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*** The official 2025/26 Premier League thread ***

Muttley said:
What we need to get rid of is PGMOL. We need to take refereeing (and the budget) away from the PL and put it back with the FA. There should not be a single element of governance with the PL. P45s for Webb, Jones, Tierney, Taylor etc.

It frustrates the hell out of me that we've given these planks perfectly good technology and whether we call it corruption or incompetence then it is failing the laws of the game so badly. They should feel utterly ashamed at the weekly circus that they create.

Because we didn't act on guys like Mike Dean and Mike Riley all those years ago, we allowed this craziness to build bit by bit. Howard Webb's team are an utter disgrace. It's easily fixed with P45s.
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I do not disagree with that at all but VAR is a mess, i have been against it from the begining its spoils the match flow, annoys the fans and there is as many mistakes happening now as the were before it came in. I was in the minority when i called it to be banned in the begining but its good to see that there are far more fans who go to games are seeing what a Farse it is.
 
dingdongo said:
Yeah I dont really get the ref going to the monitor. Its a complete waste of time. Like you say, 99% of the time they are making him go see he made a mistake and if he does choose to disagree then whats the point in having a bunch of experts watching slow mo replays if he doesn't trust them. Plus it wastes time, looks brick, ruins the experience.. and now they even added the part where he has to announce what he has seen, even though no one is listening because we know already 99% of the time what the decision is because otherwise he wouldnt have gone to the f**king monitor in the first place!!

Bin it all and set fire to it!!!!
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Gets my vote.
 
SteveAWOL said:
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What's the insinuation here? That because he didn't tell the on field ref to look at the Delap incident, John Brooks wants West Ham to stay up so he'll give them favourable decisions?

fudge me I think I need to just turn off the internet. So much macaronic stuff posted every second.
 
Robbo said:
While we get Oliver, apparently. Prepare yourselves for a clusterfudge of controversial ref calls on Sunday, when the refs take center stage in both matches, hell bent on protecting the product and whatever narrative they have decided should be played out.
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Oh fudging brilliant, the guy who loves being centre of attention.
 
tommysvr said:
What's the insinuation here? That because he didn't tell the on field ref to look at the Delap incident, John Brooks wants West Ham to stay up so he'll give them favourable decisions?

fudge me I think I need to just turn off the internet. So much macaronic stuff posted every second.
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I think that is the tin pot conspiracy read, yes.

I think a more rational stance would be that the outcome on Sunday is a pure lottery because of the incompetence of the people with the whistle. Any call could be made at any time.
 
Lost Mango said:
I think that is the tin pot conspiracy read, yes.

I think a more rational stance would be that the outcome on Sunday is a pure lottery because of the incompetence of the people with the whistle. Any call could be made at any time.
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Which I would agree with. Or rather than 'incompetence' just human error and layer upon layer of complexity added by the people who make the rules.
 
tommysvr said:
Which I would agree with. Or rather than 'incompetence' just human error and layer upon layer of complexity added by the people who make the rules.
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As you’ve said previously, despite having VAR at their disposal the officials are only human and tend to show unconscious bias towards the top teams who have that winning aura and whose players seem better able to influence marginal decisions in their favour.

Which probably goes some way to explaining why Gabrielle has got away with multiple incidents this season which almost certainly would’ve resulted in Romero getting sent off if he did similar.

Hopefully the PGMOL shall clamp down on grappling at corners next season, similar to what they did after Huth and Morgan wrestled the title away from us a decade ago, so that the EPL doesn’t descend further into WWE.
 
SteveAWOL said:
As you’ve said previously, despite having VAR at their disposal the officials are only human and tend to show unconscious bias towards the top teams who have that winning aura and whose players seem better able to influence marginal decisions in their favour.

Which probably goes some way to explaining why Gabrielle has got away with multiple incidents this season which almost certainly would’ve resulted in Romero getting sent off if he did similar.

Hopefully the PGMOL shall clamp down on grappling at corners next season, similar to what they did after Huth and Morgan wrestled the title away from us a decade ago, so that the EPL doesn’t descend further into WWE.
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How can it be unconscious bias when everyone has been talking about this for years now? Do PGMOL live in a vacuum where they've never had a discussion if unconscious bias is a thing or not in their organisation. That in itself would be absolutely shocking.

I think the right work is incompetence. Another word that I'm starting to think about is corruption. The latter could actually be a thing based on what we've seen this season.
 
Anyone else not currently giving a fudge that Woolwich won the league? I'm sure I will after Sunday and that'll be amplified if they beat PSG and amplified even further if we go down but, right now, I'm not sure I could care less.

I guess my apathy towards them is because of the worry about us. One silver lining in a very dark cloud.
 
Met an old friend for lunch today, who also happens to support Arse. The thought hadn't crossed my mind until he cheekily asked me if I was going to congratulate him. That's how little I bother about their PL win.

All I care about is us staying up, which incidentally my mate hoped we did too, as he loves the NLDs so much.
 
DeanoAustin said:
Anyone else not currently giving a fudge that Woolwich won the league? I'm sure I will after Sunday and that'll be amplified if they beat PSG and amplified even further if we go down but, right now, I'm not sure I could care less.

I guess my apathy towards them is because of the worry about us. One silver lining in a very dark cloud.
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No, I legitimately couldn’t give a toss.

I said a few weeks ago, I saw them win it at the Lane not ever such a long time ago, I’m still alive and the world didn’t stop turnings

Though it does raise a smile with me that lots of people don’t actually seem to be talking about it and are instead talking about Southampton. Personally I think they’ve had a massive chunk of help to win the league and it isn’t as impressive as many other league wins we’ve seen.

I want us to stay up, and I hope next season some other teams have got their brick together and can challenge them, because I don’t think they have really had much on the way of completion this season.
 
Rafa87 said:
No, I legitimately couldn’t give a toss.

I said a few weeks ago, I saw them win it at the Lane not ever such a long time ago, I’m still alive and the world didn’t stop turnings

Though it does raise a smile with me that lots of people don’t actually seem to be talking about it and are instead talking about Southampton. Personally I think they’ve had a massive chunk of help to win the league and it isn’t as impressive as many other league wins we’ve seen.

I want us to stay up, and I hope next season some other teams have got their brick together and can challenge them, because I don’t think they have really had much on the way of completion this season.
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I was quite p!ssed off about it yesterday, as everytime I put on the radio or TV I seemed to catch it being spoken about.
Then Villa won last night and they, along with the Southampton story, have made up the football news coverage today. Which is much better.
I can reconcile with them winning the PL in what has been a pretty bad year for the league quality wise, playing awful 'football' and getting away with murder.
What I cannot bear to contemplate is them winning the CL.
 
Lost Mango said:
I think that is the tin pot conspiracy read, yes.

I think a more rational stance would be that the outcome on Sunday is a pure lottery because of the incompetence of the people with the whistle. Any call could be made at any time.
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The outcome is a pure lottery on Sunday primarily due to the incompetence of our players this season. The refs have been rubbish for everyone, but we are where we are mainly due to our own failings...
 
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