It seems that the whole of football apart from Spurs fans want Leicester City to win the Premier League, but has this affected refereeing decisions.

There can be no doubting that should Leicester City win the Premier League it will be a breath of fresh air, in the previous 22 seasons of the Premier League it has been the preserve of four clubs, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and latterly Manchester City, only Blackburn have broken their domination and that was 21 years ago. And if you take into account the fact that Arsenal have not won a title now in 12 years up until this season the Premier League has been predictable to say the least.

In contrast in the 25 seasons before the Premier League was formed a total of 10 clubs won the old First division including the likes of Nottingham Forest & Derby County.

This monopoly of recent years has led to a feeling amongst football supporters that if the Premier League's aim was to get the rich club's richer then it has achieved it and more.

That means that if you don't support one of those four clubs who have won it since Blackburn, very few of you have experienced a genuine title challenge in the Premier League even if it did end in failure, perhaps Liverpool being the only other club who have vaguely threatened a title win.

This season has been a very strange one and perhaps a worrying one if you are the Chairman of a TV company that broadcasts Champions League games, if Chelsea and Manchester United were to fail to qualify for the Champions league it would be a viewing figure disaster.

But away from the armchair world of football supporting you won't find many who do not want to see Leicester City win the title and perhaps show the rest of us that we can compete against the big boys, but the rest of us do not equal the armchair masses both at home and abroad.

But there seems to be one area of football that seems to be sub conciously willing Leicester on and that is Premier League officials, Ok I accept that the standard this season has been appalling, the men in the middle have been consistently getting it wrong although I do accept that it is hard for them with the number of divers and cheats about these days. Even the linesmen are no real help to them, too many just seem to be willing to do no more than point the flag in the direction that the ref wants at throw ins and give the occasional offside.

Perhaps I am still a little raw after Sunday's game against the Foxes which saw four controversial moments with all four going the way of the home side, but I think that perhaps Leicester have taken over the mantle of Manchester United in just seeming to keep getting the rub of the green in refereeing decisions even when it looks stacked against them.

I can understand why the referee did not spot Danny Simpson's handball, he had kept his hands close to his body and then used his elbow, it looked accidental, but it was deliberate, Robert Huth's transgression was a lot clearer and the linesman should have helped out his referee there.

The goal was a little less controversial but Morgan did push Clasie, it was slight but I have seen them given for less.

Likewise Jamie Vardy's studs up challenge on Steven Davis, it could be said he won the ball, but his studs were up and it was reckless, it should have been at least a yellow and there are some who would have given red, again I have seen them given for less as the saying goes.

I don't think that the referee was deliberately cheating, but the question is are officials being carried along on the fairytale that is Leicester's season and are they sub conciously giving decisions their way.

Now before you dismiss this as just sour grapes there are statistics that do back up my theory.

Teamtalk.com have a table that monitors controversial decisions and details each club and those decisions that have gone for and against them.

Leicester City currently sit equal first in the table with 14 gone for them and only 7 against a score of +7, alongside them are Manchester United with the same difference although they have only 9 for and 2 against.

Ironically Saints sit near the bottom with 6 going for them and 11 against.

So it does seem that Leicester are getting more than their fair share of decisions going their way, no other club has more controversial decisions than the 21 they have had and no club has more than the 14 that have gone their way, indeed half the league hasn't even had 14 controversial moments in total let alone gone for them.

So the evidence is perhaps pointing to the fact that Leicester are getting a little bit of the rub of the green in terms of refereeing decisions as we found out on Sunday.

It is no different than back in the day when Sir Alex Ferguson ruled the roost at Old Trafford and created an atmosphere in games where it helped tip the referee's mindsway at crucial times.

In fairness to Leicester I don't thins Claudio Ranieri is trying to do the same thing as Ferguson, but the media is doing that work for him, it is creating a situation where Leicester are seen as the saviours of football after decades of big club domination, referee's are human and it will affect them as much as anyone else.

This is not a rant against Leicester City, indeed I hope that they go on and win the Premier League and I will applaud them as much as the next man, as i said i don't think it is a situation created by themselves, but they are benefiting from it at the moment.

From this point I am just highlighting what i have seen in recent weeks backed up by some statistics.

So good luck to Leicester City and there supporters in the coming weeks, finish the job you have started.

Photo: Action Images

Scrooge added 10:31 - Apr 5 Leicester are a mid-table club without many of their matches being FIXED and their PEDs (which started before Ranieri and this season) .. oh hang on did I say that out loud? That must've been my Tourette's. What I meant to say was congratulations Leciester, what a refreshing change.
0

ericofarabia added 11:04 - Apr 5 Okay humour me ..... what is a / or are PEDs
0

SaintBrock added 11:45 - Apr 5 I agree with you Nick.
1

JGH added 12:21 - Apr 5 I agree. Any team needs more than their fair share of the rub of the green to be up there and Leicester more than most given where they've come from! That said, as much as I was fuming at the TV on Sunday they were all marginal ones... Newcastle in the mid-90s another team to have challenged for the title (went to the last day in '96). Great side to watch...
1

halftimeorange added 12:32 - Apr 5 I think there is a bigger problem with constant and obvious refereeing blunders. The fact is that an error can cost clubs millions of pounds. Anyone see Burnley's goal which wasn't given against Brighton last Saturday? If it should cost Burnley promotion it will deny the club untold Sky TV riches, not to mention robbing their supporters of a rare opportunity to see some of the world's best footballers on their home turf. With all the money in the game it is a disgrace that major controversial decisions aren't reviewed instantly by the fourth official. It works in cricket and rugby and doesn't interfere with play long enough to cause a problem - ask any armchair viewer who watches a multitude of insignificant replays during every match.

3

SanMarco added 12:53 - Apr 5 I agree on the reviews halftimeorange - a fifth official in direct contact with the ref could sort a lot of the big blunders out. I believe the ref only made one big mistake on Sunday - the first one. Their goal and the Vardy tackle were both ones that will always go 80-20 in favour of the scorer/tackler and I think Huth WAS accidental. The Simpson one was deliberate handball and a fifth official watching tv live would have confirmed that in seconds. One final point - one of the reasons he didn't give it would have been the red card. It occured to me though that would it have to be red? - the ball wasn't going to go in because it would have hit him and gone for a corner anyway. So why not pen and yellow. I remember Killer Svennson being sent off at Tottenham when he blocked a ball on the goal line when it was heading towards his body and wouldnt have gone in. I thought then that red was wrong - but there of course the penalty was given!!!

1

BoondockSaint added 13:56 - Apr 5 Come onNick, you are acting like one of the "big team" fans. Leicester is doing well, not the chosen few, so it has to be a big conspiracy, right? It's not their gritty play, it's not their taking it to the big teams, it's not their hard work defending, it's not their scoring a goal when they need to-It's a big conspiracy! Look, they are doing everything we want the Saints to do, but don't. It hurts, but lets not be bitter, eh? Imagine if the roles were reversed? You would never say the officials were favouring the Saints you would say the officials got them both right. I will admit if this was a game between one of the "big six" and a smaller club, at least one of those calls would go in the big teams favour, if not both. If anything, I thought the officials were giving Spurs a hand by giving the Saints an astounding 5 extra minutes of Fergie time to at least get a draw.

0

LordDZLucan added 14:14 - Apr 5 Yes, the decisions are certainly going Leicester's way. The Simpson handball should have been a panalty because he was moving as he handled the ball; the Huth handball was an even clearer penalty because his hand was deliberately a yard away from his body; I couldn't understand why Clasie hadn't headed the ball before Morgan but if he was pushed that explains it; and Newcastle should have had a stonewall penalty for handball in the previous game. Therefore I would have to agree that there's sub-conscious favourtism towards Leicester from refs. But if it means that Pochettino doesn't win the title then it can't be all bad!

1

talkingoldfish added 14:38 - Apr 5 You cite the Ref Review section on Teamtalk.com as a source for Leicester getting the 'rub of the green'. However, whilst the fact would appear to be true as they are currently on +7 for decisions, you decide not to add that in the Ref Review column for this week the 5 independent referees decided that both penalty decisions were correctly dismissed by the referee and the Vardy challenge also was not worthy of a red card. In which case the panel decided that Leicester did not get any incorrect decisions go their way in this match.

0

LordDZLucan added 15:12 - Apr 5 Sorry talkingoldfish that just confirms the poor judgement of people who for some inexplicable reason choose to be referees!
1

talkingoldfish added 16:27 - Apr 5 That being the case having a video ref (or 5th/ 6th / 7th official) reviewing matters wouldn't help the situation either! I think the only decision that there may be a case for is possibly the Simpson handball, even though I do think his hand was in a natural position and had the ball not hit his arm it would have hit his chest. There's no way Huth's handball was deliberate and Vardy's tackle was a yellow at best.

0

SanMarco added 22:12 - Apr 5 Don't understand 'natural position' argument because he was looking at the ball and had time to move his hand to an 'unnatural position' and thereby not handle it
0

SeattleSaints added 21:27 - Apr 6 Thanks for the article Nick! Personally, I’m glad that finally someone has actually spoken up in regards to this kind of thing and the good fortune they’ve had. Credit where its due, of course, but the so called ‘Leicester love-in’ wore off for me a while ago to be honest.… In fact, whenever I even think to mention that they are also fortunate that the usual big teams are not up to much this year and is a significant reason why they are doing so well I nearly ‘always’ get panned. Fair play to them for taking advantage don’t get me wrong, but seriously, if Ferguson was still around (or they’d replaced him adequately), Chelsea were even half descent, ManC actually put in a somewhat consistent shift ect..ect. All ‘ifs’ of course, but just making the point that it’s been a factor here and maybe for a minute just take a step back here as Nick has.

0

darthvader added 07:32 - Apr 8 I did want them to win it, but not now after Sunday I thought they got away with too much . I'm bitter . Not a bad loser but if we had committed those fouls and handballs I'm pretty sure at least half of them would have been upheld . I said it before somewhere that if big vic had tackled like vardy did, you know it would have been a red , Wining the ball or not .
1

SeattleSaints added 21:58 - Apr 11 Another penalty appeal waved away this last weekend vs Sunderland Nick.....hmmm, how interesting after your article.
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Leyton Orient Polls