I have often left the football field angry at the performance of referees, and – more recently – VAR. But if that is the case, it has always been after a defeat or a draw that a bad decision prevented a Newcastle United win.
But in my 61 years of watching football I have never witnessed such a terrible performance as that of Chris Kavanagh and his assistants at Aston Villa yesterday. I’m still fuming, and we WON!!!
Two games are close.
Anderlecht against Vorst in 1984 was so clearly rigged that it was later discovered that the Belgian side had bribed the referee.
When Chelsea played Barcelona in 2009, a bald Norwegian made a series of nonsensical decisions that resulted in the Catalans winning the match. I’m not a Chelsea fan, but I was seething with anger on their behalf that night.
Chris Kavanagh receives a six-figure annual income after including competition costs. According to Google, Premier League referees earn between £170,000 and £250,000. That’s four to six times the UK median income.
Now I don’t mind people with the brains, skills and qualifications making top dollar. But if a £200,000-a-year accountant couldn’t do math, or an engineer from the same company kept building things that collapsed, or a £200,000 surgeon kept amputating the wrong limbs, they’d be fired and never work again.
But in the case of Chris Kavanagh, I have no doubt that this man will still spoil the Premier League stadiums and enjoy his money until he decides to retire. It’s unbelievable.
The problem Chris Kavanagh gave himself in the match against Aston Villa was that all his crazy decision-making involved the same team. Two blatant penalties, a blatant offside and a blatant red card, all ignored with an imperious wave of the manicured hand. Jacob Murphy even showed him the holes in his shin where Digne used his studs in an attempt to break our man’s leg. Did Kavanagh think he was making them do acupuncture?
The PGMOL are arrogant, smug and selfish. They will probably agree that one of the two incidents could have been handled better in hindsight, and Chris Kavanagh will continue to make a fool of the Premier League for as long as he wants.
His performance was so poor that Villa fans on social media said he was their best player. Unai Emery was so stunned that even he said it was a game that should have had VAR. That didn’t happen. All it needed was a referee and assistants who knew a few things about football.
Rodri – the Manchester City midfielder – is facing misconduct charges over comments he made about the neutrality of the referees after their recent match against Tottenham. I suggest his lawyers show the panel the full 90 minutes of Aston Villa against Newcastle and ask them to identify any moment in the match when Chris Kavanagh was neutral. I never want to see him near a Newcastle United match again.
#Rodri #evidence #defense..