Ever since the last Merseyside Derby, there has been a renewed focus in the press and particularly amongst football fans about the bias shown by refs to bigger teams. For those who cannot remember the game and how the referee's actions decided the result, ref Mark Clattenberg;
a) Gave Liverpool a penalty when replays showed the Everton player made no tackle, with Steven Gerrard simply sticking his leg in the way of the Everton player in order to get the penalty.
b) Visibly ghanged his mind about what card to issue to the Everton player after the false penalty was given after Liverpool's Steven Gerrard told him what to do (TV replays showed the ref getting out his yellow card, Gerrard spoke to him, he then put the yellow card away and issued a red card instead).
After the match Everotn manager David Moyes said
"The game was not decided by the players but by the referee"
But more interestingly he added further information linking Mr Clattenberg to liverpool and what might be a rather cosyt relationship between Mr Clattenberg and the Anfield team when he commented
"Didn't Clattenburg go to Hong Kong with Liverpool for the Asia Cup this summer? Maybe he wants to be their friend."
These statements from David Moyes at the time earned him an FA charge, yet despite the game happening about four months ago, the FA had been very slow to actually call the hearing, which David Moyes was to speak directly to. The main point is though, the FA have now dropped these charges against David Moyes.
A hearing could, it seems, have been dreadfully embarrassing to the FA and to the reputaiton of referees. But if what David Moyes is saying is wrong, surely the FA would ot have dropped their charges, would they ? Surely they would want to see Moyes held to account for these statements if they were untrue ?
The fact is that the FA's decision seems to point to the fact that the David Moyes was right and some referees have far too healthy and cosy a relationship with some of the big clubs then they should.
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