The biggest problem here is the complete lack of clarity from the FA on which decisions are reviewed, what the criteria is, and crucially, the timing of the report to the FA from the referee. There is ample time between the referee submitting his report for him to be influenced, by the media or by re-watching the match over and over, to mean the report itself is compromised at any given time. After this debacle, I firmly believe this happens periodically. I woudl even guess that part of how high you get in the game depends not just on your ability, but also your willingness to bend to the FA's will.
The common view has to be that this suits the FA's cloak and dagger approach, to hide some of the above, as every supporter of every premier league club will feel aggrieved by an FA decision at some point.
I am totally against re-reffing a game excessively once it is played, but i think it is about time that the FA, and PGMOL, were audited VERY independently and these processes revealed. Just this season in the games I have seen, Bardsley for Sunderland could have been off, Costa at Chelsea should have been off twice in the opening two games yet scored a winner in each - where do you draw the line?
There are too many instances of players getting off with things, usually England internationals, and others not being reviewed at all. With City it seems the vast majority of incidents are reviewed at the whim of the FA, or the media, and the FA is not afraid to go against its own rules to ensure City are punished. Then you look across the road and see the Fat Potato Head swearing after every misplaced pass or shot, in the ref's face for minutes at a time, elbows frequently not even reviewed post game, and it is inevitable that there is a feeling of injustice.
If Mariner didn't see that then he needs to step down for a while, or at least the club need to request that he does not officiate a game again for us this season, as there can be no confidence that he is able to do the job fairly. Who knows what else he won''t see during the next game? Unfortunately this does not address the real problem at all, but if Mariner is happy to take it on the chin for his bosses, then he needs to get a crack from us too.
I just hope all this talk of elbows means the ref for the derby is on the ball, with Fellaini, Rooney and Zlatan in their line up the threat of an elbow is ever-present, intentional or not, then maybe we will see a less aggressive side from them aerially. Will hold my breath on any retrospective actions following however...
