Well, well… Just when I was readying the torches and pitchforks after Manuel Pellegrini blamed Manchester City’s loss on Sweden, Martin Demichelis comes out with this: I think Demichelis was put in an impossible position, and he’s just not strong enough to cover Lionel Messi. But I do admire him for accepting responsibility and not taking the child’s way out
Read more
The referees for this week’s Europa League matches are finally out, and there are lots of new faces! Couple of interesting notes: England’s Martin Atkinson will referee Dynamo Kyiv v. Valencia, making him the only English referee to have a European match so far. Howard Webb and Mark Clattenburg have to still be in the running for Champions League matches
Read more
Well, well. It seems that the four upcoming Champions League matches this week (February 18 and 19) are a showcase for the Gods of Refereeing. You can’t get much better than this week’s choices. On Tuesday, there’s Jonas Eriksson of Sweden and Viktor Kassai of Hungary, both consistently excellent referees. On Wednesday, you have: Yes, that’s right, Mr. Smooth is
Read more
I always know I’m in for a treat when I come home from the movies, check my blog’s stats and find the search term: “Is Howard Webb a cheat?” This is obviously about the Arsenal v. Liverpool match in the FA Cup Fifth Round. Webb was the referee, and he had plenty to deal with, including Raheem Sterling pushing him
Read more
I wasn’t going to post this, because it’s old. But I’m sick to bloody death of talking about Andy Bloody Carroll, and I figured we could all use a bit of a laugh. So I give to you this cute video of Mark Clattenburg forgetting his cards, and then forgetting who he was going to card in the first place.
Read more
The match of the week is obviously the Lazio v. Roma derby. The third best referee in Italy will be in the middle: Daniele Orsato (above). Personally, I like Orsato. Good man manager, solid positioning, all around nice guy. (I actually don’t know that; he could be completely insufferable, for all I know.) I mean, he’s no Nicola Rizzoli, but then,
Read more
The super-secret Tribunal (which is what I guess they decided to call themselves), convened to hear West Ham’s argument that Andy Carroll should not be suspended, has agreed with the FA. Carroll’s suspension begins immediately. News is dripping out about this arbitration Tribunal, but apparently both West Ham and the referees (whether represented by FA, PGMOL or Prospect, I haven’t been
Read more
FA have granted Andy Carroll and West Ham an ‘arbitration hearing‘ before their fixture with Aston Villa. This will presumably happen today, since it’s the last business day before the weekend’s matches. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock: Carroll was red carded by Howard Webb last weekend for hitting Chico Flores in the head with his arm. Flores overacted,
Read more
Read Part One To understand why West Ham’s recent challenge failed, and Tottenham’s didn’t, we first need to understand two fundamental facts about the Wrongful Dismissal process: the Independent Regulatory Commission’s role and “obvious error.” Role of the Regulatory Commission In the FA’s official communication about Wrongful Dismissals, the Regulatory Commission’s role is defined as such: So, when clubs or
Read more
In the space of about a week and a half, we’ve had two big red card appeals in the Premier League. In both cases, the clubs exercised their right to challenge a sending off before an ‘Independent Regulatory Commission’, in hopes of getting the automatic suspension of 1-3 games rescinded. Tottenham appealed Danny Rose’s one-game suspension for taking down Manchester
Read more
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 