t enough.
Afternoon all.
Micko – Wenger doesn’t do poachers any more…. He learned that from the Franny Jeffers debacle!
It think AW got burnt with the fox in box strategy with Franny Jeffers.His strikers need decent ball skills to play wide as well.
We will leave the Chavs and Sheikhs to battle for the overpriced assets and hopefully discover another gem.
I’ll be interested to see how Joel Campbell comes along this season
Afternoon rocky & Micko..
What about Eduardo??
He is struggling rocky…
Micko,
I think Owen’s career ended the moment he signed for Real in 2004, since then he has played only 140 games and scored just 44 goals for four different clubs.
There was never any chance that Arsene Wenger would sign him.
Afternoon All,
I see Grandad is on here moaning again….. I was only down the road mate didn’t want you throwing kebabs at me when you got drunk on your one shandy 😉 See it’s nearly silly season again and we being linked with loads of players already.
As for refs, I don’t think there is a conspiracy against us, I just think we are hated and they also pretty crap in general simple as that.
Off now, pleasant evening everybody.
Hello rocky, I was saying that only the other day, rumour at the time was the board stepped in and over-ruled Wenger, went ahead and signed Wright and Jeffers, felt we needed a stronger English spine in the team, could be a load of baloney of course.
What happened to you wath?! I was a serious doubt for last night’s kebab-fest, but when I heard you were out, I made sure I was available! Then we got snubbed!!
Afternoon Rico. Is Joel at least playing? Not sure Eduardo was necessarily a poacher. Not a million miles away from one though I guess
Wright was a massive disaster!!
Afternoon Wath…
2 appearances so far rocky, that’s all…..
doesn’t bode well Rico
Right, gotta shoot…. more work awaits! Just a quick few posts today to keep my hand in!! Have a good evening all!
He scored the other night rico.
Laters JW, it was the beginning of the end when he signed for Newcastle, he weren’t doing too bad up until then.
See you later JW, have a good evening….
It doesn’t bode well rocky..
Micko, was that for Costa Rico 😉 i think he’s gone to the wrong club on loan….
Wath……. The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Go steady rocky….
Ah, I see that my unreliable Grandson has made an appearance.
‘Down the road’ he says…
Where?
Clapham Common, that’s down the road, 🙁
If you ain’t bunking off, then your not turning up…. 🙄
No rico, the one I was talking about scored for Croatia !
Btw, Great post Rico…
Now I gotta do a bit, my public are relying on me…
With the emphasis on ‘rely’… 🙂
Sorry Rocky…. Had a mate flew in from LA so I had to take the fella out for dinner hence having to give you lot a swerve…
Grandad, was down the round at Yum Yums… Thai gaff…!
Micko, they seek me here they seek me there,,, can’t keep up with being so popular mate… Grandad just wanted me about so he could get out of paying his cut of the bill…!
Kev, speak to Lee, we gonna grab a bite and a few jars on Monday if your keen…! You too Rocky…!
😆 Micko, I thought you meant Campbell, I saw Eduardo scored, I miss him….
Go steady Ak… and thanks
Off for something to eat, back in a bit….
afternoon guys…….what’s cracking? any news? have we signed shitvestre yet?
hey AK, i missed ya pal. when are you gonna retire from swindling? dude you re getting way too old for that……think you need to pass it down to your one eyed grand son WATH! hahahahahaha i missed you guys.
where is everybody?
Hi goonster, was having dinner…
Evening all.
Hi goonster
Evening Adam and tsgh….
Stan, you cheeky bum, how are ya doing?
Just had dinner and am listening to some music. Bad news day for me yesterday but the guys cheered me up last night. Strange days chez Adam.
Adam, Rico, Ginger, you’ll ok?
Hi Kev. Great to see you last night mate.
The radio stations are blaming foreigners for England’s poor showing yesterday. Likes its news…
All good here thanks Ak, how is the city? Is it raining yet?
Adam, I got some CD’s off of Amazon.
Two days after order, half of them arrived.
First time on Amazon.
They really are very good.
And I saved about 50% on HMV.
A no brainer!
Metaphorically, it’s always raining in the city Rico. 🙂
What music did you buy Kev?
I use Amazon all the time. Just ordered a CD today in fact.
tsgh – which goes back to your post the other day about who is disliked more, AW or Arsenal. It’s AW as he is to blame for all these foreign signings
He started it…. 😉
Weather been ok in London today Rico.
Been quite mild for this time of year.
Adam, it was a very pleasant evening.
Lata
Ak, I am an Amazon junkie 🙂
Cats and Dogs Adam?….
Rico. To quote Buddy Holly – It’s raining in my heart.
Blues+Rock
Groovy.
Adam/Rico, I am a bit of a luddite in some things.
And despite my cousins constantly going on about the great benefits of using Amazon.
I have abstained, up until this Monday.
But I am hooked now.
Once you begin to Amazon it will change your way of shopping Kev. The prices on most things are pretty good too and their returns policy is great.
Amazon looks just the place, for a lover of music and books.
I can see myself becoming an Amazon junkie with Rico
Morning all.
Can anone tell me if Jacks form warrants an appearance on the weekend??
Seems he is talking himself up which i like,but olyif he is truly up for it.
Same here Ak, nice for October…
Buddy Holly, I have heard of him Adam… 😉
Kev,we don’t do cd’s anymore mate,its Ipod these days.
15,000 songs on something 1/3 the size of a cd……incredible lol.
You must have read about him Rico. He was way before your time.
They are good for selling too Ak/Adam 🙂
Rico,Holly was an ex Spud player,so of course you’d struggle to recall him 🙂
Hi Scott, I reckon he will be on the bench and if we are doing well with ten mins to go, he’ll come on… And Sagna….
What did you send off for Adam?
Think my grandfather may have mentioned him Adam 😉
Ha ha Scott…
Slowly,slowly with Jack,i hope,Rico.
It is a long season.
I know he is feeling on top of the world atm,but we wan him playing in 6 months time still.
Anyways….off to work,so have a good night everyone.
10 mins Scott then he’s start against Reading I suspect, as will Sagna and Frimpong….
Have a good day scott…
Kev. A flamenco guitarist that I particularly like called Vicente Amigo. I can’t play flamenco but I can flare my nostrils with the best of them. 🙂
Tbh Scott, I still prefer records.
I have my Dad’s extensive collection of 78’s…
I eventually plan to to treat myself to a decent Hi-Fi system, with the helpfull advice of a good friend.
IPods are a bit too soul less for my liking…
Flamenco, very nice Adam, do you like the Gypsie Kings? (think that’s their name)
Not bad Kev. Vicente or Paco de Lucia are the boys, though there are many other great players. Remind me, when we next meet, to talk to you about Duende.
Off for the evening so nighty to you all and you take care out there Kev.
Frimmers on the bench for sure at Carrow Road.
Don’t need Sagna or Jack on the bench yet, we have a strong, fit, squad.
I’d save Jack for League Cup.
Sagna, hmm, we have CL coming up, maybe that would suit him?
I’m heading off for the night guys, you all have a good one and catch up tomorrow….
Night all….
Ak, we don’t need them, but they need to be back in with the first team, a huge lift for them, for the others and for all of us fans….
Gone now 😛
Nighty night, Adam and Rico.
I’m offski too
Evening all, sorry i missed you Rico, blinding post, but why don’t you just come out and say their cheats we all know they are northern Refs will always side one way don’t need to be an einstein to work that out, all old refs and low and behold not many black refs neither am i allowed to say that, seems that the football teams can be 90% foreien but our refs are not how can that be right, the way things are in the world how can the selection commitee get away with that.
Very informative article. I think even more important is that refs who ” displease ” ferguson, are punished by not getting prime assignments. I read this recently. So they fear making calls against united. He has too much power. — great discussion here today.
morning all
Morning all..
Steve, you make a very good point there about no black referees, and no foreign refs. Guess we will never know whether that is a deliberate move by the FA
Or forced into retirement Nt…
Morning bondex…
Morning all,
TGIF.
On the only black ref Uriah Rennie was hounded out for being unfit whilst Phil Dowd is still ‘prime-time news’
Morning Tsgh, and Rennie wasn’t that bad to begin with….
Cue the indigestion jokes 😉
New Post up now…