Overlords! Brilliant! But it'll all be a part of their masterplan for the greater good!
Michael Oliver
- Thread starter stubie
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He stat pads. Gave us a soft penalty v city when they were 6-1 up, and has given us a pen when out of sight. He's in their pocket, I fully believe it, and at the very least has a pathological ego problem and resentment of United
Is he really such a cnut though? If he's the one who ends up getting EtH sacked and Amorim in, he's a good lad in my book.
Oliver is like Dr Evil, sitting in his lair laughing with the other refs around the table. UAE investors on the big screen.
How much thanks do we give this man for delivering Amorim then?
He is probably crying in his pillow as we speak
He will definitely have been hoping for City to be comfortable enough today for a performative show of harshness against them. A soft penalty or a questionable second yellow card.
It’s really going to hurt his case when he inevitably has to call a big decision inexplicably in their favour.
It’s really going to hurt his case when he inevitably has to call a big decision inexplicably in their favour.
I wonder what punishment awaits him from citeh's owners after failing to deliver today 
I don't think he's corrupt - it would be too obvious. I just think that he's a bit shit.
I find it a bit weird that he can be that shit. The double yellow for Dalot. Kovacic literally begging for a second yellow card with his daft tackle from behind, studs into Rice's ankle, with Michael Oliver apparently not wanting to send him off as it would ruin the match. Cue Michael Oliver sending Trossard off for delaying restart. Manchester Citys penalty against us. He's pretty damn horrible at consistently applying his interpretation of the rules. I mean, maybe he is that shit, but i'd just expect it to be a bit more overall instead of somewhat biased
Yeah you keep on believing that.
It literally is obvious
Those two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Maybe he’s shit AND corrupt?!
And biased and a bit of an a**hole.
Maybe I'm wrong, but my point is that the chances of him being the corrupt one and not being reprimanded for it by now seem pretty low if there was any proper evidence. If someone is on the books at another club then why go for a single ref?
I just think it's conspiracy nonsense at this point. And easy conspiracy nonsense as well, at that. It doesn't take a Big Brain to see how useless/arrogant he is and equate that to being dodgy. As if any of us dipshits are capable of cracking this case wide open...
Personally it's the Audi analogy as far as I'm concerned. "All Audi drivers tailgate and are selfish on the road." We see it because we're looking for it. Meanwhile every week refs are making wrong decisions. Even today Oliver didn't really do anything wrong but everyone will forget that quickly to maintain this narrative that he's in City's back pocket. It seems like it's true since this thread was on the front page and nobody engaged with it because there's no story to tell. How often has that happened over the course of the last few seasons, hmmm?
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The wheels were well in motion days if not weeks before that West Ham game.
Mate, people trying to influence games try to do so in every way possible. It doesn't have to be confined to a single ref, it could be one player in one random match. 14 year old kids in Iceland are getting offers to influence a match from people abroad for a U15 friendly.
The leap of faith of considering that Oliver is dirty is a small one if you choose to take it. The league was completely fine with him and several other refs getting paid by a PL club owner above board. VAR keeps making terrible calls. If you really wanted to be corrupt you could easily do it because you'll hide behind the excuse of refs being shit.
Refereeing is hard but they can at least follow protocol and Oliver has broken protocol. Why did he break protocol? He's not so stupid as to not understand it.
We got nothing on the refs but their performances have been of such quality that if proof were to come to light of any of them being corrupt I don't think any of us would be shocked. I mean we've seen it plenty of times in other big leagues but I think that like with PEDs and homophobia people willfully put on their blinders and pretend that the sport doesn't have this kind of bad stuff within the game.
Got to admire his ability to ruin every single game he refs no matter the competition or teams involved. PSV-Girona this time.
How come he was allowed to referee that match? Aren't Girona owned by the City Group? Clear conflict of interest.
He’s like a librarian with an anger management problem.
What an absolute thundercnut this man is.
The guy is so blatantly corrupt it is insane that it is continually ignored by the Pl and UEFA: he literally makes decisions where there isn’t one to be made. Or refuses to make them when there’s one clearly there.
The guy is so blatantly corrupt it is insane that it is continually ignored by the Pl and UEFA: he literally makes decisions where there isn’t one to be made. Or refuses to make them when there’s one clearly there.
I mean, the evidence of him having been to referee in the middle of the season in the UAE, receiving payments through channels that make the ultimate beneficiary the City owner (without having to do much digging or due diligence), are there, with no consequences whatsoever. Him notoriously being a Newcastle fan and having the ability to ref games that might directly impact their league performance is also insane. Corruption doesn't necessarily have to be this cliché gangser film thing, it can be simply a dishonest use of one's power due to external influence or conflict of interest. I don't see how you can look at the Oliver case and not feel it ticks a loooot of the boxes - it then becomes even murkier when you watch his refereeing performances and see the numbers (red cards, impact on results, blatant mistakes...).
Webb's answer to a lot of the above is to shrug it away and say "everyone's a professional and wants to perform at the top of their ability". Because there are no checks and balances in the game and people are happy to just nod along (see his performance on the Overlap), nothing happens. But that doesn't mean something isn't fundamentally wrong.
Agreed. Bias is a thing, unconscious or otherwise, so PGMOL putting someone with that many conflicts of interest in a position where he can seriously damage the success of teams counter to them interests is ludicrous.
You could just about forgive him supporting the club he has since a child, I would imagine it’s impossible in the uk to find a referee who didn’t support a club when they were a kid. What’s unforgivable is the link to Abu Dhabi. When it becomes financial then it’s very dodgy ground. Practically every company in the world has anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-trust training and rules. If PGMOL did the same Oliver would fail, he’d be a case study in conflict of interest.
The whole thing is not set up correctly. We've heard refs coming onto national TV and talking about not wanting to make their "mates" look stupid. It's as though they're tight knit and all in it together, a bit like how a club works, rather than in it for the betterment of the game and league. I think this is part of why Oliver has been able to go about this blatant conflict of interest without any repercussions. They protect eachother. And the media seem complicit. You hear the likes of Neville and co saying Oliver is the best ref? I don't watch the other teams much but based on his performances for us, he is easily the worst.
Refereeing in Saudi has essentially been banned by Webb, for the likes of Oliver etc.
No requests have been made to Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body that oversees elite referees in England, for such one-off matches since last October, when chief refereeing officer Howard Webb decided that approval would only be granted if there was a “development opportunity” for the match officials, such as for young referees to gain experience.
No requests have been made to Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body that oversees elite referees in England, for such one-off matches since last October, when chief refereeing officer Howard Webb decided that approval would only be granted if there was a “development opportunity” for the match officials, such as for young referees to gain experience.
No consequences for him then?
He's about to referee his second match after the shitshow of a VAR performance, so if there's any consequences it's not a public one. Best we can hope for is that there's been some discussions about his performances in matches including us, and that we get a bit of a break from him being involved in our matches.
You could forgive the club support of course, but you could also try to implement much bigger safeguards, i.e. him not refereeing a game when one of the teams would be meeting Newcastle in the following game (impact of red cards) or games of teams that have a direct impact on Newcastle's fortunes. And nothing related to City. And not work on VAR for any of those either. That would leave a handful of games, sure, but then again you probably shouldn't have such a high profile ref who is so conflicted. It's not sustainable. The fact Oliver has become this sort of "star" referee considered to be one of the best in the league is absolutely insane.
I also think enhancing the pathway to the PL to foreign top refs should be a thing.
Of course not. And his villa on the seafront in Abu Dhabi will be waiting for him in a few years time.
I was discussing that with my father a couple of weekends ago. The referees should be a European pool, similar to the way the Champions League and Europa league are. With the shenanigans that have happened with refs in Spain and Italy you'd think there would be an appetite for it. My father, 82 next year, literally pines for Collina "he'd sort these cheating bastards out"
I was discussing that with my father a couple of weekends ago. The referees should be a European pool, similar to the way the Champions League and Europa league are. With the shenanigans that have happened with refs in Spain and Italy you'd think there would be an appetite for it. My father, 82 next year, literally pines for Collina "he'd sort these cheating bastards out"
I think he was or may have been at the age of retirement at the time, but the guy who retired under a cloud after he ridiculously ruled out a goal and put Everton out of CL football.
He'd sort them out alright.
.
You don't sanction your mates...