Who was the scouser in the black?

Neil Warnock says Friend and Pawson (VAR) ‘let themselves down massively’ and questioned the competency of referees in general, claiming they let the ‘top clubs get away with murder’.  

With Palace pushing for an equaliser at 2-1, Diogo Jota was brought down by goalkeeper Vicente Guiata during a Reds’ counter-attack. A penalty.

There has barely been such a mood of disgust at the unfairness of the decision within the football ‘family’.

Klopp, the manager ‘of the people,’ or so he likes to portray himself, showed himself to be anything but, as he excused away a ‘get out of jail free’ call. But he is the manager I guess of historically one of the greatest cheats in Premiership history. I digress.

But it is customary, and the culture of a referee decision going in favour of the bigger club. I don’t need stats to support this. When I was a regular at Selhurst during many a season of what is now the Championship, I would often be swallowed up in embarrassment as a minnow like Walsall, was being metered out a damn fine hiding (rose tinted glasses), and a blatant foul or penalty by the Palace would be ignored; most calls would go our way unfairly.

VAR has actually been a force for good in ‘levelling up’ the disparity of decisions for the rich against the poor. Football clubs that is. But the new ‘culture war’ has a fresh embodiment. If you don’t like something, simply lie to suit your agenda. Johnson through repeatedly lying about the orgy of parties at Number 10 has set a record level of low in his race to the bottom of the moral pit. Referee Kevin, ‘no’ Friend ‘ of the Palace, has taken Johnson’s lead, seen black and decided white. Outrageous bias. Refereeing corruption!

It is a culture of refereeing that verges on moral corruption. A group of officials, supposedly at the top of their game, who are swayed by kudos. 

Now, I watch Lewes FC in the Isthmian league where fortuitously referees still make bad decisions, but they are evenly distributed in ineptitude and unfairness.

It wouldn’t happen in rugby or cricket, but as we know the footballing authorities are so scared rigid of upsetting the status quo and the rich clubs, anything like a principle of fairness is quietly ignored. Until referees receive punishment for poor decisions, refereeing will always be poor and their authority always questioned.

What will football do about it? Nothing. In the workplace, retribution for de facto gross misconduct is expected. For Premiership referees, the law of fairness does not exist; surely fairness for a referee is paramount.