Official Premier League 2010/11 thread

[Colly]

Any chance that Sky will stop making it seem like referees that are having fairly reasonable games are actually making shocking decisions? Following Webbs two correct decisions last weekend, and a decision yesterday that people are torn on (I preferred Gus Poyets opinion on MOTD2 to the chattering morons in the Sky Sports studio), both referees have had a pasting. Sky were even blaming the officials for not spotting Vidic shirtpulling yesterday, despite the camera angles they watched 4 times being on the blindside of the ref.

The Rafael second yellow was a foul despite him 'holding his hands up' as he clipped BAE's heels, accidentally or not he was beaten on the wing, and following a first yellow that could easily have been red and a really obvious waving an imaginary card that the ref noted, I honestly can't see how that was a bad decision. Unless of course he and Rooney both believe that the G Nev scale of bookings should be applied...

Regardless, even if that was one foul too early for a second yellow its not a decision to fucking maul a referee for, it was a foul and he'd already been booked, he should've been more careful.

[Lineker]

So Ryan Babel has been fined £10,000 by the FA. Most expensive tweet ever?

[Pesci]

Any chance that Sky will stop making it seem like referees that are having fairly reasonable games are actually making shocking decisions? Following Webbs two correct decisions last weekend, and a decision yesterday that people are torn on (I preferred Gus Poyets opinion on MOTD2 to the chattering morons in the Sky Sports studio), both referees have had a pasting. Sky were even blaming the officials for not spotting Vidic shirtpulling yesterday, despite the camera angles they watched 4 times being on the blindside of the ref.

Never gonna happen while the old boys club still dominates football punditry. In their day, you could punt somebody in the head and stay on the pitch dont'cha know.

[Hobo]

So Ryan Babel has been fined £10,000 by the FA. Most expensive tweet ever?

Not compared to the Twitter Joke Trial, I don't think so.

[EddieG]

So Ryan Babel has been fined £10,000 by the FA. Most expensive tweet ever?

Chad Ochocinco got fined $25.000.

[steesh07]

Where Webb got the 5 minutes injury time from, I'll never know.

[Lineker]

What was the Twitter joke trial?

Rafael also charged with improper conduct by the FA for his behaviour after getting his second yellow against Spurs.

[Hobo]

What was the Twitter joke trial?

This. Essentially, a guy tweets a joke about blowing up an airport and got arrested for it.

[Lineker]

Oh I remember hearing about that…

What a knob.

[Twist]

What was the Twitter joke trial?

Rafael also charged with improper conduct by the FA for his behaviour after getting his second yellow against Spurs.

Any mention whether Rooney is being charged for the same thing? His behaviour was an utter disgrace after the red. Granted, it was a wrong decision but have some bloody class, at least.

On a similar note, kudos to Ferdinand for smacking Rafael around the ear when he motioned for Palacios to be booked.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Not that I'm against them punishing people for it, but you cant really blame Rafael for going crazy about it. I'm pretty sure that the majority of players would go apeshit over that decision. It's fine to charge him for it though, yet completely ignore the fact that it's not a booking. FA for you though. People getting away with deliberate elbows and stamps, yet somebody overreacts to a decision that was wrong and they get punished.

[Colly]

To be fair its hardly a 'wrong' decision is it? He was on a booking, waved an imaginary yellow card around, then committed a foul. Accidental or not that runs the risk of a booking, and doesn't give you the excuse to swear in the face of a referee.

[Whisper]

I'll never understand why we in Britain have such a problem with waving imaginary cards. It's absolutely no different than saying "You've gotta book him ref", or "How is that not a card?" etc etc... and those sort of things happen in every game of football ever played, professional or amateur.

People swear in referee's faces all the time. If that was a booking the likes of Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith, Joey Barton, and every other English player who likes a bit of a moan, would never finish a game.

[Colly]

Smith and Barton are clever enough at this stage to not do it in the refs face, since both run the risk of a booking for perfectly decent tackles these days the last thing they need is bookings for mouthing off.

[Starvinho]

West Ham to miss out on Martin O'Neill as next manager

Martin O'Neill has ruled himself out of the running to become West Ham's new manager, BBC Sport understands.

The former Aston Villa and Celtic boss looked set to replace Avram Grant at Upton Park this week.

But BBC 5 live's Pat Murphy said: "The way I read it is that it has all been too hurried for him.

"Martin O'Neill has never been the sort of manager to rush into decisions. He's always had a measured attitude towards his next move. He's very rational."

It has also been suggested that the Northern Irishman, 58, was angered by the way in which news of his likely arrival at the club was leaked to the media on Saturday ahead of West Ham's match against Arsenal.

Reports stated that the home game against the Gunners would be Grant's last fixture in charge, and he seemed to be saying his goodbyes on the pitch after the 3-0 defeat.

A bit of a turn around, don't like how the West Ham board are treating Grant though, I think he should resign. He deserves better.

[stokeriño]

Just another fuck-up to add to Gold/Sullivan/Brady's extensive resume.

[lanky316]

Can't see why people are arguing over Rafaels red card. First foul a late, studs up knee high challenge. Certainly a booking and the second one a sneaky trip when he was beaten (or do people still believe the hands up, "never did nothing ref" ploy?). Easily two yellow cards and the only complaint you can have is at his naivety, had it been Rafa or Palacios would've been furious, not at the decision but at their stupidity. Think the only reason people have a complaint is that he was the only Man Utd player who looked dangerous going forward and without him they were never going to create a real chance.

Bale showing he still needs a lot of work though, completely off song and he should've got rid of Rafael much earlier by running at him. Evra showed how to deal with being on a booking by not making an effort to tackle Lennon just trying to control space and make it harder for him.

[R.W.]

West Ham to miss out on Martin O'Neill as next manager

Martin O'Neill has ruled himself out of the running to become West Ham's new manager, BBC Sport understands.

The former Aston Villa and Celtic boss looked set to replace Avram Grant at Upton Park this week.

But BBC 5 live's Pat Murphy said: "The way I read it is that it has all been too hurried for him.

"Martin O'Neill has never been the sort of manager to rush into decisions. He's always had a measured attitude towards his next move. He's very rational."

It has also been suggested that the Northern Irishman, 58, was angered by the way in which news of his likely arrival at the club was leaked to the media on Saturday ahead of West Ham's match against Arsenal.

Reports stated that the home game against the Gunners would be Grant's last fixture in charge, and he seemed to be saying his goodbyes on the pitch after the 3-0 defeat.

A bit of a turn around, don't like how the West Ham board are treating Grant though, I think he should resign. He deserves better.

I think he should do exactly what he is doing - keep a dignified silence on it, but don't quit - make them sack him and pay all that compensation money.

[DavidMarrio]

Harsh on Avram Grant really but yeh i'd get sacked just for the compensation knowing West Ham it'll be some stupidly overpriced compensation package.

At first I was hoping he'd beat Arsenal as a fuck you to the board when we thought Martin O'Neill would be in charge no matter what then O'Neill does fuck all while in charge.

[Szumi]

Like it was said, just another fuck-up in the debacle known as the Gold & Sullivan Era. My goodness these two are fucking awful. For two people who've always supported West Ham, and bought the club because of their love for the club throughout life, they don't give a fuck about West Ham. All they do is feed their own ego's by creating drama and turmoil for the club. Keeping Avram because it's the right thing to do, and they're decent people? No, you're a bunch of self-indulging twat waffles. You publicly ridiculed Zola all last season when the club was in a relegation fight, and said the squad was Championship level caliber, which just further depressed the squad and caused more poor performances. Now you're putting all the dirty laundry out to air, and making things, again, worse for the club. You don't give a fuck about Avram Grant. You wanted O'Neill, and had all intentions of sacking Grant for MON, but MON probably knew how bad it would be for him to come in. MON would look like a total cunt, and then just want to leave soon anyways because he's a control freak and won't have 20 million pounds a season at his disposal to spend. Yes, Grant has been awful and doesn't deserve to manage the club anymore, but if you had any competency, you'd go after a manager like Big Sam or Chris Hughton. Both managers have shown they can work on small budgets, and garner the support of the players. Shit, I hate Big Sam, but even I know the cunt would be a great fit for West Ham.

I know West Ham badly needed new owners last season. The financial problems were awful, and there were fears of administration/points deduction, which would've led to our relegation. I'm thankful that Gold & Sullivan helped save the club at the time, but at the same time, there were other people trying to gain control of the club, people who I'm sure would've done a much better job than Pinky and the Brain have. The future for West Ham is very bleak, and not because of our pending relegation, but because Gold and Sullivan are worse than Avram Grant when it comes to their respective, albeit different, job.