Morning Gooners,
Both Auxerre’s 21-year-old striker Paul-Georges Ntep and Basel’s 22 year old defender Fabian Schar are heavily linked to us in the newspapers this morning. I doubt either will come as a shock as they’ve been linked to us before today. Apparently Ntep is a real possibility as he knows that under Arsene Wenger he’ll get playing time and he even hinted at a move earlier this month…
Suggestion is the boys had a few drinks and got quite merry – quite unlike Arsenal eh! At least they have 4/5 days to recover…
Flashback to last weekend, one with big scorelines and big surprises. The league positions switched about and now the team on top, can in one game drop down a place if things don’t go well…
We saw a bonanza of goals scored and I watched quite a few of the them but what has surprised me is how many decisions the officials have got wrong. That’s not just my opinion as most of the blogs are also questioning some of the referee’s decision’s.
For quite a few years there was concern over touchline technology being introduced. The FA held that back for as long as possible but after a while technology was tried and tested and subsequently introduced this season. At present, this is restricted to the goal-line.
Now this brings me nicely onto the question I was going to ask you.
For all of you that watched football live or on the screen, you must have seen the same as me which was many errors and not just in our match. Doesn’t it bug you?
The reason I am asking, is that the people responsible for these decisions are appointed by the FA and they should be the body responsible for any errors which may occur.
How many times do we hear people in football complain that a ref has made an error, how many times does that error go against the underdog, how many times have you seen a penalty given at a crucial point in a game, how many times have you thought that the ref must have been paid off? That last bit is slightly tongue in cheek but when you read in the newspapers that match fixing is rife in football it surely makes you wonder if that might actually be true?
When a decision is proved to have been wrong by replay after the game, why don’t the FA either play the game again or change the outcome of the result? After all if something happens on the field that the officials miss like Jack and his middle finger, they are quick to dish out a retrospective punishment but when it comes to errors by one of their own, no action is taken.
Football today is all about big money and for a club at either end of the table, losing out on 3 precious points or more during a season can be catastrophic – especially for a manager if his side end up getting relegated. For those fighting for the Champions League places, the continual errors can cost a club £30 million pounds.
Something surely has to change.
Competitive football has to be fair for it to work, 4 officials have been introduced to try and try and make that happen but that hasn’t worked.
How hard would it be to have a board sit in judgement and watch over disputed decisions and then rectify them for the right reasons. That would ultimately put forward fairness and make the officials aware that the fans are not cheated out of their club winning a game.
I believe that football today is far from fair and maybe the FA are involved after all, the are the ones who govern the officials. Why else do they allow the continual errors to go unpunished week in and week out…
Look at the handball rule, when is a handball down to the referee’s decision, when is offside down to a linesman’s decision, when is a foul a foul, who decides when does a tackle deserve a yellow card or red card? These decisions seem to change each week as each referee views the situations differently. But still, nothing changes and yet referee’s don’t answer to anybody.
Even when a game changing wrong decision is highlighted and we hear pundits say “ he got that wrong”, why is nothing done to rectify the error, especially when it’s cost a club a goal.
Why are the FA sitting back and doing nothing about it?
Rules could be simplified.
An offside is when any player is offside regardless of whether they are interfering with play or not and handball is handball at any time it hits the hand. Too many rules in the game are open to interpretation.
If just those two rules were changed it would make the job easier for the officials and the fans and certainly the players.
I also feel that FIFA aren’t entirely fair either especially with the stories of bribes made to committee members for their votes on where the world cup is played. Who would ever vote for the desert in the summer with no infrastructure in place unless they was something in it for them? As for UEFA, well the sending off of RvP against Barcelona and the frequent touchline bans for our manager suggest something isn’t right. Is there a manager who has ever been made to sit in the stands more times than Arsene Wenger?
My own view is that decisions made by both officials and the governing bodies have the game all planned to work out the way they wish it to. They decide between them who will win and who will lose and their decisions can keep any club in the doldrums for as long as it suits. Or, and in the case of a club in Manchester, they can keep them at the top as well.
You would think though that more clubs would protest when hard done by but other than making a comment in an interview after the game, they do nothing. Mind you, criticising the referee only seems to end up in another FA charge. As does appealing a sending off because the FA do love to add an extra game ban onto the original punishment.
I guess that’s why it pays to keep their views to themselves, even though half of the football world agree with them.
I feel that the governing bodies have it all sown up, you rock the boat and your career could disappear as quick as it started, so what are we to do?
Not a lot I would say, or else we could be playing our football in another division.
Written by Steve Palmer
Interesting post as always Sp, but I’m not sure I entirely share your view about the governing bodies. I would say they are toothless as they sit back and allow such incompetent referees/officials perform but I don’t believe they ‘fix’ results etc..
I’d like to see fitter, younger and more competent officials employed and get rid of a few who are clearly sub standard..
Morning Rico, Morning All…
Well done Stevo…
Less than 6 days to go, before it’s ‘Cava time’….
Hooray….. 😛
Morning Kev. For you or me? 🙂
Very busy yesterday, especially around Covent Garden.
I was driving thru the crowds yesterday, and my eyes were drawn to this very impressive individual, sporting bright red trousers…
There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t be sure?!!!
He was playing Bridge of Sighs on some bagpipes at the time, but he then disappeared into the crowd…
Spooky! 😉
Morning all,
Although you don’t always agree with me Rico, you tidied up my rants very well, and i will call this a joint effort. 🙂
Now i haven’t seen any comments from Mo 2 this week and i hope he is not ill, I know we don’t always see eye to eye on things but i consider you a good supporter, At this time of year we always send out Christmas Greetings and for others that we have in the HH family that have not made a comment for some time one being Will, i know you and Mo would still be logging in and you would be disagreeing, and let me tell you i miss your contributions, I would also like to wish all Highbury Houser’s a very merry Christmas, whether you agree or disagree your comments are what makes HH tick over, and of course the governer Rico, 🙂 got a bit of Shopping to do catch you all laters.
some decisions have cost some Managers jobs, Clarke wouldnt have lost it had the Ref got it right on that fart penalty against Chelsea as it would gone a long way in points and team confidence.
Let me think who that could have been Kev….. 😉
See you later Sp 😉
Cava time Rico, it’s for everybody….. 😀
There’s growing rumours that Mr Bean is in the frame for the Tottenham job…
Only 11 days to go before the January Window opens.
That’s approx 42 days before Arsene signs anyone.
If, at all….
gfrog. crazing sacking imho..
🙂 Kev..
I think he’ll sign one/two players..
The subject has been discussed to death everywhere except it appears to be where it matters. The F.A and PGMOL are like a secret society and in my experience of their representatives ( admittedly not at this level ) are very protective of their position and are reluctant to give up any of their power or responsibility.They treat any suggestion to improve things with suspicion and like an incalcitrant child they drag their feet to any decision to change. Unfortunately the spectre of spot fixing and match betting hangs over the game and until the arbitrators are seen to be whiter than white it will get worse before it gets better..
A very good post Sir SP1… you know I am ardent conspirator (paranoid) so my comments will always be in line with this kind of topics… 😀
Rico, is there a formula the FA use for calculating the inflation for bans ? 😀
They’d rather bury their heads in the sand potter, but one day…
The game needs more Sian Massey’s in my opinion. Never afraid to make a big call. I hope she steps up to become a referee and more follow her lead. Men and women.
George Osbourne’s maybe Ts… 😉
Interesting post SP but I think your proposals would finish the game for me.
What’s the point of spending hundreds of pounds to watch a game when the result is decided the following week in a small room behind closed doors. And who would decide which results were wrong…oh, I know, Sky Sports or MOTD, those bastions of integrity. Remember the fuss over the Eduardo penalty ? Well what about Rooney or Bale ?
Even as Arsenal fans can you realistically see a future for the game if the FA announced this afternoon that the result of Man City V Arsenal had been re-assessed as 6-6.
The answer is not to do away with referees but to make them better.
😀 George Osbourne ?
Morning rico and all,
Years ago I played in a game with an actor from east enders,
the ref,
like most saw a different game to us.
The actor stopped the game,turned round to all the players
and said.
Leave the ref alone…
its not his fault his parents never let him out to play in the street with all the other kids.
so give the guy a break.
Guess what he booked me for laughing.
Steve, that’s my take too, get rid of the officials who are constantly and clearly making mistakes each week and bring in new blood…
Morning fred, you have me guessing 😉
Catch up later….
Football needs a system like cricket / tennis, say both teams get 2 challenges on a decision in each half, The captain and manager should get 30 seconds to challenge the decision.
Fifa needs someone with some common sense in charge as technology is far superior to a few officials in charge of a game.
So Suarez has signed a new improved deal with the dippers…
Do footballers want to win trophies, play for a club with history or are just after the big BUCKS?
Wenger on AVB: “When I said at the start of the season if you sign more than 3 players you take a technical risk, you laughed at me.”
Nice Post, Steve but I think you are pointing the finger at the wrong football authority.
FIFA are the world governing body and that means Sepp Bladder is in reality the man who ultimately decides what technology or rule changes are permitted, unfortunately.
FIFA is the body representing every FA from all countries throughout the world and nothing gets done without their majority agreement.
He has always stood against technological changes on the grounds that football should be the same for every level of the game and that means if goal line cameras could not be made available on Hackney Marshes, for example, they should not be available in the Premiership or for use in international football tournaments.
It took the fiasco at the World Cup for him to eventually agree to the cameras being used, after Frank Lampard’s goal (a yard over the line) was disallowed in South Africa, to the embarrassment of the governing body – him!
He (FIFA) is also strongly opposed to retrospective changes to the result of games, even if refereeing mistakes have clearly been made, on the grounds that overruling referees who may have made honest mistakes is just a footballing no – no, because it would remove a referee’s authority and anyway could not be applied to the hundreds of games on Hackney Marshes and elsewhere, and also because it would be totally disruptive to competitions and in turn would lead to complicated legal appeals.
I understand the passion with which you put your case but as you can see it is not as easy as it looks to introduce changes and in any event is way beyond the authority of the FA to make.
Sorry. 😉
Afternoon all, HenryB your probably right in your comment but by writing about the mistakes, may not change anything but for what its worth somebody that knows more than us may just think that the natives are getting restless and who knows. If you call a man a cheat and it cannot be proven you may feel his wrath, but if you question the mans integrity it may make him think. Dodgy decisions have been there for ever, so have the rules, but they do get changed now and again but not always for the better.
Hi Steve,
It is probably a reflection on myself, but I am not sure what the difference is between calling a man a cheat and questioning his integrity. Same, same? 🙂
In any event, I did not mean to defend the status quo, and to take your simile a step further, I was simply trying, inadequately it seems, to make sure that the man whose integrity you were questioning was in fact the right man – or FA.
The Laws of football as they are written down are pure, in so far as language allows, so ambiguity only arises in its practical application on the game, and it is at this point that hypocrisy becomes inevitable.
As I implied before, the Law bends to those in power like a tree in the wind bowing to their whims, and very soon it becomes twisted and distorted away from the ideal purity it started out as.
Authority figures can pick and choose what Law or what ‘principle’ suits their own agenda and not what suits the common man.
From reading your Post I am sure you agree. 🙂
Shock horror, Suarez has signed a new longterm deal with Liverpool..
Evening folks…
Match fixing – one thing has been on my mind…
How have we managed to get top four each season, especially when on the odd occasion or two we have been looking highly likely not to…
Just a thought 😉
Good question Rico, that has crossed my mind a few times i must admit. But doesn’t it also make you realise that the top 4 are all very wealthy clubs, Just because i am an Arsenal man doesn’t make me omit my own club. All those years with some pretty average sides i have thought about that a lot over the years.
Hi Rico,
How we achieved top 4 for the last 17 years or so has little to do with match fixing. 🙂
The strain evident on AW’s face at the end of the last few years and the fact we have so few friends in football as a club, and a lot of Fergie arse licking enemies would make that impossible.
The efforts of the team and the brilliance of Wenger says it all.
Match fixing is for the benefit of a few disgusting players and some of the betting moguls.
As have I Sp. The way the other clubs have collapsed at the key time is quite strange…
Hi Hb.
Maybe AW has had a strained look on his face as he’s been soon to pay his debts 😉
Of course I am kidding re AW but I have been surprised some seasons, very surprised…
Another thing that has me wondering, is how many Managers the top clubs have had compared to us. other clubs have paid off managers and told them to keep quiet. Rich owners are used to success that’s how they have amassed those kind of riches, but the success these clubs have achieved is unreal compared to the commotion caused Wenger and Red Nose are quite unique when you think of it 🙂 lol.
Some club owners lack patience – they want success today and I guess when they have spent as much money as some have, they have a right to.
However, getting players to gel is the hard part and that often takes time. Some aren’t prepared to give them that time as we have seen down the road..
Mind you, it does help if a manager is allowed to choose the players he wants….
Suarez signing a new long term deal is quite a surprise to me
Afternoon Rico and all.
Football and the PL in particular is the goose that laid the golden egg. That is why shady characters like Dyke, Riley and the current spate of foreign owners are involved. Sporting ideals? Forget it. Somehow this league has become massive with ever increasingly stupid amounts of money flowing down from the TV companies and finding its way into the pockets of some extremely dubious people. The game is literally swimming in money and people are very, very greedy. This is the perfect recipe for corruption to become ingrained and that is what we are seeing. I will never be persuaded that games are not influenced by the money involved and this starts on the field. There is just too much money for the unscrupulous to ignore because they know that everyone will turn a blind eye because exposing it would be financial suicide.
Who chooses the officials for individual games, because that choice can have a huge bearing on the result and people bet on the outcome as well as just about everything else? Under that particular stone you will the man who sent that incompetent oaf to our season opener and the man who deliberately sends weak referees whenever we play teams who are overtly physical. Witness the kicking Everton gave us last season at the Emirates and how they were allowed unrestricted licence to kick us off the pitch, a practice they continued in a marginally more subtle fashion under their new manager. Who sent the useless officials to our game against Man City last week? How many clear goalscoring opportunities did those officials deny Man City? How many dodgy penalty calls went against them? Or how many red cards should we have received for shocking over the top tackles. Incompetence, bad luck, or something else?
Who benefits from this practice? Look to the betting syndicates in the East and those in the game in whose interests it is to preserve the status quo and keep the juice flowing into their pockets.
Knowing the cosy relationship that exists between the referees and some managers, as spelled out by Halsey and ignored by the powers that be and the press, why would any of the incompetent leeches that infest the game in this country want to upset the apple cart by pointing out that there is something rotten within the PL? Look how the reputation and quality of the Italian game has suffered from match-fixing and how the “smaller” clubs in Spain are getting pissed off at the way things are going as the big two greedily suck up what they consider to be their political and moral right.
The whole thing stinks and I predict it will continue to fester away until a massive scandal engulfs it sometime in the future.
Hallelujah Adam , no complaints here , pretty much spot on.
We have all been waiting for the Abramovich bubble to burst but so far it is intact however I am sure those nice boys in the Russian family know where and when to exert a bit of pressure too..
Very well put Adam, You don’t have to be an expert to smell shit when its disturbed. You see it every week in every game, If you don’t see it your not looking,
Xr’s – I bet it has a ‘get out’ clause this time…
I see the football governing bodies much the same as i see charities, Band aid Made fortunes for all those needy people but as soon as the money was in the bank those dodgy buggers invest that money to make money, and the needy will just have to wait until until that investment makes money. corruption everywhere there’s money
Evening Adam. Wow.
Nipping off to get something to eat…
Mourinho isn’t happy about Cole partying with his old club then… Pff!
I wonder what the Arsenal players thought about that degenerate showing up at their party.
Morning all.
I sent the FA an email asking for a an answer as to why Toure had no retrospective ation taken against him.
The answer was they only look at off the ball incidents…that’s it.
I suggested they had a look at Yaya challenge again, because it was so high, it could most definitely be considered off the ball 🙂
Still, i never actually expected a response…maybe i should be grateful lol
I suspect they found it funny, sad but funny Adam. Unless he was invited…
Hi Scott, I am amazed you had a reply…
Also, well written Steve………i love a conspiracy theory, and even more so when i believe it.
So was i Rico, so was i.
Here is their response.
“Dear Scott,
Thank you for your email.
The Football Association receives many e-mails and letters from supporters of all clubs complaining about what they see as favourable or unfavourable treatment. Football is a game of opinions, but our concern is to be even handed across the board. We are confident that the disciplinary procedures off the pitch as well as the Referees on the pitch uphold the laws of the game without any bias to player, manager or club.
Whilst understanding your frustration as a football fan, every supporter will have an opinion on the game’s major talking points and we’re always interested to hear them. The Football Association receives frequent correspondence on individual refereeing decisions across all levels of football as well as on the performance of referees in general. It is important to understand that without a referee there is no game and as a result the long-term health of football relies on recruiting, retaining and developing referees. Whilst 100% consistency is impossible when human judgment is introduced into a situation, referees get the overwhelmingly majority of decisions right. In fact they are arguably the most consistent people in the game making split-second decisions that will be analysed repeatedly by slow motion cameras and panels of football experts.
FIFA guidelines aimed at avoiding the “re-refereeing” of matches generally prevent The FA from taking disciplinary action on incidents which are seen and dealt with at the time by the match officials (this includes taking no action). As a general rule, if the match officials see an incident and have jurisdiction to take action, The FA cannot act retrospectively.
Over the summer break The FA proposed changes to the rules regarding taking retrospective action relating to on/off-field disciplinary matters, but the football stakeholders, including The Premier League and Football League, resolved to continue with the present application.
Therefore The FA will continue to apply our rules in such a way that avoids the re-refereeing of incidents that have been deemed to have been seen and dealt with by the referee. By extending the scope, it would open the whole of the game to a massively increased process of reviewing countless number of similar incidents that occur every weekend.
The FA only act retrospectively in ‘off the ball’ scenarios, where the referee has not seen a particular incident. Where an official has seen a coming together of players, regardless of the outcome, no retrospective action can be taken in accordance with FIFA guidance.
Thank you again for contacting us.”
Evening folks,
As I always say when the richest league is controlled by one of the biggest network broadcasters and the ‘owner’ has their fingers’ in the proverbial pie of betting too… nothing is beyond impossible imho.
Ryo Miyaichi starts for Arsenal u21s against Man. Utd tonight
The FA aren’t truthing though, they do look at tackles that go unpunished. Song got a ban for just that didn’t he? And I’m sure he’s not been the only one…
Bog standard reply to anyone who complains about the officials I suspect…
I thought Ryo was injured Ts? Glad he’s back though, we might need him soon…
I am sure, Rico.
You are right Rico, Balo’ also got a ban for a bad tackle on Song too…
Anyone keeping notice of how Bellerin has made the WAtford RB spot his own… I know Watford are mid table material in tier 2 but still very encouraging in a very physical league.imo
At least you got an answer Scott, I have yet to receive my copy of the standard letter. Maybe it’s because A for Australia comes before E for England.
Macey; Moore, Ajayi, Hayden, Ottewill; Olsson, Zelalem; Ryo, Eisfeld, Akpom; Afobe
Interesting to see both AFobe and Akpom starting…
Ha ha Potter, you are probably not far off the mark though.
Lol Potter.
Who knows?
Mackay has said he won’t resign, good for him..
Disgraceful way to treat a manager….
Quit…no payout.
Get sacked….cop a few million.
Mmmm…..tough choice 🙂
I’m off for the day, have a good evening/day all…
’til tomorrow..
Night…..
I know which one I’d make Scott 😉
Gone now…
Night Rico….just a few sleeps to go 🙂
New Post up..