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The Official 2016/17 Premier League Thread
- Thread starter scaramanga
- Start date
Denmark Spur
Michael Carrick
Surely Aguero will get a 3-match ban for this
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Cecil Poynton
We can't have it both ways, earlier this week we were moaning about United being on all the time!
paxtonwolf
Tony Marchi
He should.....but he wont.
paxtonwolf
Tony Marchi
City certainly look like they have clicked early.
Not seen much of Chelsea's 3 matches, whereas United seemed to have ground out 3 wins without being great, but for me the quality in their squad will seem them easily challenge.
Can see those 3 pulling clear early and staying there, obviously at least one will have to drop points next match though
Bullet
Andy Thompson
In football, every goal is a MASSIVE moment, pivotal to the outcome.
Yet we rely on some poor sap running around trying to judge what occurs in real time. Crazy.
It usually takes two replays before the pundit Sussex out what happened. We desperately need impartial video refs for all goals/offsides.
Most games only have two or three goals, it is vital we get these right and remain unbiased.
Kandi1977
George Hunt
They have only played relegation fodder thus far. Exactly the kind of games where Ibra tends to shine.
braineclipse
Willie Hall
Hull are likely relegation fodder, but if Bournemouth and Southampton are relegation fodder so is at least half the league. They also beat Leicester in the community shield.
Winning the games against the bottom half of the table very regularly is a great building block towards real success. Last league title under Ferguson United had a ridiculously good record against the bottom half. And winning those games has always been part of Mourinho's bread and butter.
We'll see when Ibra comes up against bigger teams. I'm not betting against him that's for sure. At the very least he'll grab attention from the opposing defenders and create space for others.
El Guepardo
Rafael Van Der Vaart
Why did Aguero only get a 3 match ban? When Dembele was given a 6 match ban?
Kandi1977
George Hunt
Because an attempted eye poke is obviously much worse than a successful elbow face smashing.
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Cecil Poynton
And the entire media were screaming for draconian punishment for the vicious attack.
JerusalemMan
Paul Robinson
Seen the recent comment by Mark Halsey saying that he was told as a ref by his professional body to say he hadn't seen certain controversial incidents?
mudshark
Chris Armstrong
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37268815
MRDA. I believe Halsey, personally; I don't see any reason for him to have made it up. They managed to brush it under the carpet after the same allegation appeared in his autobiography three years ago (which Neville obviously missed). Now social media is involved, though...
MRDA. I believe Halsey, personally; I don't see any reason for him to have made it up. They managed to brush it under the carpet after the same allegation appeared in his autobiography three years ago (which Neville obviously missed). Now social media is involved, though...
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I think we'll be facing for one of the top 4 places, like a bunch of other teams.
Lets not lose our collective brick because a couple of teams have beaten teams they were always likely to beat. City started like a house on fire last year too. Most teams have dangerous players that are really gonna hurt the top teams, and we will all drop points.
glorygloryeze
Jack Jull
I wonder how far this will go, or whether it will be swept under the carpet; below is from Richard Keys. Might be a bellend, but he at least is someone who can often at least try and be a journalist/sports reporter. Pasting here now for discussion purposes before there is any pressure down the line on some journos to not talk too much about it before the Manc Derby etc
http://richardajkeys.com/index.php/blog/item/honest-mark-halsey
Honest Mark Halsey
on Monday, 05 September 2016. Posted in Richard Keys Blog
He was Jose Mourinho's favourite ref. The two became close friends and remain in touch to this day, although not quite on the same regular basis.
Asked why Mark Halsey was his favourite, Mourinho replied 'because he's honest'. I could stop writing now. What else is there to say? Well, quite a lot actually.
Mark has been a friend of mine now for more than 10 years. I too have found him to be nothing but honest and honourable.
Why is this important? Let me quote from Andy Dunn's excellent column in the Sunday Mirror today 'And his (Halsey's) allegations - if true - render the Professional Game Match Officials Limited unfit for purpose'.
Of course I'm referring here to the furore surrounding Sergio Aguero's ban for throwing an elbow at Winston Reid. Those who follow me on Twitter will know I broke the story that Aguero would be charged at 9.30 on Tuesday morning. My sources told me that ref Andre Marriner had told the FA that he handn't seen the incident. We have to take him at his word, but why didn't he see it? He was 10 yards away. He MUST have seen the incident surely - if not, what is he doing taking charge of such important high profile football matches?
The reason I'm wondering is not because City fans set Twitter alight asking the same questions, but because I'd seen another X-ref, Dermot Gallagher, tell Sky Sports News on the Monday 'Marriner had to see it. He's got an unobstructed view'. It was that statement that sparked City's appeal and one that everybody seems to have conveniently forgotten. That was a story I broke on the Wednesday having heard of City's intent. The question on everybody's lips was 'had Marriner been told he hadn't seen it'?
It was at this point that Halsey got involved in the Twittersphere with the following reply to an enquiry 'Paul, I have been in that situation when I have seen an incident and been told to say I haven't seen it'. Cue chaos, especially once Gary Neville had got himself involved.
But none of this was new to me. Why? Because I'd read Mark's book three years earlier. I knew the incident he was referring to. We'd spoken to him on beIN Sports - and his author Ian Ridley on our talkSPORT programme. Sadly the guv'nors at talkSPORT never realised the dynamite we'd served up! Well they do now. I'll get back to Ridley.
This is from Halsey's book Added Time (Chapter 16).
Then came a November weekend that brought another controversy and problem for me but which paled into insignificance compared with some shocking news for football.
I refereed the Stoke v Blackburn game and thought all had gone well as the home side won 3-1. In fact, there was not one yellow card, which is extremely rare for a game at the Britannia Stadium.
Later I got a phone call from the assessor after Match of the Day had shown two supposed elbows by Blackburn's Steven Nzonzi on Ryan Shawcross and Greg Whelan. Peter Roberts, who had been an assistant but never a Premier League referee before becoming an assessor, said they were not red cards, though. Maybe one was a yellow. And so we had trial by television pundit again, when nobody else had noticed the offences, neither of which on replay I thought was a red card anyway. I knew that would not be the end of the matter, though. Not with Mark Halsey involved.
Events were overtaken the next day, however, when the football world was stunned by the announcement of the death of Gary Speed. I personally was numb all day. I had refereed Gary many times over the years during his playing days with Leeds, Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Bolton Wanderers and he was a pleasure to deal with. I then got to know him well at Bolton during my training there and also came to know his father Roger.
I phoned the assistant manager at Saudi Sportswashing Machine, John Carver, who had been with Gary at Sheffield United, and with whom I had become friendly over the years. John frequently used to phone me up for advice on refereeing - such as issues of whether his club should appeal certain decisions, for example. John hadn't heard and like me was stunned when I told him. So too Sam Allardyce and Sir Alex when I texted them. What made it all the more shocking was the manner of Gary's death, with him being found hanging, though an inquest would be unable to reach a verdict of suicide. Gary was a gent and a model professional, always first in the gym. He had come with Big Sam to open our restaurant, Sottovento, which by now we had finally sold, to our great relief, getting rid of the mortgage on it.
On the Monday at Warwick, the group agreed with my suggestion that we have a minute's silence. That came before a conversation with Mike Riley when he said I would be getting a phone call from Tarik Shamel, Head of On-Field Regulation at the FA, about the incidents involving Nzonzi, who would ironically later sign for Stoke.
When the call came, Tarik told me that Mike had told him there should have been a sending off. Not for me, there shouldn't, I said. Tarik left it up to me to decide the next step. Reluctantly, feeling under pressure to deliver the result Mike wanted, I agreed rather than cause a problem and have yet more bad blood with him. It would certainly have been interesting to see what would have happened to me had I not agreed. I told Tarik that I didn't really care, though, given Gary's death. There were more important things.
I was in the same boat as Lee Mason that time when Wayne Rooney swore into a TV camera in a game at West Ham. No referee would have sent off for that, but Lee came under pressure to report that he hadn't seen it but would have given a red card if he had seen it. That way, as in my case, the FA could take retrospective action, though with me it seemed that it was Mike who wanted Nzonzi punished rather than the FA.
(Post part 1)
glorygloryeze
Jack Jull
(Post part 2, continued from above)
There you go. Can I prove that Halsey was telling the truth? No, of course not, but he had no reason to lie.
The story of the book is fascinating. So is Mark's life, which has been littered with difficulties. Remember, this is a man who recovered from two massive cancer operations to return to top flight refereeing and this at a time when his wife Michelle was battling the same problem, but a different cancer. She is still fighting to this day.
Having clawed his way back into the game Halsey's decided to call time on a glittering career. He told his guv'nors, agreed a 12 month tax free salary leaving settlement and a final game with officials of his choice. Deal done - until somebody got wind that he was writing a book. All of a sudden Halsey was told he would have to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement if he wanted his money and therefore he couldn't publish his book.
But the book was written. Ian Ridley, a fine writer, had spent hours on it. Halsey felt he owed Ridley, but because his was also an inspiring story, he wanted to share it with others who might find it helpful in their own lives. He turned down the leaving package and chose to publish. By the way, I advised him differently. I said 'take the money'!
Now I don't know what happened next, but I do remember Ridley telling us on talkSPORT that all of a sudden he couldn't find a publisher. He actually went out of the country to secure a deal and released the book under the most extra-ordinary cloak and dagger secrecy.
Did it sell enough to make up for the leaving package? Of course not. It was never going to, but Halsey felt he had something to say about how his area of expertise in the game was being run and wouldn't be silenced.
He got a job on tv with BT, remember? It didn't last long. Why? I've got my own views on that but Halsey knows he made himself unpopular with many of the things he had to say. I've told him as much, but it happens when you've been wronged. Trust me, I know! BT were very loyal to him for a while, well his guv'nor Grant Best was, but eventually Halsey's position became untenable.
He now finds himself on the fringes of the game. We still see him in Qatar on Bein Sports from time to time. In fact, he'll be on Keys&Gray this Friday discussing all this and more. So will Ian Ridley.
Halsey had no intention of sparking this firestorm, but an honourable man might just have done the game - and all of us that love it - a huge service.
One last story which might make you think. Do you remember that fabulous FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford between Chesterfield and Middlesboro - the first one. It finished 3-3. There was one moment of huge controversy that went against Chesterfield, who scored a perfectly good goal that should've seen them go to Wembley. I think Kevin Davies got it.
The ref on the day (I remember who that was!) gave us three different reasons as to why he'd disallowed it - three. Why three? Well, we were on air and every time he gave us a reason we tried to confirm what he'd told us. We failed every time. There was no reason to disallow it. Chesterfield had been robbed. The upshot of all this was that refs were told not to talk to tv post match - they still don't and they never will.
From here: http://richardajkeys.com/index.php/blog/item/honest-mark-halsey
There you go. Can I prove that Halsey was telling the truth? No, of course not, but he had no reason to lie.
The story of the book is fascinating. So is Mark's life, which has been littered with difficulties. Remember, this is a man who recovered from two massive cancer operations to return to top flight refereeing and this at a time when his wife Michelle was battling the same problem, but a different cancer. She is still fighting to this day.
Having clawed his way back into the game Halsey's decided to call time on a glittering career. He told his guv'nors, agreed a 12 month tax free salary leaving settlement and a final game with officials of his choice. Deal done - until somebody got wind that he was writing a book. All of a sudden Halsey was told he would have to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement if he wanted his money and therefore he couldn't publish his book.
But the book was written. Ian Ridley, a fine writer, had spent hours on it. Halsey felt he owed Ridley, but because his was also an inspiring story, he wanted to share it with others who might find it helpful in their own lives. He turned down the leaving package and chose to publish. By the way, I advised him differently. I said 'take the money'!
Now I don't know what happened next, but I do remember Ridley telling us on talkSPORT that all of a sudden he couldn't find a publisher. He actually went out of the country to secure a deal and released the book under the most extra-ordinary cloak and dagger secrecy.
Did it sell enough to make up for the leaving package? Of course not. It was never going to, but Halsey felt he had something to say about how his area of expertise in the game was being run and wouldn't be silenced.
He got a job on tv with BT, remember? It didn't last long. Why? I've got my own views on that but Halsey knows he made himself unpopular with many of the things he had to say. I've told him as much, but it happens when you've been wronged. Trust me, I know! BT were very loyal to him for a while, well his guv'nor Grant Best was, but eventually Halsey's position became untenable.
He now finds himself on the fringes of the game. We still see him in Qatar on Bein Sports from time to time. In fact, he'll be on Keys&Gray this Friday discussing all this and more. So will Ian Ridley.
Halsey had no intention of sparking this firestorm, but an honourable man might just have done the game - and all of us that love it - a huge service.
One last story which might make you think. Do you remember that fabulous FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford between Chesterfield and Middlesboro - the first one. It finished 3-3. There was one moment of huge controversy that went against Chesterfield, who scored a perfectly good goal that should've seen them go to Wembley. I think Kevin Davies got it.
The ref on the day (I remember who that was!) gave us three different reasons as to why he'd disallowed it - three. Why three? Well, we were on air and every time he gave us a reason we tried to confirm what he'd told us. We failed every time. There was no reason to disallow it. Chesterfield had been robbed. The upshot of all this was that refs were told not to talk to tv post match - they still don't and they never will.
From here: http://richardajkeys.com/index.php/blog/item/honest-mark-halsey