Mark Goldbridge may be a Manchester United supporter, but there’ll be Liverpool fans worldwide nodding in agreement with his take on one massively contentious incident in the Premier League last night.
Manchester City came from behind to beat Everton 3-1, with the goal to give them the lead arriving courtesy of a penalty given against the Toffees for a baffling handball decision involving Amadou Onana.
It came four days after the Reds had a stonewall spot kick denied to them when the officials at Anfield somehow failed to deem Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard guilty of a much clearer handball offence inside the box.
The inconsistency wasn’t lost on Goldbridge, who posted on X at the time of the incident at Goodison Park: “So Odegaard wasn’t a penalty in a title decider when he moved the ball away but City get that. The officiating in this title race this season is a disgrace”.
So Odegaard wasn't a penalty in a title decider when he moved the ball away but City get that. The officiating in this title race this season is a disgrace
— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) December 27, 2023
When one of the highest-profile Man United fans in the world is adamant that Liverpool are bearing the brunt of shockingly bad refereeing decisions in the Premier League title race, you know the situation is chronic.
How the officials felt no need to penalise Odegaard for literally scooping the ball away like someone about to hand out a portion of ice cream, yet deemed Onana guilty of handling a shot from close range which struck underneath his arm is mind-boggling, to put it politely.
There’s one common denominator to both incidents – the presence of David Coote on VAR. The same man who had the same role in October 2020 when Jordan Pickford got away scot-free with breaking Virgil van Dijk’s leg, and who disallowed what would’ve been a Jordan Henderson winner for an imaginary offside against Sadio Mane (The Mirror).
In the context of Liverpool being deprived of two legitimate goals against Burnley on Boxing Day, the penalty given to Man City last night serves only to heighten the sense among Reds supporters that something is badly amiss when it comes to officiating.
We won’t go down the road of crying corruption or anything like that, but it’s impossible not to be enraged when looking at some of the decisions made in our matches over the past week and compare it to a huge and controversial call which went in the champions’ favour against Everton.
It’s even taken a Man United supporter to weigh in on our side!
📖 Anfield Annals: John Smith – Liverpool’s Red Knight and Most Successful Chairman
Coote is an absolute oxygen thief. Was, is and always will be.
Hmmmmm
VAR is just a tool for referees to be legally corrupt
I feel the EPL and PGMOL are corrupt to the core. They have their preferences and Liverpool are not one of them. The establishment has never wanted, time immemorial, for Liverpool to be successful and it shows. The referees and those in charge of running the game are either paid by the rich Arabs or syndicates in the far East.
I totally agree
” won’t go down the corruption route”
Why not? Players bet and get banned they know its wrong but they still do it.
Teams flout FFP they know its wrong but they do it.
Money money money. Everyone wants more. Hence the failed Superleague. Hence world class players jumping ship to the Middle East.
Refs want in too. Hence the regular trips to the Middle East to ref games where they are probably paid 10 times what they get for the whole year in the UK. Who pays these astronomical fees. None other than the owners of a couple of Premier League teams. Is there a conflict of interest? You tell me. City have been given one title at Everton already after a blatant Rodri handball where he actually caught the ball. How long before we realise English football is broken and riddled with corruption. Its not just City either. The Premier League board used to be made up of 10 members 8 of whom where affiliated to Man U. I think the other 2 were Arsenal. We’ve seen Blatter and his Fifa cronies get caught along with Platini and his UEFA cronies. Initially it was Juventus and the Italian league the Barca and the La Liga referees. Why Is everyone under the impression that Britidh officials are squeaky clean.
MPs have been jailed, and currently over 1000 police officers are under investigation here in the UK. This comes after our No 1 Sunday rag the News of The World (remember it?) was also shut down for corruption. During covid several MPs formed a company that turned over £1/2 million in its 1st 48hrs after selling useless covid protection to the UK public.
Why does football have its head in the sand when the plainly obvious is unfolding on front of our eyes. Corruption is here and its living in plain sight of all who are willing to open their eyes.
🙌🙌🙌
I couldn’t have said it better
You said it all. I’ve always suspected the appointing committee for referees to matches. How its always the same biased refs against Liverpool always coming back to officiate Liverpool matches even after penalising them for obvious errors against Liverpool.
This contee guy has killed us. We will never will the premier league by small margin any more unless something is done.
How do I share this message, it’s very detailed.
Fantastic summary of the obvious facts.
It’s a shame it’s the hard reality of life in general.
And double painful being a liverpool fan.
But it will be very sweet winning it anyway against all odds, let’s hope kloppy and the boy’s can give us the many more mouthwatering displays with a cherry on top of it.
It can’t be that difficult with technology to make one team white and and one dark so that var officials don’t actually know which way the decision are going.
Blind decisions now -surely specssasvers will support that!
The UK. Officials are the worst in soccer ⚽ history yet FIFA are in silent mode, if the officials that manage and oversee VAR was fair and unbiased city would not even be in the top.10, but Liverpool must not complain too much because when they were ruling the old league during the 80’s decisions always went in their favour, likewise with united under Fergie, who always had the favour of the blind UK. Officials, as a united supporter I feel for both Everton and pool for the blatant unfairness but the UK. Football hierarchy are simply Cowards to say the least, Arsenal would have won the league last season if it weren’t for the UK. Officials and VAR
You said it all. I’ve always suspected the appointing committee for referees to matches. How its always the same biased refs against Liverpool always coming back to officiate Liverpool matches even after penalising them for obvious errors against Liverpool.
This contee guy has killed us. We will never will the premier league by small margin any more unless something is done.
Really, no corruption? Two doesn’t count but 3 is a clear pattern. The real question is why there are no penalties for bad decisions? Players and coaches get penalised, why not officials? Many of these decisions affect matches and even titles, surely this affects the fairness of the league. British supporters have a misguided opinion of their league, if something is wrong it must be fixed, was this not the purpose of the VAR in the first place, to correct wrong decisions, does that mean the men behind it cannot be wrong, shouldn’t there be a mechanism to correct these mistakes during the match as it’s too late afterwards? This is ridiculous.
100% spot on , the PGMOL is corrupt to the core , in an age of online gambling whwre all you need is a phone and an e.mail address to have access to thousands of betting sites anywhere in the world ,where bets can be lodged on everything from results to the number of corners or throw ins , yellow and red cards etc .
how easy is it for someone ,even a ” third party” ,to open an account with several online bookies , put bets across different sites ( spread betting) and rake in the winnings ? ANYONE who thinks ” this wouldnt happen in english football ” is living in the 1920s when ” honour and sportsmanship ” where still prevalant over cold hard cash .
PGMOL class1 elite ( as they like to be called) officials are now paid around £200,000 a season ,considering the season is only about 9 months of the year that equates to OVER 4 GRAND A WEEK !! so WHY would these officials need to risk everything just for a bet ? well the simple answer is GREED ! the same GREED that is clearly shown by them flying out midweek to officiate in games in saudi arabia , a country with a track record of back handers ,under the table dealings and an almost insatiatable need to control every thing from oil supplies to sports clubs !
HOW can the English F.A. and the premier league find that this MOONLIGHTING by PGMOL officials doesnt breach any rules or even BRING THE GAME INTO DISREPUTE ? it quite clearly leaves the door wide open to questions of CONFLICT OF INTEREST when you have a group of officials being PAID by the OWNERS of CERTAIN CLUBS to “guest ” officiate in a league RUN BY AND OWNED by the SAME PERSONS THAT OWN THOSE PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS .
The FACT that BOTH the ENGLISH F.A AND THE PREMIER LEAGUE see ” no problem” in this issue and IN FACT give it a ” green light ” to continue only serves to make fans wonder if those 2 organisations are also making FINANCIAL GAINS out of this .
On a personal level i have felt since the very outset of the premier league that football was heading in a downward spiral where certain clubs with certain ownerships could do as they please ,spend as they like , bully and intimidate officials and other teams and get away
with it because of WHO they were and HOW MUCH FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL
POWER THEY HAD .
Just look at the difference in the way the PREMIER LEAGUE and the F.A have handled the FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY cases against EVERTON and MANCHESTER CITY . WHY HAS IT TAKEN SO LONG to bring city to book ? WHY ALLOW them to commit SO MANY breaches (115) before EVENTUALLY BEING FORCED BY OTHER CLUBS TO TAKE ACTION ?
did the governing bodies think ” if we say / do nothing it might just go away “?
was there ‘POLITICAL PRESSURE ‘ brought to bear so as not to ‘upset’ the clubs owners and “harm” trade agreements between the uk and saudi ?
Everton breached the rules by ” over estimating ” their income, that coincideded with the onset of covid ,
a period when the game was devoid of spectators ,when clubs “match day revenue” went from millions to zero overnight , deals that had already been negotiated , transfers ,players wages , etc all still had to be paid ,but WITHOUT the benefit of paying fans coming through the gates , none of that seems to have mattered to the English FA or Premier league . punishment was harsh and swift ,a 10 point IMMEADIATE deduction and a fine ,WITH VERY LITTLE TIME TO PREPARE A DEFENSE CASE !
YET CITY HAVE COMMITTED FAR BIGGER BREACHES OF FFP REGULATIONS , including UN DOCUMENTED PAYMENTS MADE TO FORMER MANAGERS AND PLAYERS ,
INCOME FROM INTERNAL SPONSERSHIP DEALS THAT BREACHED FFP RULES , BREACHING TRANSFER AND SPENDING RULES , YET CITY HAVE HAD YEARS TO PREPARE THEIR CASE AND CHARGES HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO MOUNT UP TO A POINT WHERE IT COULD TAKE 5 OR MORE YEARS JUST TO GET TO A HEARING !
In the meantime there are no FINANCIAL penalties being levied , no transfer restrictions being put in place so CITY can litterally do as they please until such a case is finally brought to book .
I wouldnt be surprised to see citys owners back a NEW SUPER LEAGUE that would include European and Arabian clubs ,giving City an escape route from the English league and any charges they may face .
Blah blah blah blahblahblah…European football is, has, and always will be corrupt. It’s just now that you’re gonna cry about it? Wake up!! City had a call go their way, so now you all are gonna cry about it? Teams wear betting site logos on their jerseys…you think those teams aren’t beholding to those betting sites? Of course they are!! The players, owners and officials are just as corrupt as the betting sites!! This is nothing new!! I’d bet 75% of what goes on in a premier league match is rigged!! There’s nobody to fix it, and there never will be!!
City r disheartening this league it’s money greedy Arab owners and greedy officials 115 charges and not one sorted out
It’s all greed fiddling officials and city 115 charges not one brought to charges
I totally agree
What is the real purpose of VAR ? Answer..be responsible for the end result or take an unbiased decision.A real circus unfolding ! Send the VAR team packing.Last option hope the referees behave, there is also a screen for referees to look at under extreme cases and not run to the screen for silly decisions,and let the game flow,like in the good old days.
Final thought! The U.K. brought the great into our lives,are they planning to destroy!!!!!
Balan Naidoo..South Africa.
Balan Naidoo..South Africa..
What is the real purpose of VAR ? Answer..be responsible for the end result or take an unbiased decision.A real circus unfolding ! Send the VAR team packing.Last option hope the referees behave, there is also a screen for referees to look at under extreme cases and not run to the screen for silly decisions,and let the game flow,like in the good old days.
Final thought! The U.K. brought the great game into our lives,are they planning to destroy it!!
Balan Naidoo..South Africa.
Balan Naidoo..South Africa..