Ted Hughes wrote:IanWright wrote:Can you believe that Rooney's not gotten at booking all season? Well, actually, it's not so hard to believe. It's disgusting, is what it is.
If Ferguson isn't asked to "explain his comments" to the FA, I'll eat my hat (puts hat on plate)
That is one statistic which can't be anything other than ridiculous. There is never a game when Rooney shouldn't actually get a card, if not for foul play then certainly for foul and abusive language toward the ref. Yesterday he clearly swore at the ref then shouted it again to make sure he heard it.
A similar thing has happened in recent years first with Beckham, then with Scholes, where many refs just stop apllying the rules to them. It's as dodgy as fuck.
Methinks it'll take a manager to make a "cryptic criticism" a la Wenger (ahh, it always comes back to all things Arsenal!)
Cast your mind back to the game we played at Old Tartford back in 2009. We went 1-0 up through Arshavin, Rooney dived to earn yet another penalty (though Almunia wasn't completely innocent himself) and dispatched, followed by a winning own-goal by Abou Diabolical. (We all up to speed? Good)
Anyways, after the game, Wenger pointed out that a player had gotten away with 20 plus strong challenges in midfield and not received so much as a yellow card during the 90 minutes. It didn't take a rocket scientist to work out that he was referring to Darren Fletcher. In doing so, he avoided character assassination, any claims of slander, and Fletcher used to actually get yellow cards away from home :-0
Hence, a simple; "how a player can swear directly at the ref and get away with it is beyond me...." may just be enough to open the FA's eyes. (It might, but I ain't holding my breath!)
"If you asked 100 people, 99 would say Adebayor was wrong. The 100th would be Mark Hughes." Arsene Wenger