And another controversial decision goes in Manchester United’s favour at Old Trafford, and in turn instigates another train of “why don’t you just hand them the title” chants. It is true that Michael Carrick’s challenge on Danny Murphy late on in the United-Fulham game was a stonewall penalty, and it is also pretty obvious that another referee bottled it big time at the Theatre of Dreams, but to say that United would go on to win the title because of refereeing gifts is stretching the clamour a bit too far.
Granted, United tend to get refereeing blunders more often in their favour, than against them at Old Trafford, but that’s something all home sides benefit from. There is not a single ground in any division of any league in the world where the officiating errors aren’t skewed towards the home side. Except that in the case of United – with all their success – this tilt is touted as a conspiracy theory by the opposing fans, the media and quite often rival managers as well. It’s human nature to be intimidated by thousands of fans constantly behind your back. It shouldn’t be the case with someone officiating at Premier League level, but it doesn’t mean that this manifestation of incompetence on Michael Oliver’s part was intentional. And to suggest that if the English Champions go on to defend their title it would be because of a collective scheme of the referees union is not only the quintessential demonstration of paranoia it also shows total discard of the efforts of a team that has been on the up since December, and made a tough run of fixtures look like a cakewalk – at least in terms of the points accumulated. In fact United have had quite a few decisions going against them this season at Old Trafford as well. Off the top of my head; the penalty kick awarded for the foul that never was against Ben Arfa, possibly the best tackle that Rio Ferdinand has conjured up this season in the match against Newcastle and also the horrendous challenge on Javier Hernandez that Ashley Cole got away with, are two major incidents that spring to mind. Yes the cliché that things ‘even things out’ over the course of the season, isn’t exactly true – for the rub of the green almost always tends to favour someone – but over the course of 38 games the luck factor is significantly reduced than say in a cup final, hence the other cliché that ‘the league table never lies’ is spot on.
Sir Alex’s press conference or indeed his general persona quite often smacks of arrogance, and he knows his way around intimidating people as well. But he hasn’t built his empire solely by shouting his displeasure in the referees’ eyes. Even the fact that this United side, which is quite a few notches below the United teams of years gone – and as their European misadventure divulged – below the standard other top European teams are setting, finds itself three points clear at the top of the table is proof of the resilience of this group of players. And this again is mostly due to the ethos created by Sir Alex at Old Trafford. United have been on the up since the turn of the year – following the back to back defeats against Blackburn and Newcastle in December –, which has seen them overtake Manchester City at the summit of the league. And while United got away with Michael Oliver pulling out a refereeing clanger on Monday, that will not be the reason behind the defence of their title – if it materializses of course…
