Throw the Book at Them

I sat down last weekend to watch the Chelsea v Sunderland game on live TV over here in Dublin. Before the game all the odds were on a home win and another three points in the race for the title for the Chelsea. Unbeaten at home in the premier league under Mourinho, surely they had enough to beat Sunderland. How wrong can you be and I wonder how many people had taken a bet on the Mackems getting anything at the Bridge. What was to unfold has had so much fall out this week I just had to get my fingers tapping and try and put a calm perspective on the whole thing. Let me take you through the main talking points below.

As I see it there was four real talking points in the game. Firstly I do feel that Adam Johnson was a lucky boy not to be sent off by referee Mike Dean for a challenge on a Chelsea player in the first half. It was high and reckless and verging on dangerous,Dean yellow carded him but with all the criteria laid out for a red card I felt he should have received one. Then we have the incident of Ramires lashing out with an elbow into Larsson's face. I do not see how Mike Dean did not see it,but he didn't and these things happen. More to the point is the fact that Ramires has only returned from a ban after been sent off for an horrific challenge on an Aston Villa player quite recently. This guy is becoming a liability to his team with such rash behaviour. Then we have the penalty incident,now I can buy into people saying some penalties are harsh but the one Mike Dean awarded to Sunderland last weekend was 100% correct and in my opinion was a penalty every day of the week,I really can't see what the Chelsea complaints were all about. Maybe it's the fact that they had known they had blown the title and in a game they would have expected to win. So that,s all the on field issues sorted. Let me take you to the technical area and the meltdown of Mourinho's assistant manager Faria. He was so out of order it's incredible. He had to be forcefully removed from the area, and in my opinion if he had not been things could have got a hell of a lot worse. How can players behave on the pitch when you see that sort of carry on from the management team, he ought to be ashamed of himself.

So Sunderland had pulled off a wonderful result to give them a real chance of premiership survival and just as I was settling down after all the madness,I get word from a contact at Chelsea that Mourinho has had an amazing after match interview with the BBC. In it he applauded Mike Dean for his performance and he applauded referee chief Mike Reilly for his performance this season, sarcastic to the core again Jose. Well he has gone to far this time and in my opinion he is fast becoming a pain in the backside,in fact sometimes he talks out of it. I was delighted to see the FA hit Ramires, Faria and Mourinho with charges this week and I for one hope they throw the book at them. I also think the club should have been hit with a charge as well,because these guys need to be reigned in and told to control themselves. It is bad for football to see this thuggery and this is not a once off,there at it all the time. So let us see what punishment is handed out and then we will see if the FA have the balls to take on the big boys.

The Glazers Bottled It

This time last year Manchester United were crowned Premier League champions once again. The difference with this winning campaign to all the rest was that it was to be Sir Alex Ferguson,s last, as in a shock announcement,one of the greatest managers ever in the English game had decided to call time on a glittering career and decided to step down. Family reasons were given by Fergie as his reason to step down as he wanted to spend more time with his beloved wife Cathy after the death of her sister. Also

leaving the Manchester United boardroom was chief executive David Gill. David was off to take up a big job in Europe. How could such a big club manage with two retirements at such a level in the club and where would the future of the this club end up. Step forward David Moyes to the managers job and Ed Woodward into the boardroom. The appointment of Moyes was the perfect step forward for United and at the time most fans and media did agree. In fact I don't seem to remember many dissenting voices to his appointment. Moyes was heralded into Old Trafford by a rousing speech by Fergie on his last home game,he left the fans in no doubt that they were to back the new manager and give him all the support he needed to succeed. What was to follow over the coming months was a story of no board support for Moyes and eventually ending up with him losing his job at Old Trafford last Tuesday.

As the season kicked off United claimed another prize by bagging the Charity Shield and David's first trophy. But all was not well behind the scenes. Moyes had targeted a few players to bolster his squad and as the transfer window slowly closed he was let down on a few targets eventually only bringing in Fellani from his old club Everton. New chief executive Ed Woodward had failed at his first big test. In my opinion the team Fergie left behind needed a few players to replace the old guard. Two centre halves, a ball winner in midfield, a left back, and another striker were the simple requirements. On his first step into this huge job, Moyes was now heading for trouble. Home defeats became more frequent and we all know the basis off any title challenge has to be good home form. It was obvious from October onwards that United would not be challenging for the title this season and in fact top four could be looking dodgy as well. In my opinion the signing of Mata in the January window was a last throw of the dice and a risky one at that. Having a player of Mata's quality and not been able to play him in every game did not help Moyes' cause. On top of all that, Fellani had not settled well after his huge move to such a big club and his performances had been awful.

Earlier this season I wrote an article saying the Glazers should give the new manager time and let him build his own team from top to bottom. On reflection if David did anything wrong the one thing I will say is, he possibly should have kept Mike Phelan and work with him to keep the winning continuity in the dressing room. Alas it is always great to see things in hindsight,but one thing I did not see was professional players throwing in the towel and just giving up. Last weekends performance by the players at Goodison Park was despicable and they finally shoved the knife into the managers back and twisted it. It has become a way in the game over the past few years, that players just down tools and give up. It happened at Chelsea twice with AVB and big Phil Scolari and if that is the way football is going well I think the fans should think twice before adoring these overpaid ego maniacs.

I for one was saddened to hear all the rumors going around last Monday that Moyes was to be sacked. For such a great club to be leaking such information to the media is below contempt and as it stands this morning, there reputation is in the gutter. There is no doubt in my mind David will come back from this a much stronger manager and for those of you who are old enough to remember, the Leeds United team of the seventies once shafted Brian Clough and he went on to win championships and two European Cups. So as the dust starts to settle at Old Trafford I wish the club all the best for the future but my main thoughts are for David Moyes and his family. I have no doubt he will be back in management in the not to distant future and I for one hope he is successful, after all David Moyes is one of the nice guys of football and on top of all that a gentleman.

Tighten it up Ref

Last week I blogged about my views on who I thought could win this seasons Barclays Premier League. I also stated, that I hoped a bad refereeing decision would not decide this years champions. So I must admit I was left fuming last weekend with the performance of Anthony Taylor; followed up by the performance by Mark Clattenburg who just  put the cherry on the cake. It is quite ironic that the decisions have fallen in favour for Liverpool and that now makes the men from Anfield championship favourites. It is just not acceptable that when it has come down to the last few games,referees decisions have been called wrong. Let me below talk about the decisions that I have seen, that have changed the destiny of the Barclays Premier League this season.

Firstly let me take you back to last Sunday week and the game between West Ham and Liverpool at Upton Park. It was a pretty normal game for a referee of the top standard to handle until Anthony shot himself in the foot by allowing a Demel goal to stand, when you could clearly see that Andy Carroll had fouled the keeper on the cross. Not just a push,but a clear slap at the keepers head. Now the referee missed it,but to then make a complete and utter mess of the whole thing he failed to listen to advice given to him by his assistant, who was trying to help the referee sort out the mess. In fact what it showed to me was that the referee did not trust his assistant,and this is why he failed to accept the advice given. Then to really make matters worse, he gives a dodgy penalty to Liverpool, in my opinion it was never a penalty and the goalkeeper clearly played the ball. So Mr.Taylor had an awful day and he got all the big decisions wrong. A referee should always get the big decisions right and this defines his game.So no gold medal for Anthony on his game, in fact I thought he was very poor.

Fast forward to one week later and the big one at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City. For the best games you need the best referees, and it was given to Mark Clattenburg. Personally I think it was to soon after his performance in the Manchester United and Liverpool game to have him take charge of this one. My feelings were proved correct as not only did Mark make one big game changing mistake,he in fact made three blunders which in fact had a direct bearing on the result of the game. The first mistake he made was not sending off Suarez for a clear dive in the second half. The Liverpool player had been booked early in the game and his dive should have warranted a second yellow. It would have been so easy but I feel Mark bottled it. The second mistake was he did not award Man.City a penalty when Dzeko was taken down by Sakho if this had happened outside of the penalty area I have no doubt a free kick would have been awarded.Then right at the very end both Mark and his assistant missed a clear hand ball by Liverpool defender Skirtel. There is no question it was a hand ball and it should have been a penalty. But I suppose if you were to give a penalty in front of the Kop so late in the game with the home team leading, you would need balls of steel,unfortunately Mark obviously had not. Overall I am very disappointed with the two referees, as I would prefer not to be discussing poor decisions but ones that are of the excellent variety. Until next week enjoy your football and hopefully your team wins,without a bad decision by the man in the middle.

The heat is on!

Last weekend there was not an awful lot of controversy around the game for me to report on, so if I may as be so bold this week, as to try and predict where the Barclays Premier League title is going. It is as if the runners are coming around the bend and entering the home straight. In my opinion their are only three runners left now that can win it. Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City, all the rest have slipped away and are going out the back door as the other three stretch away. So let me try and unfold the run in, below.

Both Liverpool and Chelsea have to play six games and City have eight left.City and Chelsea have to go to Anfield and this is where I think the Liverpool machine may falter. They are going along at such a rate of knots at the moment it will be a shock to them if they don't take all the points from those two games. A good friend of mine from Galway city Gerry McDermott has been saying Liverpool will win the league since January, but I feel in the end, the pressure will just be too much.When it comes down to the business end of a season it tends to be the teams that have been through it all before that end up champions. In my opinion it will be City,s title.They have two games left on Merseyside at Anfield and Goodison and if they bag the points in those two games well then Vincent Kompany will lift the trophy.When Chelsea visit Anfield, my old mate Jose Mourinho will have his team set up in such a way that Chelsea won't lose.One other fixture on the horizon that my friend Gerry should also be worried about is Liverpool's trip to Selhurst Park.Tony Pulis in my opinion should be manager of the year for the job he has done at Palace. So all in all that is three tough games for Liverpool on the run in.It is quite amazing that City also have to play Palace and the Eagles will have a big say in the race for the championship.

No matter what way the cookies fall it has been a great season with plenty of excitement and debate.That to me is what the beautiful game should be all about. It has been a great season for debate on social networks every weekend,some discussions even got heated between friends.With us now into the final run in, I am sure the debates will go on and on.But when all is said and done and the final whistle blows at the end of the season, in my opinion Manchester City will get the gold medal. The Premier League is looking good and let us just hope next season gets even better and we could be looking at a six horse race for the title. I really really do hope so,So over the next few weeks enjoy the games and hopefully whoever wins they will do it without and refereeing controversy.Can I just finish off by praising Gerry for his prediction and if the Pool do win the league, can you send me next weeks winning lotto numbers Ger. Until next week enjoy your football and stay safe.

A Refereeing Nightmare

I like most football fans sat down to watch the English Premier league match of the weekend, Saturday lunch time saw Chelsea play host’s to London rivals Arsenal and this game had all the ingredients for a superb afternoon of football. It was Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game as Arsenal Manager and his side needed to win to keep the pressure on their rivals who are at the top of the table. The man in charge of the teams was referee Andre Mariner. Little we're we all to know at kick off what was to unfold over the next ninety minutes. A refereeing decision that I have never seen and hope never to see again, threw the whole game into turmoil after fifteen minutes. Let me below try and shed some light on the whole situation and maybe suggest a way forward so as to never have to witness a refereeing blunder of this magnitude again.

When Alex Oxlade Chamberlain handled the ball, in my opinion the referee did not actually see it. I feel someone whispered in his ear to let him know. I am thinking it was the fourth official or the assistant referee on the dug outs side, as both of them would have been looking in from an angle that would have had the best view. A lot of people said that the Arsenal player did not stop an obvious goal scoring opportunity and therefore should not have received a red card. Well that argument is total nonsense as Chamberlain did not know where he was standing, and with his dive, he was obviously trying to stop a goal been scored. In my opinion the officials got the penalty 100% correct and yes also the red card. What happened next was just mental. How Andre could single out Gibbs and send him off, beggars belief. When Andre sent off Gibbs, it enforced in my mind that the referee was been prompted by a second party as to what to do, and the second party got it totally wrong.

So where do we go from here to make sure it never happens again. Well in my opinion it is time for the premier league to introduce officials behind the goal. This would have been a perfect solution on Saturday as the guy behind the goal would have been nearest to the incident and I am sure he would have given the referee the correct information to send off the right player. I do not want to see TV technology introduced as this could be a disaster further down the road. I actually heard Henry Winter on radio today at lunchtime saying it was time to embrace technology, but this road is not one I would like to go down. I also heard this evening that Andre Mariner will be refereeing this week in the premier league, which strengthens my case that it was not him that made the error in sending off Gibbs but the official who was in his ear. All in all it was a disaster and no referee should ever have to go through that again. I really do feel from the start of next season the extra officials should be used. It would save an awful lot of heartache for players, managers and especially referees. Until next week enjoy your football.  

Players are out of Order

Last weekend there was a lot of controversy around the country in the beautiful game. So many talking points I was thinking about doing an incident of the week, like they do for goal of the week. But if I was to write about every incident that I witnessed last weekend I would still be writing this blog on Christmas Eve. So what I have decided to do is pick two and concentrate my opinions on those two.The decisions I want to talk to you about are two of the worse things I have seen on a football pitch in many a long day. George Boyd and Chelsea's Ramires get my undivided attention for the next few hundred words.

First up is the issue that occurred during the Hull City v Man.City game. It all stems around a dive by Hull City player George Boyd in the penalty area. As the ball was played through and Joe Hart came out to block any scoring chance by Boyd, the Hull player anticipated a tackle from Hart which did not come and he was made look a fool by taking a dive. All hell was to break loose and Hart and Boyd squared up to each other, the England goalkeeper was fuming that Boyd had tried to con, yes con the referee into giving a penalty. What was to happen next, was unbelievable. Boyd was seen clearly aim a spit at Joe Hart. This in my opinion is a disgusting low life thing to do in any walk of life never mind a football field.Joe Hart showed great strength not to retaliate, as if that was to happen on any street up and down the country, Boyd in my opinion would have been chinned. I do hope the FA throw the book at him and give him a lengthy ban. There is no place in our beautiful game for scumbag behavior like that on a football field.

Let me now move on to Villa Park and talk about the horrific tackle by Ramires on El Ahmadi. Oh sorry before I start can I just congratulate Villa on a tremendous win on Saturday evening.Villa Park was rocking. The controversy that followed the Ramires tackle took centre stage and Villa's great victory was lost in the fall out. Let me just say that the Chelsea players tackle was the worst seen on a football field in England for a long long time.How the Villa player did not suffer a leg break is a miracle. Luckily enough he will be ok and will return to the field soon. Now this is where my blood pressure rocketed after the game, Jose Mourinho got himself centre stage once again by entering the field of play to talk to Chris Foy. In fact what the self promotional Mourinho was up to was deflect the attention away from an horrific tackle and bring all the attention on himself. There are times I wonder was Mourinho a spoilt child as he was growing up because he always loves to bring the attention on to himself. He called himself the special one once but I didn't buy it then and I don't buy it now. He nor Chelsea have apologized for the incident, instead they are pointing the finger at referee Chris Foy. In my opinion the FA should ban Ramires for at least four games and ban Mourinho and also hit him with a huge fine. This Mourinho guy needs to be reeled in and thought a lesson but I just wonder have the FA got the balls to do it. Until next week, enjoy your football and stay safe.

Fair Play for the Underdog

When the draw is made for a cup match and the lower league teams draw a big fish, the excitement level that engulfs the underdog and its town becomes fever pitch. They partake in these games with the hope of causing a big cup shock and hitting the headlines all around the world. It brings huge interest in their club and town. I for one, love a cup upset and all the excitement it brings. Just a few things need to be in place on the day and anything can happen. What is required by the underdog is for them to turn up and give 110% and maybe just catch the favourites on a bad day. One other ingredient is, the big decisions in the game on the day need to go in favour of the lesser side.

Last Sunday I just happened to tune into Glasgow Rangers v Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup. I have to admit it was not a game I planned to watch, but when Rovers took a shock lead after thirteen minutes from a Ciaran Donnelly shot, I have to admit I decided to stick with it. The ingredients were in the pot & a major cup shock was on the cards. Ally McCoist was surely rattled and tried everything tactically to turn it around. Rovers defended so well for the rest of the game as they truly believed they were going to cause a huge shock. Then with thirteen minutes left, a speculative long high ball in to the Albion box caused me to jump from my seat in disgust at what I had witnessed. Bilel Mohani challenged the Albion Rovers goalkeeper for a high ball and totally bundled the keeper over the line. Surely a foul I thought and looked to the referee for a free kick. Unbelievably referee John Beaton pointed to the half way line for a goal. It was an awful decision by the official. The goalkeeper had been clearly fouled and the referee got it totally wrong. Now I know keepers over the past few years have been over protected by referees but this decision was incredible. I was glad in the end that Rovers kept their heads and held out for a draw because they could have reacted to the referee’s howler and lost concentration. 

So in the big scheme of things it was a great result for the underdog. They will get to play the Ibrox outfit again and as I said earlier it takes everything to fall into place for the minnow to progress in these big competitions. But most of all it requires the referees to get the big decisions correct on the day. John Beaton got it horribly wrong on Sunday and in the end took that glorious moment of triumph from a Rovers side, who in my opinion deserved to win. They took the early lead and defended tremendously up until the point when Rangers equalised.

How many times over the years have we seen the underdog score early and then hang on, when doing more than is required for all the bits to fall into place in a cup shock?