It doesn’t take much to wind up the average football fan these days. The average football fan (a long suffering male who enjoys beer and has delusions of grandeur for his team of overpaid primadonnas) is drawn to controversial issues like a moth to the proverbial flame. There is little doubt then that the events of the weekend past will have left a lot of fans more than a little wound up.
First off Old Trafford. Following on from Arsene Wenger’s quite reasonable assessment of the ‘Old Traffordish’ penalty given against his side two weeks ago, there was the reappearance of OTT. No, not ‘Over The Top’ but in fact ‘Old Trafford Time’. Quite simply it requires officials to add on as much time as needed for United to score a winner. Occasionally it gets ignored so ‘shock’ results such as happened at Burnley recently lend an air of legitimacy to ‘the greatest league in the world’. However, over a season it crops up a few times and it also extends to awarding/denying non-existent/tied-on penalties to United/visiting teams.
Those who saw the game will know what went on. Mark Hughes quite rightly questioned where the extra time came from. While Lineker and Co attempted to gloss it over on MOTD 2, many fans were left wondering how 90+4 became 90+6. Substitutions account for 30 seconds extra and Carrick came on for Anderson during injury time. That adds an additional 30 seconds extra. The time it took Manchester City to celebrate their 90th minute equaliser however should not have been added. If that were the case then there would have 4 added minutes at Upton Park prior to half time to allow for goal celebrations in the first half. And that most certainly did not happen.
The fact that United outplayed City for almost the entire 2nd half is inconsequential. Rio Ferdinand made a schoolboy error which was duly punished and Ferguson was facing points dropped followed by a lot of egg on his face after his pre-match sleights at City. But that reckoned without OTT and the special interpretation of refs in United games. Law 7 of the referee’s rules states that added on time (officially ‘Allowance for time lost’) can be allowed for substitutions, injuries and treatment, time wasting and ‘any other cause’. Crucially though it also states that allowance for time lost is ‘at the discretion of the official’. Whether that discretion is entirely impartial is now very much open to debate.
Not all referees lack the ability to be punctual though. Carlton Cole had a perfectly good goal struck off a couple of weeks ago because Alan Wiley blew for half time as he was striking the ball and not after it entered the net. That was on the stroke of half time. He didn’t allow one second more to elapse or the phase of play to be concluded before he whistled for halftime thereby ruling out a perfectly good goal. But that was West Ham and that was at Wigan. And they aren’t ‘big’ clubs so who really cares?
So on to Stamford Bridge and the other big controversy of the weekend. Spurs were a goal down. King had just hobbled off. They were not, however, out of the game. Lennon dinked a ball into Defoe which was cleverly turned on to Keane who raced toward goal. As he shaped to pull the trigger his heel was clipped by Carvalho. All eyes turned to Webb who steadfastly stonewalled all appeals and waved play on. But Keane, livid at the injustice, raced after Webb imploring him to book him. After all if it wasn’t a penalty then it must have been a dive. And of course if it was a dive then it was booking. But Webb opted to do nothing at all and predictably Chelsea went on to punish the exasperated and increasingly threadbare Spurs defence. It’s not to say that Spurs would’ve drawn or even gone on to win the game, but goals do change games and momentum is a strange thing. But of course it wouldn’t do for the Premier League hierarchy to be upset. So Chelsea and Man Utd exit the weekend in first and 2nd, Spurs are back where they should be, out of the top 4, while Ferguson gets to classlessly mock City and balance is restored.
It is not as if these events are unique though. United’s first title under Ferguson was secured in dubious circumstances when a 96th minute Steve Bruce header finally broke Sheffield Wednesday back in 1994. Of course then it was a novelty and no-one could guess it would become a recurring theme. However, a 95th Carlos Tevez goal rescued a point at Tottenham two seasons ago proving that OTT is not just limited to Old Trafford. Just last season Spurs were 2-0 and effectively cruising at Old Trafford before a hilariously bad penalty was awarded against them. They folded horribly afterwards but the penalty was the catalyst United needed and they got. The ref that day? None other than that bastian of impartiality Howard Webb. And then of course there was an incident involving a Pedro Mendes shot that may or may not have crossed the line but that’s a whole other matter.
If these things happen once or twice they can just about be written off as freakish mistakes by incompetent morons. However, the regularity with which they occur (and the examples cited above are merely the tip of the iceberg – makes me think otherwise. I think everyone with an ounce of knowledge about football recognises that the game is a bit bent towards the big sides, either intentionally or simply through spineless inadequacy, but this weekend saw the most blatant examples of it to date and it makes me question whether it’s even worth watching at all.
