So that was it? The big 4 met, everyone yawned, the powers-that-be have managed to reignite a 4-way Premiership title race (great for betting turnover) and the standard of football was mediocre.
At the ground next to Highbury, there was a third late change of referee for a televised Arsenal game within a month! We have spoken with Arsene Wenger regarding Premiership officialdom and we are aware that he is addressing the issue. But three changes of official in such a short period for one team's live events is unprecedented. Due to the influence of match officials, such alterations lead to major market upheaval when announced and is one of the prime reasons why we trade late on many Premiership events.
Yesterday's post regarding the use of video technology was prompted by Uriah Rennie's overruling of one of his assistants to provide Newcastle with a lifeline against West Ham. Regular readers will understand that we don't have much respect for Curbishley and Day but the Hammers were denied two points by Poll last week and two further points on Saturday - these may well be key in their relegation battle. By a considerable distance, Newcastle are the most favoured team with regard to refereeing decisions in the Premiership this season - Shepherd and the plc would be bogged down in relegation land otherwise.
The sending off of El-Hadji Diouf by the volatile Wiley was a nonsense (although irrelevant in terms of the match). Diouf is treated appallingly by officials and the press in this country and some of the statements and attitudes towards him border on racism. He is a remarkable human being who donates huge amounts of his money to Mouride causes in Senegal - these are the people who die in their boats en masse trying to get into Europe to undertake street hawking in order to survive (one of globalisation's many successes?!). Okay, so the man occasionally spits and he winds up the racists in the crowd. So what - a top man and a top player.
Which is more than can be said for Keith Gillespie - several courgettes short of a ratatouille...
