Leonardo Leads the Line of RESPECT

I am still trying to digest what I heard this afternoon. After a game against Chelsea that his Manchester United team had largely controlled only to lose thanks to a set piece, Alex Ferguson uttered the words I never thought I would hear him say; “We have only ourselves to blame.” Say it again? Did I hear that right? No incompetent refereeing, no conspiracy theories and certainly not insufficient time added on (there were five minutes). No, this time it seems Mr Ferguson has accepted that his team just lost. Okay, he had a bit of a moan about the awarding of a dubious free-kick that led to the goal, but by Ferguson’s standards he showed restraint this week.

I make no apology in repeatedly going back to Ferguson’s post match comments. He has been managing in the English top flight since 1986, he has become the most successful manager in English football, and he has seen a lot of decisions go for and against him. All in all, he is best positioned to know how football works.

Only a couple of other managers have come close to Ferguson in the rank of psychologically bullying match officials. José Mourinho gave it his best efforts in his brief but successful spell in the Premier League, and the unbearable Neil Warnock can be heard ranting at whatever level of football he is managing at.

The fact is, referees can make some bad decisions. Sometimes they are horrendously bad. But that does not mean they are the sole reason behind a result. There are 90 minutes in a game of football and in that time there are a lot of mistakes made, and I would be 99% sure that the referee is the man who makes the LEAST mistakes in that time. Stray passes, mistimed tackles, own goals, open goals missed; they all contribute to the outcome of a football game. But who is the man most likely to take the blame? Is it the defender who smashed the ball into his own net? No. Is it the striker who blazed his shot over the bar from two yards? No. Is it the referee who had the temerity to give a corner when it should have been a goal kick? Almost certainly. This has to stop.

Roy Hodgson almost got it right this week. Sure he was unhappy with some decisions that went against Fulham in their Europa League tie with Roma. He said himself that he didn’t agree with some decisions, but also accepted there was not much he could do about it. He is perfectly entitled to disagree with them, but he stopped well short of actually blaming the officials for Fulham’s defeat:

“You cannot be happy in the face of injustice. I accept the situation because the referee makes the decision but I’m not happy.”

However, Hodgson’s thunder on my Respect report card was this week stolen by the two managers involved in the Champions League game between AC Milan and Real Madrid. The following quotes should be adopted as THE textbook quotes by all managers in post game interviews when discussing the referee.

Firstly, Milan’s coach, Leonardo, said: “I only worry about the things I can control. I can’t control the referees, they’re human, like me they make mistakes.”

And for Real Madrid, Manuel Pellegrini said: “The referee doesn’t go in front of the cameras to talk about my mistakes, why should I talk about his?”

And I need say nothing more this week.