"It evens itself out over the season"

[P!ssed Off]

Attending two mid-table League 1 clashes this season reminded me that whatever division a team is in, whatever opposition they are playing, whatever the quality of the referee, football fans will still complain that their team does not get the decisions and is victimised by referees.

[If you still hate Futcher]

For us:
Gorkss's blatant foul in the penalty area against Everton at home

If you're talking about the Naismith dive then that quite obviously isn't a "for" - Gorkss never touched him

[P!ssed Off]

For us:
Gorkss's blatant foul in the penalty area against Everton at home

If you're talking about the Naismith dive then that quite obviously isn't a "for" - Gorkss never touched him

Can't find a video for the tackle but it definitely should have been given as a penalty. Don't know what your view of it was but I watched the match online (only home game I've not been at all season) and they showed numerous replays showing that he clearly took out the player in the box.

[sandman]

Tbh it was this sort of moaning about injustice that put me off McDermott this season. In post-match interviews he would often point to blatant injustice (when in reality most were debatable ref. decisions), rather than address the fact that we had under performed and been outplayed.

Bollox. He didn't complain anywhere near enough about the decisions gone against us.
And it's just this sort of not moaning about injustices that will always mean referees will favour other sides because Reading won't give them any hassle. Ferguson, Wenger, Mancini etc all know this.
Smell the coffee.
You're happy with being 6-10 points down are you? (As long as we play our part in this little league and accept everything graciously.)

When a decision is indisputably wrong then he was justified in claiming injustice. Often though, in the case of the supposed foul in the box against ALF away at Stoke, he claimed we had been robbed when in actual fact whether it was a penalty was debatable and over the match we were just outplayed.

It became a habit whereby McDermott would seize upon any refereeing mistake throughout the game and use this in an attempt to justify our poor performance.

If any of Brian's complaints were over the top the FA would've charged him. Never heard him say we lost a game solely on a refereeing decision either.


Sat in the North Stand you could see the Naismith one definitely looked like it was a dive there may have been slight contact but nowhere near enough for him to go over. I was very surprised when people were so insistent that it was a foul.

[AJ_urz9]

If any of Brian's complaints were over the top the FA would've charged him. Never heard him say we lost a game solely on a refereeing decision either.


Sat in the North Stand you could see the Naismith one definitely looked like it was a dive there may have been slight contact but nowhere near enough for him to go over. I was very surprised when people were so insistent that it was a foul.

Apart from reminding us where we had come from it was almost a certainty that Brian would mention the fact that "the luck had not been with us" . And by saying we were robbed at Stoke because of the penalty on Alfie not being given generally implies that we had lost the game solely on one decision despite being completely outclassed on the day.

[SydenhamRoyal]

Against us

Ba handball vs Newcastle
Torres offside vs Chelsea
Penalty not given vs Utd, Villa
Foul on Shorey vs Man City

Feel free to add for/against

We should have had a penalty against Wigan up at their place, we should have had a penalty against Man City, probably should have had a penalty against Stoke.

The other way - Man Utd put the ball over the line but it wasnt given, so they beat us 4-3 not 5-3

[Kebe is our Messi]

West ham back pass that pog scored?
Villa own goal?

I would say though that weve had more against than for this season, I mean how lucky was that goal for united yesterday and then for wigan to grab that ridiculously lucky winner. We would have got a point, such is life. Another nail in the coffin.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Some lovely cliches on this one.

"It evens itself out over the season".

"Referee are biased ".

Referees only give what they see and think they should give, it is a split second decision.

Sky have 32 + cameras to analysis the action, slow it it down etc.

If they got every decision right we would have nothing to moan about.

[soggy biscuit]

We earned ourselves a decades worth of wrong decisions after the 'phantom goal'

[TBM]

West ham back pass that pog scored?
Villa own goal?

I would say though that weve had more against than for this season, I mean how lucky was that goal for united yesterday and then for wigan to grab that ridiculously lucky winner. We would have got a point, such is life. Another nail in the coffin.

They weren't decisions that went for us though - just shite play by the oppo

[Z175]

Exactly. Luck, ie bounces of the ball and mistakes etc does even itself out. Biased refereeing does not. It also slowly saps at confidence where you get the worst of the ref every single game.

It's always a bigger club thing.

And what about Koscielnys blatant foul at 4-3 in the league cup when last man? That's the one that really ruined this season for me.

After Saturday I'm just fed up of it and want to get back to the championship, where to be honest we get a lot of help from refs ourselves...

[Maguire]

For us:
Gorkss's blatant foul in the penalty area against Everton at home

Wasn't a foul, Naysmith dived

[Sanguine]

We earned ourselves a decades worth of wrong decisions after the 'phantom goal'

This. Watford won a goal kick, and we got awarded a goal instead.

[bracksroyal10]

I think the fact that we were told we do not appeal enough for decisions says it all.

Yet another stonewall penalty missed on saturday with the Vidic push how obvious did the referee want that one to be. In a pub full of hundred odd people watching the game even the United fans initial reaction was penalty.

Not that it is going to make a great difference probably unless we do a Fulham, but if you add up all of those decisions that have gone against us we would be in a very different position right now.

[Maguire]

We earned ourselves a decades worth of wrong decisions after the 'phantom goal'

This. Watford won a goal kick, and we got awarded a goal instead.

Referee disallowed a fair goal for us later in the same game didn't he?

[reading_fan]

Some counter points to some of the comments above:

1. The psychology of this is that no-one ever really remembers the decisions that go in your favour, soft free kicks round the box that are scored from, soft penalties. These decisions are favourable so are not remembered as much as the outcome, a goal in our favour. However, the injustices are always the ones that are remembered or are often cited, so tend to be more memorable and reiterated, or used as excuses for other failings (striker missing an open goal, one on one etc)

2. The "favouring the big team" argument. I think to a certain extent some (weaker) referees are perhaps influenced by a raucous large crowd sometimes, that is human nature. However, the fact that the big teams tend to get more decisions than smaller teams is that they spend more time in the opposition half/third/box than a lesser side, which gives their team more opportunities for decisions (soft penalties, free kicks etc) to be won as they do more of the attacking, whereas a smaller side might only break into the Man Utd box once or twice in a game to have much fewer opportunities to benefit from soft/wrong decisions. Assuming we go back to being one of the front runners in the Champo next season, we will probably go back to being "in credit" (ie more favourable decisions for than against) with referees.

[WAZZOCK]

We earned ourselves a decades worth of wrong decisions after the 'phantom goal'

This. Watford won a goal kick, and we got awarded a goal instead.

This argument really really irks me. Anyone who was at the game saw that the ref more than made up for his mistake in the match alone. Rightly or wrongly, that was one of the most one sided referee performances in favour of Watford, ghost goal aside.

[Sanguine]

We earned ourselves a decades worth of wrong decisions after the 'phantom goal'

This. Watford won a goal kick, and we got awarded a goal instead.

This argument really really irks me. Anyone who was at the game saw that the ref more than made up for his mistake in the match alone. Rightly or wrongly, that was one of the most one sided referee performances in favour of Watford, ghost goal aside.

Well it shouldn’t irk you. It highlights how futile this debate is. We discuss a handball there, or something not awarded here, whilst a few years ago we got awarded a goal when the ball didn’t go within 3 feet of the sticks.

Over time, yes it ‘evens itself out’. But seriously, who cares? You get relegated from this division if you’re not good enough. Create your own luck.

[soggy biscuit]

We earned ourselves a decades worth of wrong decisions after the 'phantom goal'

This. Watford won a goal kick, and we got awarded a goal instead.

This argument really really irks me. Anyone who was at the game saw that the ref more than made up for his mistake in the match alone. Rightly or wrongly, that was one of the most one sided referee performances in favour of Watford, ghost goal aside.

Ghost goal? I thought it was a phantom goal? Now I am confused at the level of involvement from our friends on the other side. Is a ghost meant to have scored it now?

poltergeist goal maybe.

[soggy biscuit]

We earned ourselves a decades worth of wrong decisions after the 'phantom goal'

This. Watford won a goal kick, and we got awarded a goal instead.

This argument really really irks me. Anyone who was at the game saw that the ref more than made up for his mistake in the match alone. Rightly or wrongly, that was one of the most one sided referee performances in favour of Watford, ghost goal aside.

To happily accept that goal, put up no protest over it, for one player to even try and claim it as theirs (S Hunt admitted to that ) and then not offer after it for something like the opposition to score a goal to even it up, would I imagine leave fans of other clubs quite pleased when things don't go our way.

When someone as significant as that goes our way we have very little right to complain when things don't.