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Corruption or big team bias

Furey1878 said:
I'm pretty sure there is corruption on a boardroom level at the prem but doubt that spills over into directives given to referees. With the refs themselves, it's a combo of some conscious bias, some unconscious bias but mostly abject incompetence.

The day the prem outsource refereeing to foreign refs I will rejoice.
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You'd think so, but most foreign refs will 100% have a bias towards the internationally-famous teams.
 
Firhillfill said:
Possibly so, which is what I hinted towards. What's your view?
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I've done my job for a long time and I'm really good at what I do (as I should be).

Football referees have also been through the 'learning process' and should be more than competent. There is, in my view, no reason why 'en masse' they can be accused of being 'grossly incompetent' unless there is something else at play. Especially given that you don't hear fans of rugby, cricket, snooker, et al accusing officials of the same thing.

Just listen to ex-referee Dermot Gallagher. A push in the back against a 'Sky darling team' in the penalty box is, without any discussion, a penalty. If it's not a 'Sky darling team' it is 'a coming together' or 'it is the referee using his common sense' or 'we don't want to see penalties given for that' or 'there wasn't enough pressure on the back'.

Doctors are not accused of being 'en masse' 'grossly incompetent'. Likewise; lawyers, accountants, dentists, truck drivers, taxi drivers, shop workers, mechanics, etc.

I just think that it's all a bit wrong and is killing the game we love.
 
ClausThomsen said:
The 'corruption' changes every year seemingly.

We were told that They do everything possible to protect the Big 4, then it was the Big 5 before becoming the Sky 6 and then when another team crashes that party, which happens very often, we're told that's also part of the conspiracy despite going against the absolute basics of the conspiracy.

Is City's poor run of form exempt from this conspiracy of corruption? Or has their protection now been stripped away due to the PL charges? Why this season though and not last? Though the charges don't make much sense given the protection this conspiracy supposedly affords them.

Not exactly tripping over themselves to help out Utd either are they? And they really need to up their game to accommodate the Saudi lads at Newcastle.

Or could it be that fan bias and tribalism is probably easier to see than the corruption that everyone can see? There are mistakes certainly and inconsistencies but they are common human traits and not necessarily indicators of blatant corruption. Every club in the land seems to have sizeable numbers of fans convinced that the PL are against them....even the RS.
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I agree and disagree with you. Sometimes refs are just inept, so in league cup semi final against City, Mirallas volleyed their player in box at GP, clear penalty. Second leg, they get a goal when the ball was out of play, some would say cliche, things were evened out. Arsenal should of got a blatant pen in 16/17 season at GP, Barkley should of been off in derby, we got a penalty a year later at Anfield, that RS will say was soft. However Arsenal being given a goal last season, when you had a blatant handball in build up, when even Rodri knew it was a penalty and Clattenburg performance suggest corruption is prevalent in certain games. Rodris handball was used by both Evertonians and RS as an example of corruption, yet RS only cared because it affected them. Would it of received major media attention if it didn't stop Liverpool winning title?
 
To some extent, but big teams attack more, put their opponents under pressure more, create more opportunities and ask more questions of the Ref.

It’s a percentage game.
If you burst into the oppositions box 20 times a game against panicked, less talented defenders, you are likely to get more pens than if you get into the box twice against works class defenders who are comfortable in their system.
 

I think the bigger problem is the players. There is so much cheating going on that it is almost impossible for refs to get the right call every time.

The ball came of me last but I will loudly demand it should be my throw in.

Free kick - nope I will remain less than 2 yards away from the ball.

Someone breathed near me - I will pretend I have been shot.

Someone trying to run past me - I will hold their shirt

Goalie allowed to hold the ball for 6 seconds - meh, I will take 20 seconds.

How is a ref meant to get the right decision every time when all 22 players are constantly cheating?
 
MrGrumpy said:
Don’t think it’s bias I think it’s more fixed than anything, how often do you see the RS/Arsenal/City get a player sent off or a penalty against? Very very rare to rare in fact, how often do you see offside calls go there way?

They added VAR which was meant to give the right decision but it doesn’t it’s just as fixed as the rest of it. Then you have pundits who all back the “big teams” who back up said dodgy reffing decisions that go for their team and make a massive deal against the very few that don’t
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I think it’s poor decisions and some due to pressure but not for a second do I think it’s fixing
 
it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that referees are intimidated by the blow back from media they get for getting decisions against the big clubs wrong. Social media goes into overload, newspapers and sky sports go into details with it. Best just letting it ride and no one mentions it again.

I also think it’s more suspicious that no referee has ever been caught cheating or taking bungs in the English football history. If clubs aren’t approaching them, betting syndicates surely are.

Third thing was that Mike Dean tranmere celebration. Surely that was staged, only seen once, and then starts getting the Derby games.
 

I once reffed a game and was told I was being lenient towards a 6'4" player I'd had a non football-related issue with the week before. The truth was I didn't think it was a foul. These days the tackled player would have gone down as if shot with an elephant gun and VAR would have recommended a red card, but that says more about how officiating has changed since VAR.

You can't rule out the effect of a rabid crowd, or a ref wanting to grandstand, but I'd like to think there's no deliberate bias.
 
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TyphooToffee said:
I once reffed a game and was told I was being lenient towards a 6'4" player I'd had a non football-related issue with the week before. The truth was I didn't think it was a foul. These days the tackled player would have gone down as if shot with an elephant gun and VAR would have recommended a red card, but that says more about how officiating has changed since VAR.

You can't rule out the effect of a rabid crowd, or a ref wanting to grandstand, but I'd like to think there's no deliberate bias.
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Exactly
 
Forever there has been “home” refs and “biased” decisions. Sometimes just opinions from biased fans themselves.

However, no one will convince me that Clive Thomas did not make a biased decision, that Collina was not corrupt against us, Clattenberg was not unduly influenced by Gerrard and that penalties against RS and City at Goodison were not unfairly and corruptly not given.
 

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