When big clubs go to buy a player the selling club will hike up the transfer fee because it is a big club and they will be able to afford it. City fans have called this the City tax. No doubt United fans say something similar about their transfer fees.
Where City are unique is that City have to pay a refereeing bias "tax". No City fan expects a fair refereeing performance, Guardiola doesn't and the players don't. Take a look at the look De Bruyne gave Moss after he was pushed over. He's letting Moss know it was a foul but he isn't expecting anything. It's become part of our game to expect nothing from referees and to know we'll have to play well enough to overcome the referee as well as the other team.
I had a look the other day at the penalty awarded to Liverpool for a "foul" on Mane by Walker. I reckoned I had had enough time to cool off and take an objective look at it. Pawson was in a bad position to tell if contact was made. He was directly behind but you need a close side on view. Pawson couldn't wait to give the penalty. On the replays I have seen there is upper body contact, shoulder to shoulder and that's all. Mane goes down like he has suddenly encountered black ice. I don't see anything to cause him to do that.
What got to me about it was the general acceptance. Nobody calling it out for what it was - a dive. Especially in the media, not a hint there was anything soft about the penalty.
I had an idea of looking at the penalties Leicester got against us. At the time my impression was the Leicester players were dropping from minimal contact. But what's the point? I'm going to find out it was an unfair refereeing performance. What a big surprise!
Remember the Centurion season and the series of hacks on City players with no red cards? A series of about 12 assaults not given a red card. Well if you call each decision 50:50 as to whether it should be a red card (beyond generous) it is 4096/1 against no red card being produced. If you said it's 90:10 it's one billion (1000,000,000,000)
to one against no red card. So in my humble mathematical estimation the odds are between 4000/1 and 1000,000,000,000/1 that we have had a consistent refereeing bias against us.
