Ah, we can’t win here. Raise a finger, an index finger that is, and suggest that the referee is as impartial as Phil Thompson and you’re always going to get ‘you’re just bitter’ and ‘isn’t that a bit Everton?’ so we’re not allowed to complain. Well, sod it, I’m complaining and I’m going to do without the risk of a fine. It’s thirty hours later and I still can’t believe why Howard Webb is considered to be one of the best referees in the world. Whoever’s made that judgment didn’t canvass me.
I like Van de Vaart, I really do. He’s a great player and his goal, even given the deflection, was a beauty. As on Zaki’s goal at the same end a few years ago, sometimes you just have to admire it and feel sick at the pause before the away end reacts but to watch him sprint away from the goal, turn on his heel and slide towards the Kop/Kemlyn corner flag left many of us dumbfounded. Rooney, Cahill etc fair enough, but why did Van de Vaart do that? Possibly, just possibly, he took the catcalls from the away end when he left the pitch at White Hart Lane to heart last winter but it wasn’t that bad. What a stupid and unwarranted thing to do when you’re going to get a guaranteed card for it.
Ah.
Enter Mr Webb.
A gesture to suggest he should return for the kick off and nothing else. And with that the tone is set.
How the hell is that not incitement? I went from admiration to ‘bastards’ to standing up screaming at him and then utter confusion as to why he wasn’t booked in about six seconds. I’m in my forties, stand my round and am seldom quick to anger but it took me, the most law abiding fan on the planet, that long to start wondering which steward I could get past on my way to the pitch.
No action.
Yes, but who would be a referee in this high pressure age? Who can live with these fickle fans and super-ego footballers with their childish ways? Me! Seriously. If all you have to do is wear tight shorts and act like a teacher with a teacher’s pet then I’ll do the course and shave my head. I’ll even bring my own watches. I’m not too good on the impartiality issue but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. Still got that MU shirt, Mr Mason?
Am I being a poor loser? I don’t think so. I paid £44 to watch a referee absolutely ruin a game. There are calls in Italy for the referee not to be announced until a few hours before the kick off so he can’t be influenced. Maybe that’s a good idea but how many would show up next time Webb is due at their ground? One lad in my row stormed out after the penalty was awarded, baying ‘what’s the point in staying here while he’s the ref. What chance have we got?’ I’m too stupid and optimistic enough to believe that we could win 3-2 so didn’t follow him but he had my sympathy. Maybe he met those MU wags coming out of the Anny Road…
And to top it all off we’re told to respect referees. That’s the word, that’s the standard. We should respect them for performances like that. Van de Vaart escapes a booking after a long look; Spurs get the pen with the fastest hand gesture since Ted Rogers. Flanagan had barely bumped shoulders before Webb was pointing with one hand and shoving away protests with the other. Top referee Howard Webb there. A day earlier United players surrounded the referee when he was making his mind and…ah, sod it. It’s not going to change.
Elsewhere United finally achieved Ferguson’s dream and there’s very little to argue about. He’s managed twelve titles and we pushed them close once in twenty odd years so although it’s not easy to praise him, and I’m certainly not going to do that, we just didn’t do enough to stop him. Every employee at LFC in the last twenty years is culpable for this situation. We’ve got to take it on the chin and do something about it, starting now. If 2012 has no European football then so be it. Let’s use the spare time to pour all of our efforts into league progression. Ultimately, that’s all that matters.