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Phil Dowd Thread (Merged)


PompeyVillan

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One of the things I expected at Wembley was that we'd see a referee make a decision in favour of Manchester United that was completely baffling. I didn't expect it so soon after kick off though.

I must admit I do find the hatred of the bloke baffling, though. He made a mistake - a big mistake but it didn't cost us the game. What cost us the game was weekly Richard Dunne mistake (which cost us on Sunday instead of being able to recover) and the fact that Manchester United are just a better team than us. Until we find a better way to attack a team than trying to win corners or free kicks this type of game is, I think, beyond us.

Saying that, Dowd's mistake was a shocking decision, and of course playing against ten men for 90 minutes would have been a bit easier (didn't make the second half at VP much easier, mind). Not only was he pulling his shirt in the box, he also brought him down with a poorly timed tackle. Poll's excuse that it was the occasion that meant he was let off was what angered me - because it proved that the refereeing of games isn't fair, it isn't honest. It should be the same no matter what team you are, no matter what game you are in. Collins and Cuellar both got yellow cards for their first fouls - a foul on a player with the player heading towards the corner flag. It just didn't make sense.

Dowd, I believe, is the referee who 'took charge' of a recent game between Fulham and Manchester United where he sent off two Manchester United players. Ferguson came out and slammed him afterwards - "It's Phil Dowd, what do you expect" was the comment. I think that would have been playing on Dowd's mind, when he lost his bottle and didn't give the red card. I have a feeling that if that had been Dunne on Owen it'd have been a straight red.

As I said, it didn't cause us to lose. We caused our own downfall. But I'm sick and fed up or these decisions that happen time and time again. Football is supposed to be fair, it's supposed to be played to the rules no matter what game, no matter what team, no matter who you are or where you are. But it doesn't. Poll's backing up of Dowd shows this - and it shows that it's become accepted in the game.

The referees are all too happy to have cameras following them around before the game, telling press how they want it to be a good natured one before it - but when they make a cock up like this they go into hiding. I think acceptance of this incorrect decision would have been much more forthcoming if Dowd came out after the game and admitted that he was wrong - that he'd made a mistake - and that he was sorry.

I paid quite a lot of money to watch a game of football on Sunday. Within ten minutes Dowd had failed to follow one of the oldest and fundamental rules of football. It's going to get to a point where people will start asking whether it's worth continuing to pay that sort of money when things like this continue to happen.

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One of the things I expected at Wembley was that we'd see a referee make a decision in favour of Manchester United that was completely baffling. I didn't expect it so soon after kick off though.

I must admit I do find the hatred of the bloke baffling, though. He made a mistake - a big mistake but it didn't cost us the game. What cost us the game was weekly Richard Dunne mistake (which cost us on Sunday instead of being able to recover) and the fact that Manchester United are just a better team than us. Until we find a better way to attack a team than trying to win corners or free kicks this type of game is, I think, beyond us.

We can never know what would have happened if he had been sent off, so to presume that Dunne would have made said mistake is a little presumptuous. With all we know Fergie might have made an immediate change and Berbartov or Owen might not have been on the field and another defender would have entered the fray, or he might have decided that Rooney would come on, etc, etc. We will just never know. We could speculate that perhaps Vidic would have got a yellow card, and perhaps have later made the same mistake and been sent off. Or that ref had actually cautioned players when they deserved to be.

Its an easy road to go down; blame the ref for a mistake, but sometimes one mistake is all that it takes to change a game. Dowd made some strange and bizarre decisions, that leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

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One of the things I expected at Wembley was that we'd see a referee make a decision in favour of Manchester United that was completely baffling. I didn't expect it so soon after kick off though.

I must admit I do find the hatred of the bloke baffling, though. He made a mistake - a big mistake but it didn't cost us the game. What cost us the game was weekly Richard Dunne mistake (which cost us on Sunday instead of being able to recover) and the fact that Manchester United are just a better team than us. Until we find a better way to attack a team than trying to win corners or free kicks this type of game is, I think, beyond us.

Saying that, Dowd's mistake was a shocking decision, and of course playing against ten men for 90 minutes would have been a bit easier (didn't make the second half at VP much easier, mind). Not only was he pulling his shirt in the box, he also brought him down with a poorly timed tackle. Poll's excuse that it was the occasion that meant he was let off was what angered me - because it proved that the refereeing of games isn't fair, it isn't honest. It should be the same no matter what team you are, no matter what game you are in. Collins and Cuellar both got yellow cards for their first fouls - a foul on a player with the player heading towards the corner flag. It just didn't make sense.

Dowd, I believe, is the referee who 'took charge' of a recent game between Fulham and Manchester United where he sent off two Manchester United players. Ferguson came out and slammed him afterwards - "It's Phil Dowd, what do you expect" was the comment. I think that would have been playing on Dowd's mind, when he lost his bottle and didn't give the red card. I have a feeling that if that had been Dunne on Owen it'd have been a straight red.

As I said, it didn't cause us to lose. We caused our own downfall. But I'm sick and fed up or these decisions that happen time and time again. Football is supposed to be fair, it's supposed to be played to the rules no matter what game, no matter what team, no matter who you are or where you are. But it doesn't. Poll's backing up of Dowd shows this - and it shows that it's become accepted in the game.

The referees are all too happy to have cameras following them around before the game, telling press how they want it to be a good natured one before it - but when they make a cock up like this they go into hiding. I think acceptance of this incorrect decision would have been much more forthcoming if Dowd came out after the game and admitted that he was wrong - that he'd made a mistake - and that he was sorry.

I paid quite a lot of money to watch a game of football on Sunday. Within ten minutes Dowd had failed to follow one of the oldest and fundamental rules of football. It's going to get to a point where people will start asking whether it's worth continuing to pay that sort of money when things like this continue to happen.

I fully understand the sentiment regarding the loss not being specifically Dowd's fault but I can't help but wonder if they lost their best, most experienced centre half 5 minutes into the game what changes would they have needed to make and who would have been sacrificed to bring another defender on and regrettably we'll never get the chance to find out

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Its an easy road to go down; blame the ref for a mistake, but sometimes one mistake is all that it takes to change a game. Dowd made some strange and bizarre decisions, that leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

Which is why I said about nine thousand times that his mistake wasn't the reason why we lost.

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I was kinda getting over the anger a little this morning as well as my voice back!

However SSN showed Man Utd team celebrating on the pitch with the Cup & Vidic's grinning mug right at the front for all to see....quickly followed by a shot of Alex Ferguson holding the Cup aloft triumphantly in front of the fans on Sunday!!

Now I'm upset all over again!! :bang:

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You aren't actually waiting on a reply?

Well I'd be interested to see what they have to say on the matter.

Anyway I think we have every right to be upset, I mean we were robbed of a Cup, and we are not the only team that this has happened to over the years.

They try to force this 'Respect' campaign on us but respect is not something that can be forced upon somebody, it has to be earnt, and how do the FA expect anyone to respect the referees when they provide us with a clown like Phil Dowd who is too incompetant and spineless to officiate such a big game in the correct manner without bowing to the pressure of the bigger team and the occasion.

And as I say, it is not just in cup games or just us, it happens to too many 'smaller' clubs in too many games.

English football may be the biggest in the World but it is being run by the biggest joke in the World!

[/rant]

Ooh, I feel a little better now.

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I just remembered when he wa gonna book Carrick (or maybe Fletcher) and he had walked off so decided not to bother, actually called him over twice and then just thought '**** it'.

Total **** of a bloke.

I find that hilariously pathetic considering he usually screams and runs after players that do that.

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Have not really commented on this, other than to say I think I'd have preferred that he just didn't give the penalty and we could argue till the cows come home about that. The infuriating thing for me is that he has clearly seen the incident that everyone else has and just bottled making the correct and 'big' call. Giving the penalty was the easy thing to do. That is why I don't think he's fit to ref.

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I must admit I do find the hatred of the bloke baffling, though. He made a mistake - a big mistake but it didn't cost us the game. What cost us the game was weekly Richard Dunne mistake (which cost us on Sunday instead of being able to recover) and the fact that Manchester United are just a better team than us. Until we find a better way to attack a team than trying to win corners or free kicks this type of game is, I think, beyond us.

How can you say that about Dunne? Everybody makes mistakes in their jobs so you can't expect the guy to be foot perfect every single time he steps out onto the pitch! What you fail to acknowledge is the fact that Vidic took the ball off Gabby about 20 seconds before it hit the back of our net! That player wouldn't have been able to do that if the ref did HIS job right!

I think you also forget that, from the dismissal, Man Utd would have been likely to take off one of their forwards, probably Berbatov due to his usual lazy approach to the game. This would have meant them playing one up front - Owen - until he went off. Berbatov then wouldn't have been on the pitch to lay the ball off to Valencia to cross for Rooney to head in!

The reasons you are suggesting for our defeat just can't be agreed with by me. They were better than us with 11 a side but it shouldn't have been that way. You also don't know how much the poor refereeing took out of our team!

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