Liverpool fans are rightly outraged after a performance from a group of referees that seriously hampered our start to the season and robbed us of at least a point against Tottenham, with John Aldridge now sharing some strong thoughts.
Taking to social media over several messages, the ex-Red wrote: ‘I have to say the players were defensively brilliant under the circumstances! I feel for Matip big time! But it’s so difficult to play 11 v 11 tonight, it was not right, stinks to high heaven folks. Corrupt
‘I’m sick about tonight, the way it turned out! Well done Spurs. You see if you were an LFC fan as a ref or VAR and there’s a 50/50 decision that helps your team (LFC), eg. Man City get a poss pen, you don’t give it 😉 Think about it seriously. It’s happened since the year 1900.
READ MORE: (Video) Udogie waves imaginary yellow card for Jota ‘foul’ but sees no punishment
‘See the refs say they follow Altrincham, York etc 😂 what a joke!! They hide behind that. Neil Midgley was the head of refs around 1998 and he was a great ref and gent 👍 he told me exactly how it works – CORRUPT. I’ve known it ever since so don’t tell me to hold my tongue. Disgusting.
‘It needs investigating for the good of the game!!!! And I’m not sour because of tonight! It is what it is and you all as football fans must realise it and kick up a fuss! Ask the refs association to let us all know who the refs really supported as a kid 😉👍’.
It’s certainly a string of bold statements from the 65-year-old but he does call into question the role of supporting a team as a fan and then being asked to make decisions against a rival in the league as an official.
VOTE for Empire of the Kop as Best Club Content Creator (Premier League) here: Football Content Awards
OR on X with Empire’s one-click X link with: I am voting in @The_FCAs for @empireofthekop in Best Club Content Creator (Premier League)
If we take the officials in charge of our meeting at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, then it is reported (via GOAL) that referee Simon Hooper supporters Swindon Town, fourth official Michael Oliver supports Newcastle United and VAR Darren England supports Barnsley.
As there’s only one man there who supports a Premier League club, the words of the former striker on social media have asked us to question the true loyalties of these men when it comes to making decisions.
Adding the supposed comments of Neil Midgley to his claims seems to suggest there was at least corruption in the game in the 1990’s but it’s hard to say if this has or hasn’t carried through now.
Regardless on whether you believe the claims of the former Tranmere Rovers boss here, for a performance to be so bad that their bosses needed to put out a statement confirming a huge error had been made – the standard of officiating is clearly not good enough and something needs to change.
You can view the series of messages via @Realaldo474 on X: