I've just watched a rather good football match between my team, Tottenham, and the best British side of the last 20 years, Manchester United. United took a lead in the first half and looked likely to win until a literally last minute equaliser from Tottenham took the gloss off of their day. Given the overall run of play, I think, admittedly I may be biased, that a draw was a fair result. Tottenham played surprisingly well and took the game to United for most of the time, though their finishing was lacking and their defence was a little suspect at times. Nonetheless, it was probably the Manchester goal keeper who kept the visitors in the game with several fine, if eccentric, saves, while the Tottenham goal minder was rarely troubled.
During the match there were a few debatable decisions by the officials as there usually are. However, trust Alex Ferguson to bring them up in his post-match interview on 'Sky'; at least, he brought up the ones that went against his team. Ferguson berated, politely for a change, the officials who had failed to see a host of offences against his side, while blatantly ignoring those committed by his own players. For my money, one blatant foul by Patrice Evra on Aaron Lennon should have seen the offender dismissed from the pitch but ....................... .
Ferguson regularly tells the world what he thinks about referees, surely in an attempt to intimidate them. Even if it's not his overt intention, it is the consequence of his words and there can be few referees or linesmen (or assistant referees, as I believe they're now called) who will be unaware when they're officiating at a 'Fergie' match. The subliminal pressure applied to these officials is impossible to see or measure, but it's there and undoubtedly effective.
Why is it that football managers are not only allowed but encouraged to publicly criticise the performance of match officials ? In any sane world, such criticism would be confined to post-match discussion with the official authorities but, of course, top-flight football is not played in a sane world. It is played in 'Fergie World', where cheating and intimidation are not only second nature but are encouraged and even coached. While I'm pleased that my team didn't lose the match, I'm less than sure that I didn't lose something simply by watching and cheering my bunch of cheats against another bunch.
It really is time that someone sat on 'Fergie' and his ilk and did something to turn football back into a decent sport.
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