Matt, regarding di Santo and Dunne, I thought that was a pretty difficult one to give. On the one hand the ball has travelled almost no distance and he couldn’t exactly move his hands out of the way, but on the other hand you could argue his hands shouldn’t have been up that high in the first place. There are arguments both ways and if it hadn’t been given there would’ve been questions asked just as there are since it was given. As for dangerous play, yeah, that’s another element that could be argued. I think di Santo is entitled to go for the overhead kick as he clearly controlled the ball with that in mind and Dunne is moving towards him rather than the other way round. However, you can’t really say there’s a huge amount of bias involved as it there are definitely arguments for an against giving it rather than it being a clearly terribly decision. Don’t forget the ref had previously sent off Grella so it’s not like he was favouring Blackburn in any way.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-489051/Clattenburg-given-time-poor-officiating-following-Merseyside-derby-fiasco.html

Mark Clatternburg given a one match ban for poor performance after sending off 2 Everton players and giving 2 penalties to Liverpool in Merseyside derby

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article5084632.ece

I particularly like the quote about how Liverpool’s late penalty against Atletico “proved to be a perpetuation of two Merseyside myths: the dubious late penalty at the Kop End….”

I think you will find that most of the country think the same about your lot. If Stevie G ever gos to ground… all he has to do is look at a ref to get a free-kick or penalty.

You also mention the Villa game this year, when Villa were given a “dodgy penalty”. I think it was possibly THE most clear cut, stone-wall penalty ive ever seen. Even a one-eyed ref in front of the Kop had to give the decision…. but i suppose that you failed to see the incident in this light as the foul was committed by Stevie G. God! Even Rafa admitted it was a blatant penalty… so, in light of this, i have to ignore your ramblings and “evidence” of United bias.

Ps. You also fail to mention the Cantona ban, the Ferdinand ban etc…. examples of when decisions went against United.

Can you imagine the uproar from these boards if Man Utd had been awarded the same penalty with 3mins of the game to go with a match tied at 1-1? Imagine the media spotlight!!! Imagine the debate!!! I guess noone really cares when a controversial decision happens outside the top 4 tho!!!

Or is it that Di Santo actually still plays for Chelsea?? Hence the bias??

Great work Patrick for raising such debate! Well done to all involved.

Patrick, so what did u make of the Cech sending off then?

Keep it up

Dexy

I often wonder how well Ferguson’s United would do without this assistance as I mentioned above (to get the answer look at the years 1987 – 1992 in the Fergie reign at OT – they weren’t that impressive no?) and I think the answer is they’d be nothing LIKE as good as they are seen to be now but since they rely on such decisions so much – it will be a cold day in hell before THEY stop them happening and no-one else has the guts to take them on enough to stop it. I think that makes them little more than cowards and they know it – why else would they be so defensive whenever tackled about it? (Look at Fergies reaction to Rafa’s rant if you don’t believe me – he didn’t know WHAT to say and then A:) denied it and B:) TRIED (and failed miserably) to mock Rafa’ – He ended up looking the pathetic old man he can be now at times in the process; Still one day, there WILL be a reckoning for United, when Fergies goes – god will they have trouble then because then they WILL be exposed for what they are and when they are, you can kiss goodbye to United’s artificially assisted and manufactured so called ‘dominance’ of the game – it will be gone within a heartbeat – just like Fergie and his influence – At present, it’s clear that the sooner that day comes, the better for English football as a whole and it really CAN’T come quick enough can it?…………………