The Whole World's Watching

Please follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/DimmyBad and read 3 previous posts which will give you background on today's article here: http://diminbeirut.typepad.com/my-blog/corruption-and-influence-peddling-in-english-football/

It’s amazing how us “paranoids” keep managing to predict the future isn’t it?

Today, Manchester United beat Chelsea 3-2 at Stamford Bridge.

Not a single football fan across the world is talking about anything other than Mark Clattenburg’s refereeing performance in that game.

Readers of this blog will not have been surprised by the referee’s performance. They will have known exactly what to expect during that game today and even the most skeptical will surely be scratching their heads.

Clattenburg had gone 38 games without refereeing Manchester United. His previous United game was the 6-1 thrashing by rivals Man City at Old Trafford. He sent Johnny Evans off in a match that Alex Ferguson described as “the most embarrassing defeat of my career”.

For 38 games, Clattenburg was not handed a single United game to referee. Not a single league game, not a single cup game. That stat alone tells us nothing: he’s also gone a while without officiating Arsenal or Liverpool games. His performance today, however, tells us a great deal.

Clattenburg has now become the latest in an ever lengthening line of referees who have officiated a United loss, gone a long time without reffing them, then on their return give game changing decisions to Alex Ferguson’s side.

Like Chris Foy, who took charge of a United defeat and went a year without reffing United in the league. During that time, Foy reffed 2 United cup games, giving them penalties in both and sending off Vincent Kompany in one.

Like Phil Dowd, who reffed a United loss, then gave them a penalty in the next game he took charge of which earned United a draw and their 19th league title.

Like Mike Jones, who after falsely awarding Demba Ba a penalty at Old Trafford, gave United 2 penalties in 2-0 home win against Stoke during his subsequent visit to Old Trafford. The list is neverending.

I’m not going to keep repeating myself, all that info is in my 3 previous articles. Halsey, Atkinson, Wiley, Oliver, Webb… There’s enough there to at least make you think Man United are the world champions of coincidences.

The point is this:

Clattenburg sends a United player off in an embarrassing loss at home, and gets a 38 game absence from United games. Is there anyone out there who believes that after his performance at Stanford Bridge, he’ll go 38 games without taking charge of United again?

Anyone?

United fans keep commenting on these articles, telling people that all of this is just a coincidence.

They cite examples at other clubs, in other eras. I ask United fans the following:

Was today yet another coincidence? And if so, aren’t you just a tiny bit suspicious about the fact that these coincidences keep piling up?

Some people have asked why, when the facts are so blatant and suspicions so widely held by the entire global premier league fanbase, is nothing ever done?

England is a country where the powerful protect the powerful.

It’s a country where innocent people (the Guilford 4 and Birmingham 6) were put in jail for decades by authorities who knew they were innocent of the crimes they were convicted of.

England is a country where the truth is withheld from the general population, until the people implicated either die or retire.

The truth about Hillsborough was known 1 year after the event. It’s only 23 years later that the media has spread the information to the wider population. During that time, some key people that could have been convicted passed away. They were protected by other people in power. Meanwhile, the reputations of the deceased were tarnished, their deaths used as banter at football grounds by people either wholly let down by their country’s media or just spiteful.

For decades, Jimmy Savile was allowed to molest children and was protected by people in power. From the BBC, to the police, to the media and to God knows who else… They all played a role in making sure Savile was able to prey on his victims in peace. They made sure the truth would only come out after his death.

That’s England. It’s extremely similar to every single other country on earth. The politically powerful protect the politically powerful everywhere in the world. The media help facilitate this arrangement. Police forces, politicians,  big business, the press and other powerful people constantly work together in mutually beneficial arrangements.

Unlike other world citizens though, the English are sometimes shocked to discover this fact. All these instances I mentioned above came as a shock to the general population- whose trust in their institutions is unwavering.

The powerful protect the powerful. It’s a fact of life.

It’s how Lance Armstrong managed to cheat for so long without investigations. His acussers were called paranoid too and bullied too. Remind you of anyone?

Power talks.

There are very few men in the world more powerful than Rupert Murdoch, the man who finances the global juggernaut that is the premier league through Sky Tv. No man stands more to lose from any investigation into corruption in his cash cow. No newspapers in England are as powerful as his disgusting “The Sun”.

No man in football is more politically powerful than Alex Ferguson. This is a man who was awarded a knighthood on the recommendation of Tony Blair- who Ferguson helped during his 1997 campaign for prime minister. Read Allaistar Campbell’s diaries. It’s all there. Ferguson was constantly on the phone to Campbell asking what he could do to help.

As a reward, Ferguson got knighted. By the Queen of England. That was 13 years ago. God knows what other contacts he’s made during that time. And he didn't even have someone in the FA then.

No football club CEO in England is more powerful than Manchester United’s David Gill, who has now been promoted to VICE CHAIRMAN of the FA who also wants him as their member on Uefa’s executive committee.

And no man was more power in assigning and demoting referees than Mike Riley, the head of the PGMOB. A man whose allegiances to Man United were so suspect that David Moyes wanted him investigated. A man who was appointed a few months after Ferguson heavily criticized his predecessor.

Power protects power. But nothing will ever be done. This is England.

We all have to wait until Ferguson retires (or passes away) , a seismic change happens in the FA and PGMOB or for, by miracle, certain journalists grow some balls and actually delve right into this.

Until then expect many more Mark Clattenburgs. Expect the game you love, the club you adore and the league you follow to forever be at the mercy of backroom deals, strange referee selections and decisions. Expect many more weekends spent scratching your head, wondering just how more coincidences it will take for people to wake up.

The whole world’s watching…

 

Comments

[IbnLody]

Great piece as always. Another week goes by another United match marred with controversy. Its getting utterly ridiculous and frankly if anyone still thinks all is well and that the PL is whiter than white then he is either a united fan or just waiting untill the day he sees it in the media to think its true. The sad part is the mum the English media are keeping as they are way too afraid of Fergie and his influence and too busy reporting other countries match fixing scandals instead.

[David J]

Fantastic article mate. I'm in the position of being able to watch the Premier League as a neutral as my team wallows in League One but it's been evident for many years that by choice or not, Manchester United get more favours than anyone else. Every season the same thing happens, particularly in high profile games where they might need that extra bit of help. Chelsea fans must feel gutted today but should keep their chin up as they only have to play United twice and City prove last year you *can* prevail over a United injected with the constant help of officials. The reason for all this seems very simple to me, United are the Premier League's cash cow and any significant decline would increase the possibility of TV revenue falling, interest from overseas falling, and the knock-on effect of Sky TV losing money and the newspapers having less people buying them for the back page. Something has to change though as it becomes clear to surely the majority of non-Man U supporters that something is up. Will the pending retirement of Ferguson change things? A less shady character like Pep Guardiola who does not verbally assault referees might bring a feeling of honesty back to United and subsequently influence/pressure referees a lot less.

[Abrawomicz]

Yeah! So true. Like for example that Torres should have been awarded red in the first half. Oh, and how about that hand in the Chelsea's box? Referee was shitty. But for both teams. But, since that's all you can do to cheer yourself a bit (cause Liverpool isn't really going to be "great" any time soon) go ahead - wright your fantasies down. Or accept that football isn't fair. And you can do a site like this about any other football club. Peace.

[Tonchi]

United wins, United is cheating. C'mon people, be realistic. You all hate United cause United is most successfull club in the UK. You all want to see other clubs to win BPL but hey. United is still the strongest. You all have talking that H.Webb is on United side when is United - Chelsea match in topic, now there is a new referee and you are still saying those words. We can all see from that, that you are all jelous on United. You all want to see your clubs lifting a trophy. Fergie is a legend. If you want to talk rubish about him then give us a real proove that he is cheating. You are just talking nothing. Without evidence, he is not guilty. You know the law.

[Jasper2000]

English Football has not been played on a level playing field for some time now. The Suarez/Evra incident was proof of this and much recently the Terry/Ferdinand incident! Man Utd run everything in the media to their benefit and have bogus racial equality campaigns backing them up...like The Chairman of "Kick It Out Campaign" - Lord Herman Ouseley who is so vocal about anything against Man Utd's competitors and yet he went quiet about Rio Ferdinand's choc ice tweet incident! or when the video surfaced of Patrice Evra calling Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink & Frank Lampard "Mother Fucking Niggers"! http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Video-Patrice-Evra-using-the-N-word-article849460.html after The FA passed judgement on Suarez! Lord Herman is on the Man Utd Board by the way! - http://www.mufoundation.org/AboutTheFoundation/TheBoard.aspx

[Atish]

Its only the beginning. Now that Gill is in the FA the powers are yet to grow more. Its a game where millions of dollars are at stake. Now stop crying and accept the fact that wherever there is money there will always be the use of power. Its the same anywhere around the world. Maybe your cry baby team will reach that class one day and you would be smiling about it. Or maybe your grand children will, if they are lucky.

And plus, you have no citation to back up your facts. I think your stats are made up anyway. But you are clever I must say. You have stated those particular falsified facts which you know would be hard to research upon by your readers.

[Ryan]

Jesus wept.

Let's talk controversial decisions:
1) Torres' first yellow - EASILY could have been a red. Ugly "challenge". Ignored by media.
2) Luiz's handball just before Chelsea scored their second. You'll notice the media didn't kick up a furore about that - perhaps because no one wants to hear about a blown call that DIDN'T go Man Utd's way. That sure ain't gonna stir up the outrage and sell the papers. David Luiz's right arm was nowhere near his side as he was trying to make himself big - it's a penno.
3) Ivanovic's sending off - if you argue it, you're a fool. Simple as.
4) Torres' yellow for "diving" - it was both a foul on Evans and a charming bit of play-acting by Torres which I'm hesitant to call a dive. It shouldn't have been a yellow though. It's indicative of the modern culture of football, however, that Torres is forgiven for CLEARLY making an unsporting football play in throwing himself to the ground in an attempt to get the defender carded when he easily could have stayed up and had an excellent goal scoring opportunity. Instead, we ignore that and scream bloody murder that he was given a yellow for diving when it was a simple case of play-acting (poor lovely chap - he was only play-acting and being unsporting!) TBH, I feel no sympathy for Torres (although I do for Chelsea despite the years of them getting calls in their favour against Man Utd). But in Torres' case, you reap what you sow. If you don't want to get mistaken for diving when you're simply play-acting, try not building up a reputation for the former. Simple.
5) Chicharito's goal - clearly offsides and should not have counted. That, however, had nothing to do with Clattenburg. It's not his decision to make.
6) Valencia's "dive" - another case of dive that wasn't. Reeks of a makeup call.

Look, bad calls happen. There's one guy out there who's supposed to keep an eye on 22 footballers in a fast-paced game fraught with tension. Unfortunately, when your team isn't successful you'll get some loonies who think the league is rigged. After all, your team is clearly better! Guess what.. it's usually not.

I can't help but imagine your froth-covered face during the most recent title race between Utd and Liverpool in 08-09 that you presumably thought was handed to Utd by incompetent refereeing. I don't think it's a crazy presumption based on multiple past posts about how United always get the decisions. Guess what - that year Liverpool had somewhere around 8 opponents sent off and were given more penalties by far, yet still fans believed that referees favoured United. You see what you want to see - it's as simple as that. Grow up, sack up, and realise that the majority of referees are simply inept.

Also, I know it must be hard to admit that Sir Alex Ferguson has actually had some success, but I reckon winning the treble and all those previous league titles had a little something to do with his knighthood. Just throwing it out there like.

[crack]

Another well written article.

I was as suprised as ever when i saw clattenburg was numbered to ref this game after such a long "ban" from reffing united games after their loss against city.
I cant say however that i was surprised by teh decisions and, abuse and sending offs he carried out on the day, he was under strict instructions from the EPL mafia, also he must think of hia career in the high paying EPL, we all knwo fergie aka the don has the ability to just about ruin it for him and any other ref not doing their "jobs".

This is getting beyond a joke , in fact its disgusting. United fans should be ashamed of themselves.

[Omardxb]

I used to be naive and think that there is no corruption in the top flight of English football and that it was a role model for other leagues around the world, but I always wondered if there was some sort of favoritism towards United. I had doubts but other than stereotypical jokes about Howard Webb I had little proof or reason to believe so.

Your blog made me realize how corrupted and filthy English football is in reality. It made me realize how far behind our club is (Liverpool that is. YNWA!). As you would expect, Our club is very far from the top, but after all these years of nepotism towards Fergie that are brutally exposed in your posts I realize how pathetic United are. They pride themselves as having achieved so much and being the best in the world, it is not exactly hard to do when you have Murdoch, the FA and the refs behind you (And of course all the possible hidden agendas by big sponsors and people behind the scenes pulling things together, more conspiracy theories perhaps?)

[originalchan]

Is there actual conclusive evidence in this article? Not some coincidental stuff that can be manipulated to be part of one big theory

[SL]

Premier league is a such pity to watch now.. Its disgusting now.. That's not entertainment anymore..

[Vivek Bharadwaj]

We never expect anyone to respect us United fans. But please respect the 25 years of legacy that no one else has been able to create. You might think it's all because of refereeing decisions, but there are players who believe him to be a father figure and have looked up to him to make career decisions all their lives. Respect people like Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, who started on a few pounds a week salary and went on to become legends.We never bought that by cheating. Ryan Giggs' lung bursting run against Arsenal wasn't because of a referee decision. Paul Scholes' goal against Barcelona in the semi finals wasn't a refereeing error, Roy Keane's effort against Juventus in 1999 didn't happen because "we controlled referees" . And just as well, we respect legends like Thiery Henry, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp. Henry's wonder goal against us wasn't because referees favored Arsenal. Get over yourself. The legacy of United has been built on the sweat of a lot of coaches, players, training staff and Sir Alex Ferguson and Matt Busby. Anywhere the referees have favored us, we've admitted it. Anywhere the referees have gone against us, we've protested it. Arsene Wenger would tell you they failed to win a trophy because they lost their best players and weren't mentally strong enough in the last few games. We lost championships because we were 2nd best. Move on, concentrate on your football club, support it with your heart and one day, you will win the title. But we'll keep trying to ensure that one day never happens.

[Alam]

You, sir, are a joker. You could predict that in the future United would get a dubious decision? Of course they would. Every team will. There is a reason why people call you paranoid.
I would like to clear up some things for you.
1. Clattenburg has officiated in 22 league games between the City game and yesterdays game. I could argue that Kieth Hackett hasn't officiated a United game either but that's because he doesn't officiate anymore. So United may have played in a 1000 games between the City and Chelsea game but that doesn't matter. What matters is how many games he officiated in.
2. Clattenburg also did not referee Everton for FIVE years after he favoured you in the derby. Did Everton control the FA?
3. Foy awarded two penalties and a red card, all of which were correct. People like you have an issue with United getting any decision whatsoever. If only you would look at the decisions, you might talk some sense.
4. If Murdoch hates Liverpool as much as you claim he does, wouldn't he be more focused on getting them out of the league than supporting United.

[Nico]

Don't forget that Ferguson before the game went out in the media and said that they never get decisions their way on Stamford Bridge. Well, look what happened..

[CFC for life]

Well done the dim, it's funny how we talked about clattenburg sitting at the back of a church, and look how his next game for utd is like. Hope you are well

[Dimmy B]

Alex!

Yep we spoke about this last month. Told you to watch out. Not even I thought it would have been this flagrant though.

Rather you than us pal, even though we were well shafted this weekend too.

Bises

[Dimmy B]

Vivek

I have a lot of respect for United, their players and their fans. The will to win of the team is something that's unbelievable and most United fans I've met in my life are proper football fans.

But I have a lot of respect for Juventus too. When they were influencing the referee selection process in Italy, they had some of the best players of our generation in their side like Nedved, Cannavaro, Thuram, Del Piero, Bufon, Trezeguet, Ibra etc... As well as Capelo as boss, one of the best in football history.

Marseille got relegated for match fixing and they had the best club side in the history of French football with players like Voller, Boksic, Desailly, Deschamps, Barthez...

I respect all these players and all these clubs like I do yours. But like them, I believe there is something very dodgy going on behind the scenes with you and so do hundreds of thousands of others.

[Steve G]

Liverpool have a cozy history with Clattenburg as well (but this is of course not remembered here):
"In october 2007 Clattenburg sends off the Everton full-back Tony Hibbert in a Merseyside derby. After appearing to be about to show Hibbert a yellow card, Clattenburg seems to change his mind and pulls out a red after a brief exchange with Steven Gerrard. He later does not send off Dirk Kuyt for a two-footed lunge at Phil Neville. He does not referee another Everton match until 2012 and has yet to reappear at Goodison Park" (From the Guardian)

[The Truth]

United are starting to look more than a little Juventus-y.

[H]

Ask yourself, since Ferguson took over at United, how many times they have won the league without controversy - or without strange and big decisions. It's bizarre. At the same time, United have really underachieved in Europe. Ferguson has lifted the European cup twice - both in very fortunate circumstances. For a team of United's stature they should have won it a lot more and been more competitive, but then, Ferguson cannot influence UEFA referees. They don't have members on Uefa's board. Perhaps that's a cynical view. But why does this keep happening with united domestically? It's a fact that they have people in high places in the FA. Arsenal, Chelsea and City haven't needed the controversy and dodgy decisions to win the league - united seem to do it every year - whenever they need it. It is becoming laughable. Bear in mind, for the most part, the premier league years have really been a one horse race (especially early on). Something has to be done. They're not even putting much effort in not making it look obvious. Even if there is nothing dodgy going on behind closed doors - ferguson is still able to influence referees and officials - be it out of fear or what else, that is evident. It happens far too often to be a coincidence. I'd love to see them stripped of titles - perhaps then their fans will go back to supporting West Ham, Leeds and Arsenal.

[Abhishek]

Torres red card?? Luiz hand ball?? Do u guys even watch football??
The first Torres booking was a plain yellow. Nothing more. He went for the ball.
Luiz handball?? Hahaha. Was that a penalty? No way. His arm wasn't raised.
Manchester united fans can keep defending themselves by laying baseless points but deep inside they know theyve been lucky. Not once. Not twice. Often I must say. Chelsea produced an amazing display of football on Sunday. They were better then united. Plain simple truth. No denying that. They deserved to win. But they're not a club which looks back on such events. Theyve still got another game with united this week.

[Daniel]

Most pundits seem to think Clattenburg should have sent Torres off in the first half for that high challenge. I don't see anyone disputing the red card for Ivanovic so he seems to have got that decision right. Torres was unlucky to pick up a 2nd booking and Clattenburg probably got the decision wrong, but he has been defended by former referee Graham Poll, who said Torres' fall was "unnatural" and could be mistaken for a dive. Also, the offside was the referee assistant's decision, not Clattenburg's.

Bringing Hillsborough into this blog is very distasteful in my opinion. Comparing that terrible tragedy and the disgusting cover up by the South Yorkshire police to United getting refereeing decisions in their favour is pathetic.

[Dimmy B]

Daniel

It's not about individual decisions. It ceased being about individual decisions a long time ago.

It's about a pattern. Ref takes Utd game. United lose. Ref doesnt take Utd game for a long time. Ref retakes United. United get game changing decisions.

This is not an isolated case, if it was this blog wouldnt be written- nor would it get the exposure and hits it has.

This is not just about pattern either. The pattern, and stats, are just one part.

You have comments from ex refs saying the FA dont give refs United games if Fergie's criticized them. Ex refs saying they went 2 years wthout reffing Utd after sending one of their players off.

You have the presence of United's CEO in the FA. You have the retirements of officials like Wiley and Hackett after criticism of Fergie.

You have evidence of this form of corruption in other leagues. You have evidence of corruption in every walk of life in England. Why do you deny the fact that this is even remotely possible?

As for Hillsborough, it's important I respond as a few have pointed it out.

The examples I used are to show how easy it is for powerful people to get away with things in the UK. It shows how, if people are well connected, they'll be free to get on with their business in peace without fear of punishment.

Most people got this, others are using at as a stick to beat us with saying Im declaring that refereeing bias is as bad as Hillsborough. Come on people, don't be silly.

[Anon]

If I had the time and patience I could do the exact same analysis for the Manchester City last year, or Chelsea when they won the title.

One of the biggest things needed for winning the Premier League is LUCK! United got it against Chelsea this season but last season we lost against Chelsea due to bad luck (or bad refereeing). Swings and roundabouts.

Like I said, you could probably do the same stat analysis on another team and probably find even worse stats than what you see here. But you focus only on United, so your analysis is useless, as you have no basis in which to compare, if you can't compare your results your alone. And if your alone you will only find that other conspiracy theorist support you, which is useless really coz no one takes a conspiracy theorist seriously, so your wasting your time (unless you get off on making conspiracy theorist excited).

No one in the media will look into this because it looks like a waste of time and this article does absolutely nothing to perk their interest because it not backed up with any sort of tangible cross referencing.

You got a lot of positive comments on here though and maybe thats all you was looking for, you dislike United and you got lots of nice things said about you by people who also hate United. Many congrats :)

[Dinesh J]

An interesting article with some patterns and theories but at the end of the day all it is, is just patterns and theories with absolutely no proof at all. As for the Chelsea game, I feel Clattenburg got it spot on with his decisions. Ivanovic's red was questionable as Young did dive, when ivanovic crossed behind him,though there was minimal contact but from where the ref was, he could not see the dive so he did what any ref would have, give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player as he is open on goal and since young went down, ivanovic is off... As for torres, this quote sums it up "I thought he went down. I think Jonny may have just caught him a little bit, but you could carry on running, which he could have done, but he chose to go down. He could have carried on and scored, that's what I can't understand. And he's been already booked, so it's his own fault." Dumbass knew he had a yellow, he wanted to take the opportunity and make sure united get a red, risked it, ref saw it as a dive, and he got a yellow and out u go... As for united's winning goal, only replay technology can make a difference, no way linesman could have made an accurate decision, chica was at fullspeed to get back...These things happen, all teams get their fair share of decisions be it good or bad, though the bigger teams get more decisions for them than the smaller ones. That said, Chelsea have not lost to Man Utd for 10 years at home and no way was that based on their ability to play football alone, they had so many decisions go their way, 1 of which resulted in them winning the EPL in 2010, so as you can see MU have had their fair share of decision go against them and in much more significant games compared to the game last week. At the end of the day, refs are just humans and you cant expect them to get everything right all the time, though most give united the benefit of the doubt when making decisions but who can blame them, we are the most successful club in England. With success comes a few perks and that's all to it.. Dont be a bitter pool fan and come out with all these conspiracy crap just coz we knocked u off your perch. Dont just see what you want to see, if u wanna say that the league and MU are corrupted, give us some hard proof, else stop spouting shit about my team !!! GGMU !!!