Paranoia and Conspiracy Theories

[Tokyo Blue]

Lie like all the paras.

Interesting.

What's 'paras'. Is he refereeing to people who jump out of planes? Now, they are crazy bastards!

I think he is calling us liars, Beefy. Or perhaps insinuating that we wear green berets or something.

I'd love to fly a plane but there is no way I am jumping out of one.

[Dameerto]

I thought he was calling you paraplegics.

[feedthegreek]

good read.
http://diminbeirut.typepad.com/

[Beefymcfc]

Beefers,

PARA-NOIDS....They're what you get when shitting yerself as you bale out at a few thousand feet.
Thought you'da known that Mate.

Ah, I get it, when your bollocks hit your throat.

[Beefymcfc]

good read.
http://diminbeirut.typepad.com/

2 write-ups that seem to be suggesting that United get favourable treatment, who'd have thunk it. Just shows what you can find if spend 5 minutes looking at the facts. Nothing that hasn't been mentioned on here though, and refuted by a few.

Part 1

Oliver Stone once said: “Paranoia is having all the facts”. Many of us die hard football fans know exactly what he means.

I've long held the view that something very fishy goes on in English football.

I’m not the most naturally trusting of guys anyways. When it comes to institutions, I'm downright skeptical of them. I have very little respect or trust in governments, police, and media or football institutions. It's not me being paranoid either: week after week, I’m proven correct on my doubts about them (to any Liverpool fan the findings of the Hillsborough report came as absolutely no surprise).

When it comes to football, it's not even lack of trust. It's plain common sense.

In recent years, we've had a huge number of corruption scandals all across Europe. Several of them in Italy, the corrupt referee Hoyser in Germany, Fenerbahce being docked their title in Turkey, Spain's second division scandals, Marseille a while ago in France, Porto in Portugal etc...

Of course, the one league where nothing ever gets proven to be dodgy is in England. The richest and most watched league in the world is, we are told, completely squeaky clean.

Leaving aside the sheer ridiculousness of that statement, ask yourself this: if corruption gets proven all across Europe, how is the most popular league in the world, with the biggest prize monies in football, whose clubs are owned by some of the richest people in the world, run by stakeholders that are the most powerful media moguls in the world, immune from this? With the amounts of money at stake, how has it managed to be so clean for so long?

To dismiss any talks of corruption in the premier league is to fall for 2 of the traits that characterize the English the most: a sheer egocentric belief that they are better than anyone else and their complete faith in the country's institutions. To them, it’s entirely logical that that stuff goes on abroad where institutions are corrupt, but it’s impossible in England. Just like diving is a foreign disease and Uruguay is the epicenter of racism, unlike the multi cultural tolerance of middle England.

I share neither of those traits. By pure logic, when I see corruption in every facet of English life (MP's expenses scandal, banking sector, the war on Iraq, Leveson enquiry, Hillsborough, The Guilford 4, The Birmingham 6 et all...) as well as entire European football, I ask why is it impossible as many deem, for it to be happening in English football too?

I have followed football since 1986. I have seen for years how Manchester United benefits from refereeing decisions. I don’t need an investigation to tell me this: it happens on a near weekly basis to the point where people are so immune to it, they laugh it off.

I have seen the influence Alex Ferguson has on every facet of the English game. When his Darren son got fired as manager of Preston North End, I watched with bemusement as Ferguson immediately recalled his loan players from Deepdale. I then watched in horror as another club in the premier league, managed by Ferguson’s father’s friend Tony Pullis, also recalled their loan players from PNE.

The message was clear: Mess with Mr Ferguson or his children, and you will be punished.

And not just from Mr Ferguson either. By his friends in football.

Recently, ex referee Jeff Winter stated that he once sent Roy Keane off in a match. He was then criticized by Ferguson and not given a Manchester United game to referee for 2 years. He saw that as punishment as he said that “The FA is reticent to give Manchester United games to referees that Ferguson has criticized in the past”.

Read that statement again. Ferguson criticizes referees that give decisions against his club. Most likely, these decisions happen in games Manchester United lose. The FA reacts to the criticism by not assigning said referees in future Manchester United games. Thus, the only referees assigned to United games are ones that Ferguson approves of.

The referees that have given decisions Ferguson deem to be incorrect against United, however, no longer referee their games (usually the most high profile ones). It’s a terrible indictment of sporting impartiality, justice and the way the game is run in England. This form of selective referee assignement led to the Juventus scandal in 2006.

Winter’s comments prompted me to do my own research. I focused on the referees that took charge of United 2 biggest high profile losses in the last decade or so.

Alain Wiley refereed United’s 4-1 loss to Liverpool in 2009. In that game, he gave both United and Liverpool penalties and sent off Nemanja Vidic. All 3 decisions were absolutely correct and Wiley was praised by Sky TV co-commentator Andy Gray for his performance. Not even Ferguson complained.

Later that year, Wiley was given another United game to referee and despite sending off Kieran Richardson of Sunderland, Wiley was lambasted by Ferguson for being “fat and unfit”. The game ended 2-2.

That would be the end of Wiley’s refereeing career. Wiley, it says cryptically on his Wikipedia page, “agreed to retire” at the end of that season. Agreed with whom? No one knows.

Last season, Manchester City romped to a 6-1 win at Old Trafford, inflicting on their rivals their biggest embarrassment under Ferguson. The referee on that day was Mark Clattenburg. He sent Johnny Evans off in the second half for a clear professional foul.

There have been 34 Man United league games since that day. The number of times times Clattenburg has refereed them? Zero. Not a single one.

It seems that the FA, for whatever reason, doesn’t want Clattenburg to referee Man United games anymore. Some of us more paranoid folk may just wonder who’s behind that decision.
The FA has no hesitation to hand United games to Howard Webb though: he’s been the most used referee in 34 United games since the 6-1 defeat to City.

Webb’s history in Man United games are well known and documented. All I have to say on the matter is that more than 18% of the penalties he’s awarded in his ENTIRE premier league refereeing career have gone to Manchester United. Over a 9 year period, that’s a huge percentage.

So in closing, let’s resume what we’ve discovered. We have an ex premier league referee who has openly stated he was not handed a Manchester United game for 2 years after sending off one of their players. We have an FA who, in said referee’s words, don’t hand Manchester United games to referees that the United manager has previously criticized.

We have a referee who took charge of a heavy United defeat and “agreed to retire” a year later after being called unfit by Alex Ferguson. We have another referee who hasn’t been handed a United game to officiate since he reffed a heavy United defeat 34 league games ago.

Meanwhile, the most used official in United games in that time is the man who has handed 18% of his entire career penalty awards to Ferguson’s team.

Factor in the fact that Manchester United CEO is ON THE BOARD OF the English FA, Alex Ferguson is a knight of the realm with political connections that go a lot deeper than football (just read Allistair Campbell’s diaries if you don’t believe me), and the evidence in the Darren Ferguson sacking that clubs that cross Ferguson get punished by his friends, and you have all the tools there for someone more investigative than me to really delve into.

But yet, nothing happens. Year on year, I watch as not a single journalist utters a peep on the subject. I watch as decision after decision goes United’s way and people in the UK, so much better than everyone else and trusting of their institutions remember, brush them off with insouciance.

In Italy, there would have been phone tap investigations a long time ago. In "so much cleaner than everywhere else" England, we’re paranoid.

Why is that?

Well, when you look at who runs the sport in the country, you understand a bit more. Rupert Murdoch’s Sky live off the premier league. So do his other publications like the Sun. The English media’s last priority is going to investigate and damage one of their biggest cash cows.

Imagine the hit to the revenue streams of the media and clubs if corruption is proved in the premier league? The richest league in the world, so carefully and beautifully marketed across the world, would suffer a huge blow. The effects an investigation would have on Manchester United, the cash cow’s biggest cash cow, would also be devastating.

So it’s all swept under the tabled and every refereeing decision shrugged off. “They even themselves out” we’re told by journalists who get banned from United press conferences for asking a question about team selection.

God knows what would happen to them if they investigate United’s behind the scenes dealings.

Maybe, like Preston, they’ll learn that if you cross Man United, all of football will turn their backs on you too…

[Beefymcfc]

Part 2

After I wrote my last piece, above, on Manchester United’s relationship with the FA, I was taken aback by the response I had.The post has gotten around 30,000 hits in the last 48 hours alone. I suggest to people who haven’t read it to jump to that post now as it gives a lot of background on what we will look at in this article.

As stated in my previous post, the fortunes of the institutions surrounding football in the UK will be negatively hit should any proof of corruption come out. It is naturally in their interest not to investigate the matter. In fact, the managers that have come out and questioned the refereeing
selection process (Rafa Benitez, Andre Villas Boas) have been turned into laughing stocks by the English press corps.

So, investigate some more I did. And some of the stuff I found out surprised even me.

During United’s title winning 2010/11 season, they only lost 4 league games. I looked at who refereed those games and how long they then spent without being assigned Manchester United games as well their subsequent trend of behavior towards United.

Michael Oliver took charge of their first defeat, the February 2011 2-1 loss at Wolves. He was not given another Manchester United game to referee until December 2011. Since then, Oliver has had 2 United games.

United have won both, with Oliver refusing to give a clear Fulham penalty in the 1-0 United win late last season at Old Trafford; a game came right at the end of the title race. A few weeks ago, Oliver gave United a penalty for a shocking dive by Danny Welbeck in the home win against Wigan.

The second game United lost was away to Chelsea. Martin Atkinson was the referee then and some of his decisions incurred the wrath of Alex Ferguson. Atkinson was not given another United game to referee for an ENTIRE YEAR.

Atkinson was further punished with his decisions that went against United that day. He was not given a single premier league game to referee for a full month. Even worse, he was subsequently given 3 lower league games to referee that season- when he’d previously not officiated a single one
that campaign.

It seems that Atkinson was given a clear message that day.

The 3rd United loss came at Anfield, where a Dirk Kuyt hat trick secured a 3-1 home win. The referee that day was Phil Dowd. He was criticized by Ferguson for not sending Jamie Carragher off. In the very next United game Dowd refereed, he gave them a penalty which secured a 1-1 draw at Blackburn and their 19th league title.

Giving United penalties in the very next game you referee them after having been criticized is a trend we’ll soon notice.

The final United loss of the 2010/11 season came at the Emirates, where Chris Foy refereed a 1-0 Arsenal win. It will come to no surprise to people to know that Foy was subsequently not assigned a United league game for, again, AN ENTIRE YEAR.

He did however referee 2 United games in the cups during that time. The first was in the Carling Cup against Crystal Palace. He awarded United a penalty. The second was at City in the FA Cup. United got a penalty and Vincent Kompany was sent off early in the game.

To resume, we’ve just analyzed what happened to the 4 referees that officiated United’s 4 league losses in the 2010/11 season. 2 of them were not given any more United league games for a full year (Atkinson and Foy), a third for 9 months (Oliver). 2 of those referees gave United penalties in the very next game (Foy and Dowd) they took charge of and one refused to give a blatant one to the opponents (Oliver). Martin Atkinson, was not given premier league games to officiate for an entire month and assigned to 3 lower league games.

I also looked at Mike Jones after prompting from the comments board. Jones refereed the 1-1 home draw with Newcastle last season and falsely awarded Demba Ba a penalty.

Subsequently, Jones was not given a single football game, at ANY level, to referee for an entire month. The next United game he was handed came a few months later, the 2-0 home win against Stoke which saw… You guessed it: 2 penalties awarded to Manchester United which, according to reports, were “very soft”.

How about Mark Halsey? Well, when he gave WBA a debatable penalty in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in May 2005 it was his 5th United game that season. He then also went an ENTIRE YEAR without being given any United games to referee. From 5 games in a season to none for a year. His
record since then? He’s refereed 11 Man Utd games which have seen 11 United wins: the latest coming at Anfield, where 3 controversial decisions went the away team’s way.

In terms of trends, considering what we discovered about Alan Wiley and Mark Clattenburg (whose record with no United games to referee now stands at 36 league games since he took charge of the 6-1 home loss to City), there’s enough to make you wonder what exactly is going on in the
referee selection process. It also ties in perfectly with ex referee Jeff Winter's comments about The FA being reticent to assign United games to referees Ferguson has criticized in the past.

The whole world revolves around incentives and punishment. From a young age, kids are brought up that way. Positive and negative reinforcement are at the very core of child psychology. You can’t blame people who are well aware of the punishment awaiting them (through the form of demotions
and suspension from future United games) if they’d rather go for the safe option of keeping Ferguson happy.

I don’t blame the referees.

The people I blame are the ones that are letting this happen. The media who have not uttered a peep or written a single article about this for 2 decades. The FA who run the game in this country and have allowed this situation to fester. The clubs who see no issue with having David Gill, United's CEO, on the board of the FA. And of course, the PGMOB: the people who regulate officiating in England

The person at the head of the PGMOB and who is in charge of selecting which referee gets handed which game is Mike Riley, an ex professional referee who is most famous for giving a penalty for a clear dive by Wayne Rooney in the 2004 Man United 2-0 win against Arsenal which ended the
Gunners 49 game unbeaten streak.

Riley was accused of pro United favoritism throughout his career. For younger readers, he’s my generation’s Howard Webb.

According to the Guardian’s research, which goes to back to the beginning of the 1997-98 season until 2004, “Riley refereed 23 United games in all competitions and gave 12 penalties for United in that time, but only three against them. And he has sent off five of United's opponents.

At Old Trafford, Riley's record is weighted even more heavily in favor of United: He gave 10 penalties in the 14 games he officiated to the home side, Manchester United.”

Riley’s bias was so suspected than when was awarded the Everton vs Man Utd FA Cup semi final to officiate in 2009, David Moyes actually called for an investigation on whether Riley was a United supporter.

This is the man who now decides which premier league games to assign to referees.

Add that to everything we’ve found out: the year long waits for referees who take charge of United losses to be given another United game to officiate, the penalties that are given to United in said
referees next United games, the punishment for making mistakes that cost United points (Atkinson’s month long suspension from premier league games, Jones’ 1 month suspension from ALL PROFESSIONAL games), the comments from ex referee Jeff Winter (see my previous post), the fact that 18% of Howard Webb’s career penalties have gone to Manchester United,the retirement of Alain Wiley after being called unfit by Alex Ferguson and, of course, the presence of David Gill inside the FA and surely there’s enough there for some investigative journalist in the UK to actually look more into this.

If only to put the millions of football fans’ across the world’s minds at ease.

Because we could all be wrong and all of this may just be a set of freakish coincidences. Maybe English football is squeaky clean like they make us believe and the referee selection process is completely unbiased.

Maybe we’re just paranoid…

Or maybe not… Chris Foy failed to give Manchester United a penalty in their 3-2 loss to Spurs last Saturday. The PGMOB have not handed Foy a Premier League game to referee next weekend: instead, he will referee in League 2 for the first time in more than 4 years.

Mike Jones meanwhile, who missed a blatant penalty on Luis Suarez at Norwich, will take charge of West Brom vs QPR in the Premier League. Finally, Howard Webb (who sent off Jordi Gomez on Saturday; a red card today rescinded by the FA) will take charge of Newcastle’s home game against…Manchester United.

Why did Foy’s errors on Saturday lead to his demotion to the lowest professional league in England while Webb’s and Jones’ mistakes didn’t cost them?

I guess we all know the answer to that question…

[Rag_hater]

Part 2

After I wrote my last piece, above, on Manchester United’s relationship with the FA, I was taken aback by the response I had.The post has gotten around 30,000 hits in the last 48 hours alone. I suggest to people who haven’t read it to jump to that post now as it gives a lot of background on what we will look at in this article.

As stated in my previous post, the fortunes of the institutions surrounding football in the UK will be negatively hit should any proof of corruption come out. It is naturally in their interest not to investigate the matter. In fact, the managers that have come out and questioned the refereeing
selection process (Rafa Benitez, Andre Villas Boas) have been turned into laughing stocks by the English press corps.

So, investigate some more I did. And some of the stuff I found out surprised even me.

During United’s title winning 2010/11 season, they only lost 4 league games. I looked at who refereed those games and how long they then spent without being assigned Manchester United games as well their subsequent trend of behavior towards United.

Michael Oliver took charge of their first defeat, the February 2011 2-1 loss at Wolves. He was not given another Manchester United game to referee until December 2011. Since then, Oliver has had 2 United games.

United have won both, with Oliver refusing to give a clear Fulham penalty in the 1-0 United win late last season at Old Trafford; a game came right at the end of the title race. A few weeks ago, Oliver gave United a penalty for a shocking dive by Danny Welbeck in the home win against Wigan.

The second game United lost was away to Chelsea. Martin Atkinson was the referee then and some of his decisions incurred the wrath of Alex Ferguson. Atkinson was not given another United game to referee for an ENTIRE YEAR.

Atkinson was further punished with his decisions that went against United that day. He was not given a single premier league game to referee for a full month. Even worse, he was subsequently given 3 lower league games to referee that season- when he’d previously not officiated a single one
that campaign.

It seems that Atkinson was given a clear message that day.

The 3rd United loss came at Anfield, where a Dirk Kuyt hat trick secured a 3-1 home win. The referee that day was Phil Dowd. He was criticized by Ferguson for not sending Jamie Carragher off. In the very next United game Dowd refereed, he gave them a penalty which secured a 1-1 draw at Blackburn and their 19th league title.

Giving United penalties in the very next game you referee them after having been criticized is a trend we’ll soon notice.

The final United loss of the 2010/11 season came at the Emirates, where Chris Foy refereed a 1-0 Arsenal win. It will come to no surprise to people to know that Foy was subsequently not assigned a United league game for, again, AN ENTIRE YEAR.

He did however referee 2 United games in the cups during that time. The first was in the Carling Cup against Crystal Palace. He awarded United a penalty. The second was at City in the FA Cup. United got a penalty and Vincent Kompany was sent off early in the game.

To resume, we’ve just analyzed what happened to the 4 referees that officiated United’s 4 league losses in the 2010/11 season. 2 of them were not given any more United league games for a full year (Atkinson and Foy), a third for 9 months (Oliver). 2 of those referees gave United penalties in the very next game (Foy and Dowd) they took charge of and one refused to give a blatant one to the opponents (Oliver). Martin Atkinson, was not given premier league games to officiate for an entire month and assigned to 3 lower league games.

I also looked at Mike Jones after prompting from the comments board. Jones refereed the 1-1 home draw with Newcastle last season and falsely awarded Demba Ba a penalty.

Subsequently, Jones was not given a single football game, at ANY level, to referee for an entire month. The next United game he was handed came a few months later, the 2-0 home win against Stoke which saw… You guessed it: 2 penalties awarded to Manchester United which, according to reports, were “very soft”.

How about Mark Halsey? Well, when he gave WBA a debatable penalty in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in May 2005 it was his 5th United game that season. He then also went an ENTIRE YEAR without being given any United games to referee. From 5 games in a season to none for a year. His
record since then? He’s refereed 11 Man Utd games which have seen 11 United wins: the latest coming at Anfield, where 3 controversial decisions went the away team’s way.

In terms of trends, considering what we discovered about Alan Wiley and Mark Clattenburg (whose record with no United games to referee now stands at 36 league games since he took charge of the 6-1 home loss to City), there’s enough to make you wonder what exactly is going on in the
referee selection process. It also ties in perfectly with ex referee Jeff Winter's comments about The FA being reticent to assign United games to referees Ferguson has criticized in the past.

The whole world revolves around incentives and punishment. From a young age, kids are brought up that way. Positive and negative reinforcement are at the very core of child psychology. You can’t blame people who are well aware of the punishment awaiting them (through the form of demotions
and suspension from future United games) if they’d rather go for the safe option of keeping Ferguson happy.

I don’t blame the referees.

The people I blame are the ones that are letting this happen. The media who have not uttered a peep or written a single article about this for 2 decades. The FA who run the game in this country and have allowed this situation to fester. The clubs who see no issue with having David Gill, United's CEO, on the board of the FA. And of course, the PGMOB: the people who regulate officiating in England

The person at the head of the PGMOB and who is in charge of selecting which referee gets handed which game is Mike Riley, an ex professional referee who is most famous for giving a penalty for a clear dive by Wayne Rooney in the 2004 Man United 2-0 win against Arsenal which ended the
Gunners 49 game unbeaten streak.

Riley was accused of pro United favoritism throughout his career. For younger readers, he’s my generation’s Howard Webb.

According to the Guardian’s research, which goes to back to the beginning of the 1997-98 season until 2004, “Riley refereed 23 United games in all competitions and gave 12 penalties for United in that time, but only three against them. And he has sent off five of United's opponents.

At Old Trafford, Riley's record is weighted even more heavily in favor of United: He gave 10 penalties in the 14 games he officiated to the home side, Manchester United.”

Riley’s bias was so suspected than when was awarded the Everton vs Man Utd FA Cup semi final to officiate in 2009, David Moyes actually called for an investigation on whether Riley was a United supporter.

This is the man who now decides which premier league games to assign to referees.

Add that to everything we’ve found out: the year long waits for referees who take charge of United losses to be given another United game to officiate, the penalties that are given to United in said
referees next United games, the punishment for making mistakes that cost United points (Atkinson’s month long suspension from premier league games, Jones’ 1 month suspension from ALL PROFESSIONAL games), the comments from ex referee Jeff Winter (see my previous post), the fact that 18% of Howard Webb’s career penalties have gone to Manchester United,the retirement of Alain Wiley after being called unfit by Alex Ferguson and, of course, the presence of David Gill inside the FA and surely there’s enough there for some investigative journalist in the UK to actually look more into this.

If only to put the millions of football fans’ across the world’s minds at ease.

Because we could all be wrong and all of this may just be a set of freakish coincidences. Maybe English football is squeaky clean like they make us believe and the referee selection process is completely unbiased.

Maybe we’re just paranoid…

Or maybe not… Chris Foy failed to give Manchester United a penalty in their 3-2 loss to Spurs last Saturday. The PGMOB have not handed Foy a Premier League game to referee next weekend: instead, he will referee in League 2 for the first time in more than 4 years.

Mike Jones meanwhile, who missed a blatant penalty on Luis Suarez at Norwich, will take charge of West Brom vs QPR in the Premier League. Finally, Howard Webb (who sent off Jordi Gomez on Saturday; a red card today rescinded by the FA) will take charge of Newcastle’s home game against…Manchester United.

Why did Foy’s errors on Saturday lead to his demotion to the lowest professional league in England while Webb’s and Jones’ mistakes didn’t cost them?

I guess we all know the answer to that question…

I would answer that but get accused of being a rag lover so will not,but just for a bit of balance people should look at what happened in the 2004/5 season.Roman must have dug deep that year.

[Beefymcfc]

I would answer that but get accused of being a rag lover so will not,but just for a bit of balance people should look at what happened in the 2004/5 season.Roman must have dug deep that year.

Why not answer it Raggers, if you've got a comment on it then let us know, afterall, that's what we are here for.

[Tokyo Blue]

Aye, I like seeing the different points of view on here.

[Beefymcfc]

Aye, I like seeing the different points of view on here.

It's what it's all about.

Those blogs do have a lot to say, the only thing I'd say is that they don't give the other side. Do other refereeing stats state the opposite?

[Rag_hater]

Aye, I like seeing the different points of view on here.

It's what it's all about.

Those blogs do have a lot to say, the only thing I'd say is that they don't give the other side. Do other refereeing stats state the opposite?

You can't say that makes you a rag,I've always thought there are a few sides to an argument but I'm wrong as usual.

[mr_nool]

A quick comparison (not an in depth one).

City defeats during the 2011-2012 Premier League season:

1) 12.12.2011, Chelsea, Clattenburg. Next City game, 3.3.2012
2) 1.1.2012, Sunderland, Friend. No City games since
3) 31.1.2012, Everton, Walton. No City games since, retired this season
4) 11.3.2012, Swansea, Mason. Next City game, 11.4.2012
5) 8.4.2012, Arsenal, Atkinson. No City games since

Hardly conclusive, it'd take much more data to do a proper comparison. One problem is that you need to compare to other teams with very few defeats per season.

[Swales4ever]

Can we all stop moaning, please?

I think, after today HOME game, it's fair to say that thr Rules have been amended to read: "Kicking a Blues' leg is not deemed to be a faul": so well done Lee Probert, perfect direction.

[zuricity]

Can we all stop moaning, please?

I think, after today HOME game, it's fair to say that thr Rules have been amended to read: "Kicking a Blues' leg is not deemed to be a faul": so well done Lee Probert, perfect direction.

Eric Hobsbawn died earlier last week at the tender age of 96. Considered one of Britains finest Historians, Eric, born in Egypt of mixed Jewish families, was British by birth, grew up in pre War (ww2) Vienna and Berlin , before moving to England to study at Cambridge.

Being a life long Communist of the marxist philosophy( Karl and not Groucho !), his particular skills for accurate, concise , yet interesting explanation of events, belied his political persuasion.

He was reknowned for the accuracy of his analysis of events and their background.

It is indeed a shame that he never got around to completing his trilogy on footballl in the PL , whisky and media manipulation . I'm sure it would have ( note that ashton), sold by the thousand on Amazon.com.

On a serious note, this topic is worth keeping upto date :-)

[Foreverinbluedreams]

In the interest of balance here's a blog piece from The Times from last week:

The conspiracy theorists are out in force this week. Chris Foy, after refusing to give Manchester United a penalty at Old Trafford last weekend, finds himself in npower League Two for the Accrington Stanley v Rochdale match.

That'll teach him for crossing Alex Ferguson. Except...

The reality is different. The evil empire of the Govan gang boss has not struck again. As much as we'd all love to imagine Ferguson as leader of the lizard people, manipulating world events from a cave below Carrington, it's just not right.

The selection of referees is decided six weeks in advance and takes in many factors. It's affected by international matches, Uefa's competitions, domestic cups. Sometimes it needs to be shuffled about at the last minute because of injuries. Foy was given this game back in August.

Ah, but the statistics scream out that this is a lie, you say. Well let's look at some stats.
 
Every referee does between five and ten Football League matches in a season. Only the three elite officials - Howard Webb, Mark Clattenburg and Martin Atkinson - do fewer. Last season, Foy did seven lower-level games, including two League One matches.

So far this season, nine of the 16 Select Group of officials have taken charge of a Football League contest. League Two gets to see less of the Select Group than the divisions above, but last season it was graced by members of the Select Group 12 times. Kevin Friend, Mark Halsey, Mike Jones, Neil Swarbrick and Jon Moss went straight from a top-flight game to a fourth-tier match in the space of a week.

Ah, you say, what about Clattenburg? In charge of the 6-1 defeat by Manchester City and never seen again. At least not at a United game. At least not for 36 league matches.

The problem with this is that Clattenburg has not taken charge of Liverpool for 40 league games. Or Arsenal for 36. Or does the malign reach of  Ferguson go farther than we all imagined?

Before we all tie ourselves in knots, let's state a few simple truths:
United do benefit from refereeing decisions more than most
It is difficult to get a penalty at Old Trafford if you're not wearing a red shirt
United do have more power than most clubs in football
So let's address these issues. Home teams get more decisions from referees. Home teams with big crowds tend to do even better. It's simple psychology. Plus, when you have a lot of the ball and you camp out in the opposition half, you draw fouls. It used to happen at Anfield in the 1980s. It happened at Highbury around the millennium.
 
But why don't opposition teams get penalties at Old Trafford? For the same reason they don't score that many against United. They don't get into the home side's penalty area that often. It's the same reason why few teams win there.

The most interesting point, though, is United's political power. They are masters of back-room machinations. At one disciplinary session, the other club involved received polite but cursory greetings from the FA bigwigs involved. Enter Ferguson and the mood changed. The treatment the United delegation received was different. It was like a reunion of old friends and after the backslapping there was a scramble to make sure Ferguson was comfortable, that he had a hot drink and everything he needed. "I knew we'd lose then," a representative of the other club said. And they did.

But again, there's no conspiracy. Ferguson has status and respect for two reasons: longevity and success. United's success in the boardrooms is built on more than the manager, though.

When United play away games, David Gill, Sir Bobby Charlton and other high-ranking officials often attend. They glad-hand, they schmooze, they are humble in victory and generous in defeat. They make friends. It's networking at its best. United know how to negotiate the corridors of power, from the most ramshackle ground in the league to the G14 table.

Doesn't everyone do that? 

No. Carlo Ancelotti was shocked to find that at some Chelsea away games he was the most senior club official in the stadium. A former manager of another club who were once on the wrong end of a set-to with United complained that his sole boardroom representative at away games was unable work the room like United's charm squad.

For all the spit-flying, hairdrying image that Ferguson likes to project, United know how to win friends and influence people. And they do.

So yes, United probably have more pull with the FA, Premier League, Uefa, Fifa, the Pope and God than your club. But they're not in the business of getting Foy, or any other referee blacklisted.
 
No conspiracy this time, sadly, just a quirk of the refereeing calender. But make no mistake. Powerful clubs flex their muscles whenever they can. And they don't come more powerful than United.

Enough about football. Let's talk about beer. I'm going to end my blogs from now on with my beer of the moment. This week, go to any lengths to find Dark Star's Green Hopped IPA. All Dark Star's beer's are worth finding and drinking but this is something special. It's 6.5% and has a hop attack that'll disable the mouth of a cooking-lager drinker. It's mostly found in the south of England so if you're at an away game down there, hunt it out. It's seasonal so do it quick. You'll enjoy it.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/foo ... Id=Blog0...

[Foreverinbluedreams]

@Raghater, I'm sure you'll like the above piece. The issue I have with your argument is that you seem completely unwilling to accept the possibility that there can be corruption or bias in football in England. You label people as "paras" and "liars" for suggesting there may be or for raising questions based on facts. I would suggest you need to open your mind to both sides of the argument instead of dismissing one side and insulting others that don't share your view.

[Rag_hater]

In the interest of balance here's a blog piece from The Times from last week:

The conspiracy theorists are out in force this week. Chris Foy, after refusing to give Manchester United a penalty at Old Trafford last weekend, finds himself in npower League Two for the Accrington Stanley v Rochdale match.

That'll teach him for crossing Alex Ferguson. Except...

The reality is different. The evil empire of the Govan gang boss has not struck again. As much as we'd all love to imagine Ferguson as leader of the lizard people, manipulating world events from a cave below Carrington, it's just not right.

The selection of referees is decided six weeks in advance and takes in many factors. It's affected by international matches, Uefa's competitions, domestic cups. Sometimes it needs to be shuffled about at the last minute because of injuries. Foy was given this game back in August.

Ah, but the statistics scream out that this is a lie, you say. Well let's look at some stats.

Every referee does between five and ten Football League matches in a season. Only the three elite officials - Howard Webb, Mark Clattenburg and Martin Atkinson - do fewer. Last season, Foy did seven lower-level games, including two League One matches.

So far this season, nine of the 16 Select Group of officials have taken charge of a Football League contest. League Two gets to see less of the Select Group than the divisions above, but last season it was graced by members of the Select Group 12 times. Kevin Friend, Mark Halsey, Mike Jones, Neil Swarbrick and Jon Moss went straight from a top-flight game to a fourth-tier match in the space of a week.

Ah, you say, what about Clattenburg? In charge of the 6-1 defeat by Manchester City and never seen again. At least not at a United game. At least not for 36 league matches.

The problem with this is that Clattenburg has not taken charge of Liverpool for 40 league games. Or Arsenal for 36. Or does the malign reach of Ferguson go farther than we all imagined?

Before we all tie ourselves in knots, let's state a few simple truths:
United do benefit from refereeing decisions more than most
It is difficult to get a penalty at Old Trafford if you're not wearing a red shirt
United do have more power than most clubs in football
So let's address these issues. Home teams get more decisions from referees. Home teams with big crowds tend to do even better. It's simple psychology. Plus, when you have a lot of the ball and you camp out in the opposition half, you draw fouls. It used to happen at Anfield in the 1980s. It happened at Highbury around the millennium.

But why don't opposition teams get penalties at Old Trafford? For the same reason they don't score that many against United. They don't get into the home side's penalty area that often. It's the same reason why few teams win there.

The most interesting point, though, is United's political power. They are masters of back-room machinations. At one disciplinary session, the other club involved received polite but cursory greetings from the FA bigwigs involved. Enter Ferguson and the mood changed. The treatment the United delegation received was different. It was like a reunion of old friends and after the backslapping there was a scramble to make sure Ferguson was comfortable, that he had a hot drink and everything he needed. "I knew we'd lose then," a representative of the other club said. And they did.

But again, there's no conspiracy. Ferguson has status and respect for two reasons: longevity and success. United's success in the boardrooms is built on more than the manager, though.

When United play away games, David Gill, Sir Bobby Charlton and other high-ranking officials often attend. They glad-hand, they schmooze, they are humble in victory and generous in defeat. They make friends. It's networking at its best. United know how to negotiate the corridors of power, from the most ramshackle ground in the league to the G14 table.

Doesn't everyone do that?

No. Carlo Ancelotti was shocked to find that at some Chelsea away games he was the most senior club official in the stadium. A former manager of another club who were once on the wrong end of a set-to with United complained that his sole boardroom representative at away games was unable work the room like United's charm squad.

For all the spit-flying, hairdrying image that Ferguson likes to project, United know how to win friends and influence people. And they do.

So yes, United probably have more pull with the FA, Premier League, Uefa, Fifa, the Pope and God than your club. But they're not in the business of getting Foy, or any other referee blacklisted.

No conspiracy this time, sadly, just a quirk of the refereeing calender. But make no mistake. Powerful clubs flex their muscles whenever they can. And they don't come more powerful than United.

Enough about football. Let's talk about beer. I'm going to end my blogs from now on with my beer of the moment. This week, go to any lengths to find Dark Star's Green Hopped IPA. All Dark Star's beer's are worth finding and drinking but this is something special. It's 6.5% and has a hop attack that'll disable the mouth of a cooking-lager drinker. It's mostly found in the south of England so if you're at an away game down there, hunt it out. It's seasonal so do it quick. You'll enjoy it.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/foo ... Id=Blog0...

Rag Lover:)

@Raghater, I'm sure you'll like the above piece. The issue I have with your argument is that you seem completely unwilling to accept the possibility that there can be corruption or bias in football in England. You label people as "paras" and "liars" for suggesting there may be or for raising questions based on facts. I would suggest you need to open your mind to both sides of the argument instead of dismissing one side and insulting others that don't share your view.

I have said a few times I think the EPL is bent but not biassed agin us.But the paras ignore that so C'est la vie.

[johnny crossan]

Is it a seasonal thing?

I've read more shite on here over the last few days than I have in the previous five years.

Teams lying down for united, managers doing bacon 'favours', bent refs, bent fixture lists, bent PL, teams raising their agsinst us, the refs under instruction to keep the league interesting etc etc.

Get a fucking grip.

I've never heard anything like it. It's cringeworthy.

you need to understand it's a moveable hate agenda driven by fear - from the Sheikh to Mancini to Cook to Tevez to Balotelli - same haters just moving through the gears.

[Dronny]

With the decline of the rag empire one thing will become immutable, they will lose more games, more decisions will be "given" against them and therefore one of two things will happen a) The FA will have to increase the amount of elite refs b) the scum will have to put up with ref's they deem unacceptable more often.

[Tokyo Blue]

So if this times bloke is correct, and I am far from admitting he is, can someone explain why we get 70% possession and 40% of the free kicks?