Arsenal Fighting Against Blatant Favouritism Towards Rivals?

It is amazing that we have to give Man United, at least a ten point handicap regarding decisions that go in their favour, and decisions that go against us. Alan Pardew, manager of Newcastle, summed up this matter quite appropriately when interviewed after the Man United game, after Hernandez was not given a penalty. Pardew remarked that he had told the referee, that it was rather brave of the referee not to have given Man United a penalty.

This is a clear statement that supports the theory that referees are afraid to rule against United because they feel intimidated. Why should a referee who has made the correct decision be described as ‘brave’? Why should Man United be treated any differently to any other team in the premiership?

There is no doubt that United are the world-wide selling point of the Premiership and you need your number one product to be successful, in order to sell television rights and appeal to a wider audience. It is all about maximising revenue. If United are not winning, then the Premier League cannot sell overseas rights are highly as they are currently doing, because there won’t be as many countries interested in buying the rights at exorbitant rates. Nevertheless, should fair play be sacrificed for this purpose where it makes it impossible for other clubs to compete on the same level playing field?

A clear illustration of this was when Fabregas conceded a penalty against Spurs by blocking a Spurs free kick. The very next week, a Wigan player did the same thing against Arsenal and nothing was given. United always get the rub of the green and that is no co-incidence. The Gary Neville incident vs West Brom, was as blatant as the goal that wasn’t given, when the ball crossed the line against Spurs a couple of years before. How can anyone miss that? The list goes on and on. If someone makes a video of the decisions that have won United titles, it would be feature film in length.

It sounds like fairytale stuff when Newcastle come back from four goals down to draw four all against us, but does anyone, apart from committed Arsenal fans, bother to question how this result was really made possible?

The FA, in my view, see Arsenal as a French club playing in the English Premier League and therefore they dish out a catalogue of poor decisions against Arsenal. Arsene Wenger, being the intelligent man that he is, is fully aware of this and he is equally aware that it is futile to complain because he will be branded a sore loser looking for excuses by the English press who are part of the wider conspiracy.

They refer to Arsenal’s fine style of play not producing any trophies for six years and a lack of an English spine in the Arsenal team. They clearly overlook the fact that poor refereeing has ensured that Arsenal have not got any trophies to show for their fine exhibition of the game. Don’t also forget the blatant fouling of Arsenal players have resulted in long term injuries, that clearly affected our results. If the playing field were level, then the manner in which Arsenal have played the game over the past six years, would have produced a trophy ages ago.

Notice how the English press point to Chelsea and Manchester City as being big spenders but fail to mention that Manchester United are also huge spenders. They paid £30 million for Ferdinand a while back when transfer fees were much lower and £27 million for Rooney. Don’t forget they have a number of flops that they have paid over £16 million to acquire.

Until these issues which are swept under the carpet are openly addressed, then it will be impossible for Arsenal, who believe in the correct spirit of the game, to win a significant trophy for perhaps another six years!