Referees/Officials

[FJRMCFC]

Christ. There is NOT a massive conspiracy against City regarding referees. However, I do believe that there is a subconscious bias with a lot referees who are in a charge of City games. Coupled in with the fact that pretty much all of them are extremely incompetent.

 

[Phil1]

I am not sure it was that clear cut. I think it was one which could be argued either way. But anyway it went in our favour and not worth further debating as it will only sidetrack the thread

It's worth debating if you're trying to argue it was contentious. The only people who could possibly think it was anything other than a great tackle are those who's argument is helped by it and those who want to court a bit of controversy like the papers and tv stations.

 

[cibaman]

Christ. There is NOT a massive conspiracy against City regarding referees. However, I do believe that there is a subconscious bias with a lot referees who are in a charge of City games. Coupled in with the fact that pretty much all of them are extremely incompetent.

I largely agree, in particular I think there is a clear subconscious bias against Sterling.

 

[Phil1]

Well I for one am pleased that it's not a conspiracy but just down to refs not liking us and subconsciously making sure we get hard done by week by week...

 

[squirtyflower]

Easier to see players position on a pitch than a ball in the air relationship with a line on the ground from a non perfect position. I'm not having it. There is no excuse for making that decision. Bent. Bent. Bent.

Exactly this, no way he can tell if the ball was out as it was up as high as the cross bar at its furthest distance, so the lino had nothing to compare whether it was in or out. Therefore he said it was without knowing.

 

[LWashington]

Bravo's tackle was controversial alright. The granny shagger had already got away with five bad tackles himself by then.

We said at the time it was not a red, Bravo jumped in the air then slid and executed a perfect one footed sliding challenge with inside of his foot.

At moment of impact which player is most 2 footed, has both feet off the ground, is out of control ?

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

I largely agree, in particular I think there is a clear subconscious bias against Sterling.

I think this could well be right. Where I sit, whenever he gets fouled, he's told to get up, be stronger and to stop diving. You then watch MOTD and see he was fouled after all. My point being, if many City fans have a subconscious bias against the lad, why be surprised that other people do?

 

[BlueAnorak]

Could not agree more. I told everyone in work the same and the people I spoke to thought the same also.

My only point, and this is my only point, was to inchy14 who claimed a controversial decision had never gone our way this year. I said that was blinkered and if we claim that it dilutes the valid argument as we just look like biased/partisan football fans.

But both of those decisions are barely that controversial and, more importantly, in the same games multiple other poor decisions went against us.
Utd - stonewall penalty on Aguero, Rooney avoids 5 bookings during the game, Koloriv loses 3 teeth from a forearm smash from the Turnip.
Arse offside (Only offside by mm if you measure offside from the point there is daylight between Silva's boot and ball - the rules clearly indicate offside should be measured from the point the ball is kicked - which is when momentum is imparted into the ball (max boot indentation) between 2 or 4 frames earlier 80ms to 160ms earlier dependant on speed of pass). Well aside from this there are the two penalty appeals that were turned down - for a deliberate block on Silva and a trip on Sterling.
Don't even get me started on how the definition of a foul is different for City players.
Statistically is no longer bad luck, as it is systematic. We are being dicked over week after week after week by the officials. There are two possibilities. The refs are under instruction or they're on the take. Both are corruption.

 

[We're not really here]

I've written this for Unibet. Genuinely not the suspicious sort but even I'm smelling a rat now.

http://bet.unibet.co.uk/football/pr...loss-faith-officials-should-be-concern-us-all

Firstly a great article as usual.
I think anyone who has any doubt about whether it is bent only needs to look at this.
I was directly in line with the Walker push on Raheem and it was blatant. As clear as a sunny day. There is absolutely no way on God's earth he didn't see it.
Then comes Sunday and fucking Stevie Wonder suddenly develops Superman's x ray vision and spots the ball going out by a millimetre.
Sorry if it looks like shit and smells like shit, it's shit.
There is no other explanation except corruption. It cannot be argued and I cannot understand how people cannot see it.

 

[waspish]

bravo should gone for that. wish he had :()

Yep he should of gone back home[emoji847]

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

As my mate said yesterday, there are 7bn on this planet, and the rags have around 0.5bn "supporters", or around 7% of the world's population.
Amazing then that NOT ONE referee in the PL has them as the team they "support"!
(Nowt like a bit of cynicism when you're pissed off)

Yeah but all the Rags I know are not Mancs and they have TWO teams - their hometown and The Ragamuffins. So referees will always pick their hometown if it has to go on a form, and if they haven't got a team they will make one up. Funny how Luton appears as often as it does.

The next crop of Whistling Wankers will no doubt be choosing semi-pro or amateur teams so their path to the World Cup Final can be laid out early in the full knowledge that Frickley Colliery won't be one of the two teams in the final.

 

[Esteban de la Sexface]

The Arsenal fans were pretty aggrieved with the officials on Sunday too. They thought they deserved a penalty for Navas pull on Sanchez. They also cheered ironically when they got awarded a free in the first half. Those 3 officials were the most inept I have seen for a long time. What's worse is BT brought in Howard Webb to analyse the decisions and he backed the officials. He also said that Arsenal's was a pen and ours wasn't. Now that is with hindsight and multiple replays.

A protest by the fans would be counter productive IMO. Will the FA/PL give a fuck? Probably not. The media would spin it to make the fans a laughing stock.

I'd let the club deal with it. I'm sure the club has enough representation to make a stand officially.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Christ. There is NOT a massive conspiracy against City regarding referees. However, I do believe that there is a subconscious bias with a lot referees who are in a charge of City games. Coupled in with the fact that pretty much all of them are extremely incompetent.

I used to think that way, but the evidence from games this season against your opinion is overwhelming

 

[Chris in London]

Christ. There is NOT a massive conspiracy against City regarding referees. However, I do believe that there is a subconscious bias with a lot referees who are in a charge of City games. Coupled in with the fact that pretty much all of them are extremely incompetent.

How do you explain the fact that in our first eight league games we were awarded 7 penalties and in the 24 games since we have been awarded two if it isn't deliberate? Did the subconscious bias only appear at the beginning of October?

 

[Manc Born & Bred]

Firstly a great article as usual.
I think anyone who has any doubt about whether it is bent only needs to look at this.
I was directly in line with the Walker push on Raheem and it was blatant. As clear as a sunny day. There is absolutely no way on God's earth he didn't see it.
Then comes Sunday and fucking Stevie Wonder suddenly develops Superman's x ray vision and spots the ball going out by a millimetre.
Sorry if it looks like shit and smells like shit, it's shit.
There is no other explanation except corruption. It cannot be argued and I cannot understand how people cannot see it.

Except that it didn't. Was speaking to someone yesterday who has a daughter in a development squad and she says even at that level the game is corrupt! I have said for years the game is corrupt, there is too much money around the game for it not to be.

 

[We're not really here]

Except that it didn't. Was speaking to someone yesterday who has a daughter in a development squad and she says even at that level the game is corrupt! I have said for years the game is corrupt, there is too much money around the game for it not to be.

I should have said allegedly went out. I have said this for years. When there is billions of pounds in play corruption is a certainty.

 

[plongo]

The game has changed hugely over the past 10 years. Referees are now celebrities and act accordingly, look at the number of strutting show ponies amongst them as evidence, certainly not camera shy are they?. They are now well paid and strongly motivated by money and fame, making them ripe for corruption, also their sense of wanting to belong to the "groovy gang" is clear, look at the recent stag weekend event. None of them would want to be excluded from their elite crowd, and I might add would go to great lengths to remain on this gravy train.
Coincidence that a lot of our fans believe there is an agenda, whether overt or obscure? Maybe not, who knows what they discuss when partying together on stag events!

 

[MillionMilesAway]

The Arsenal fans were pretty aggrieved with the officials on Sunday too. They thought they deserved a penalty for Navas pull on Sanchez. They also cheered ironically when they got awarded a free in the first half. Those 3 officials were the most inept I have seen for a long time. What's worse is BT brought in Howard Webb to analyse the decisions and he backed the officials. He also said that Arsenal's was a pen and ours wasn't. Now that is with hindsight and multiple replays.

A protest by the fans would be counter productive IMO. Will the FA/PL give a fuck? Probably not. The media would spin it to make the fans a laughing stock.

I'd let the club deal with it. I'm sure the club has enough representation to make a stand officially.

Odd really, as the foul count was 12:10 in the first half (more by Arsenal).
Navas on Sanchez looked a foul to me.
Webb changed his mind by fulltime - even Ian Wright was adamant that the Aguero challenge was a foul.

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

I should have said allegedly went out. I have said this for years. When there is billions of pounds in play corruption is a certainty.

Multi-million pounds every week in legitimate betting in the Far East alone, let alone illegal betting.

I'm not saying the players have anything to do with the match fixing game because they get paid a small fortune, but it is certainly plausible that match day officials, and lower paid club officials such as ground staff could easily be swayed (fire alarm/flood light failure). There have also been some managers (probably best not to mention) who have some questionable gambling debts which could have opened them up to blackmail or corruption for financial gain.

 

[Manc Born & Bred]

I should have said allegedly went out. I have said this for years. When there is billions of pounds in play corruption is a certainty.

Agreed