We have all spoken out about our misfortune at the hands of inconsistent refereeing and cheating opponents but, have not really tackled who exactly are to blame. Prior to nancy boys Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham, English football were reknowned for physicality, then came the one and only Alex Ferguson screaming at the FA and referees for his players to be protected.
After a while he encouraged Arsene Wenger to follow, is there any wonder referees are being forced to take hard line action by the FA. Why is it that clubs like United and Liverpool have never fallen foul to months of inconsistency by referees and the Football Association?
I am not going to make any excsues for referees, they are often easily manipulated by players and crack under pressure to follow up with silly decisions and mistakes but, Ferguson has opened up a pandora's box and now we have the FA and referees coming down on footballers like a ton of bricks while certain lying and cheating players take advantage.
OK United and Pool have been told off on the odd occasion, had a player banned when there were no other choice but, I will question the bigger picture with one name. Roy Keane. Once the roughest and dirtiest player to ever grace the Premier League, allowed to get away with blue murder week in, week out even crippling opponents at times. Vincent Kompany gets red carded for winning the ball fair and square and without hurting anyone, Balotelli gets banned for an accident after the referee lied with TV footage to prove it.
Patrick Vieira was right when saying our game is open to falling victim to extreme inconsistency, which in turn could get ugly in more ways than one.
Bernstein in my opinion is guilty of using Manchester City to make a personal statement, after years of employment by Manchester City FC you would think he would be professional enough to do the right thing.
He backed Vincent Kompany's four game ban for a red card against United in the FA Cup derby when scumbag Wayne Rooney clearly encouraged the referee to send Kompany off, worse challenges went unpunished including Glen Johnson’s two-footed tackle a few days after.
How many times has Wayne Rooney actually been caught diving after no contact from any opposing player and were only given a yellow card or worse even, told to just get up and play by the referee?. There is plenty of footage on sites like Youtube to prove my point.
Also Bernstein chose to back the FA in punishing Mario Balotelli for four matches, while other players of other clubs escape punishment for far more dangerous incidents. To top that the referee in question lied to the FA when stating that if he saw the incident he would have sent the player off, TV footage showed that he saw the whole incident proving he lied.
To add we also lost Gareth Barry after he received two pathetic yellow cards against Liverpool, While Charlie Adam, Skrtyl and Agger were continuously allowed to get away with far more serious incidents.
The inconsistency did not stop there and I would not be surprised if it carries on right up until the end of the season or beyond even. As far as I am concerned Bernstein has used us to stamp his authority and make a statement that he has no loyalty what so ever, no one is asking for favouritism, just to be treated equally but then that has never even existed in the English top flight anyway come to think of it.
I may rile the odd Bernstein fan but so be it, he only has himself to blame by joining the bias FA rather than reform and create consistant equality.
Good luck at Villa lads, bring home the win for us!
totally agree with your comments . i wanted to say the F A is corrupt but just like the banks are run by people who have never worked in a bank the F A is run by people who have never kicked a ball in their life hence the strange decisions ?
ReplyDeleteBang on that. we just get accused of being conspiracy theorists but the evidence continues to mount higher and higher every season. No one including the FA wants us to win the league and upset the apple cart.
ReplyDeleteHave you got any evidence that Bernstein is personally involved in any of the decisions that you've attributed to him?
ReplyDeleteYes I do!
DeleteFA Vice Chair and Premier League Chair Sir Dave Richards was the guy that had Lord Triesman kicked out of the FA because Triesman wanted change.
FA Chief Executive, David Gill of Manchester United supported Richards and continues to support Richards, these two are the main men at the FA which says it all.
Bernstein had the position and power to force and enforce change over them but he just messed the only chance he had in favour of his own gain at the expense of Manchester City.
Now he will not get another chance because what happened to Triesman will undoubtedly happen to him later on whereas, if he acted now they would not have been able to oust him so early on for fear of undermining themselves.
Whilst i agree with most of what you say, i do feel your not looking at the whole picture, yes i am a city die hard, yes i am a sir HB fan, purely as he was our chairman for a number of years. I do feel Sir HB is in a very difficult position, as in if he did back us in the relevant decisions made over the last couple of months, then he would only be accused of massive bias towards us from millions of fans up and down the country, especially from rags and reds alike, along with the rest etc. Maybe easier to take flack from say 20,000 city fans or millions of other football fans then demanding his head for bias towards city. I do not believe he would have wanted to rubber stamp the charges against us, but i really dont see what he could have done.
ReplyDeleteSir HB has done a great job for city in the past, not only that but also for the council of manchester and still strives to better things even in the well known CORRUPT FA, at least give him some time to try to change the corruption amoungst the FA before we bull dose him all over london.
Caught between a rock and hard place i think for Sir HB.
I understand your point and where your coming from, but please read reply to above comment.
DeleteBy the way it is David Bernstein, not Howard.
Human error only seems to work against City and in favour of our opponents since December, our players are now afraid to tackle unlike our rivals who are called 'tigerish...brave...fortunate' ect. Contrast this with United getting the majority of key calls going their way when they really need them. As this is their 20th year at it on tour again people are more accepting of the injustices. No-one questions the BLATANT bias among the referees, the FA or the media. They NEVER comment on the facts like why they are less likely to concede penalties at home than us year on year or why they continuously average more extra time than any English team only when losing or drawing. How have we managed 6 reds this season? I can't remember one that was deserved based on the same games tackles that were not quite controversial enough to recommend a trial by media. Mario being a prime example, maybe they are terrified of what he can do, FFS let the guy play and stop judging his fake reputation rather than the game! Our foul counts this season have been an absolute joke. WE ARE NOT A DIRTY TEAM.
ReplyDeleteI presume HB is Howard Bernstein who is leader of Manchester City Council, David Bernstein is our ex-chairman and chairman of the FA, to avoid more confusion there was a Leonard Beirnstein he was a composer.
ReplyDeleteI did wonder who Dopeeze was referring too, considering like you say ours were David but I understood where he was going.
DeleteCourage or lack of it, is the problem. Chris Foy did what he was told to by Rooney. When will referees have the courage to tell him to shut up during a match. I am sure that if other players chirped at the referee as much as he does a yellow card would be shown. Howard Webb took the cowardly way out with the Balotelli incident. City have had the rough end of the stick for most of last season and all of this. My daughter who is a rag agrees with my views.
ReplyDeletehere's the image of the "handshake" that the media isn't showing you:
ReplyDeletehttp://i43.tinypic.com/30awfow.png
[look at the direction of the head & hand now cameron can join in & use it as a political weapon]
on a side note, ferguson is a whisky drinker, to get your nose to deform to such a degree where it is swollen, red & pitted takes a constant & massive amount of whisky on a daily basis, I live in scotland & see it everyday
how can anyone's judgement be counted if under such influence? would you take it from a dr? police? lawyer? judge? [ok not good examples as those industries are full of the sozzelled]
Prince William should demand reform of the FA, he is the damn president after all.
DeleteDavid Gill should be kicked out of the FA as well as Dave Richards, on that note Blue I find some of your articles very eye opening so good job and thanks for your insight.