Phil Dowd Thread (Merged)

[JulieB]

No one knows what the result would have been, had Vidic been shown the red card and the laws of the game, which lets face it the referree is supposed to abide by, had been applied correctly. It might have been 1-4 to Man Utd...who knows??!! But the fact is that the day before the referree did apply the correct rules & sent the player off even though it was a Chelsea player at Stamford bridge. The result was a victory for the visitors.

It wasn't just the failing to send Vidic off incident though... it was the whole ethos that we were playing against 12 men.. It was blatantly obvious that it was literrally one rule for one set of players & one rule for the other set of players... If you didn't know any better you'd think someone had an agenda!! Watching replay I was shocked how apparent this was, especially in the 1st half!!

[Maradona10]

Julie B, this same referee sent of Zat Knight in exactly the same scenario. Trust me, Ferguson's previous comments about Dowd went up the chain at the FA and then he was told he had to improve hence his Oscar United winning performance. We were robbed in my opinion of basic officiating of the game.

[b23avfc]

I still haven't seen a youtube clip of it..

[terrytini]

FFS it wasn't just the Vidic incident. 2 Villa players were booked for each of their first 2 tackles, yet Fletcher was let off aswell as Vidic. The difference it made to Collins for that first half against Owen and Berbatov was palpable, he was crapping himself about making a mistimed tackle. It would have been far easier for Dowd to warn each of them, thus 'protecting the spectacle' as he is claimed to have been doing. Then what about that appeal from Fletcher for a free kick someone mentioned.

It stinks and something should be done - like foreign refs for cup finals or something.

[Johneeboy]

anyone got a clip of carrick diving, not winning a freekick, moaning like **** and then getting a free kick?

summed him up

I remember the one your on about, it was like Gerrard at VP a few seasons ago, they ask for the free kick and get it.

What time in the game was it?

[AstonMartin82]

anyone got a clip of carrick diving, not winning a freekick, moaning like **** and then getting a free kick?

summed him up

I remember the one your on about, it was like Gerrard at VP a few seasons ago, they ask for the free kick and get it.

What time in the game was it?

I believe he was talking about the perfectly good tackle Petrov made on gerrard in the last few mins 3 seasons ago. I was right in front of it, Petrov took the ball brilliantly, I think the ref waved play on, but if he didnt do that he started turning as if to say game on, and then Gerrard screwed up him face and screamed like a girl and so the ref blew for the free kick. I remember being disgusted at the time, and it certainly stands out in my memory as blatant player pressure.

Sure enough it was a cracking free kick from Gerrard to score, but it was never in a million years a free kick.

What was even more annoying was Benitez coming out after the game saying these things go for you sometimes and against you sometimes, and then the very next game I believe Chelsea got THAT penalty which never was and suddenly benitez is screaming like a girl about such injustices. Double standards if ever I have seen any.

[b23avfc]

The whole corruption issue stopped me watch MOTD years ago and now I only ever watch Villa or Ireland. I hate every other team! A little unfair on many teams but look at the top and it's just total crap, totally dodgy. It hasn't been a level playing field for years.

[The_Lions_Roar]

FFS it wasn't just the Vidic incident. 2 Villa players were booked for each of their first 2 tackles, yet Fletcher was let off aswell as Vidic. The difference it made to Collins for that first half against Owen and Berbatov was palpable, he was crapping himself about making a mistimed tackle. It would have been far easier for Dowd to warn each of them, thus 'protecting the spectacle' as he is claimed to have been doing. Then what about that appeal from Fletcher for a free kick someone mentioned.

It stinks and something should be done - like foreign refs for cup finals or something.

Yep, the first tackles we made resulted in bookings, however Raphael once again fould one of our players and Dowd called him over and pointed ot 3 different parts of the pitch but still didn't book him and that was in the first half.

[Hereford-Villan]

Still can't get over this! I think i'll forget and then come on here and read about it again!

[JulieB]

I was at the game where Gerrard got the freekick in the last couple of minutes against Petrov. Disgrace he should be able to influence a referee like that.

It wasn't just Fletcher & Vidic - Dowd let off ...what about Rafael, after he'd chopped down Ashley Young & then a shortly after elbowed Heskey in the face??!!! He was literally laughing at him, when Dowd said that's 2 now ...no more else you're in the book. Absolute joke after he'd booked Colins for being slightly late on Berbatov, when he'd not put a foot wrong prior to this incident!

Refs performance IMHO DID have a direct bearing on result because after he booked 3 Villa players for next to nothing whilst allowing Man Ure to get away with practically anything....Villa started backing off cos I got the impression they were concerned about 2nd yellows +/or sendings off.

[Brumstopdogs]

Not sure who we can contact about this but a few possibilities might be:

fl@football-league.co.uk

ra@footballreferee.org

ian.blanchard@thefa.com

I don't know about everyone else but I feel so bitter about this decision that I'm willing to kick up a fuss to all the referee contacts so that Phil Dowd doesn't get away with this!!!!

Even if it comes to nothing I'm going to be a royal pain just to remind the people that matter of what a complete incompetent, weak, Fergie licker Dowd is!!!

[The_Lions_Roar]

Not sure who we can contact about this but a few possibilities might be:

fl@football-league.co.uk

ra@footballreferee.org

ian.blanchard@thefa.com

I don't know about everyone else but I feel so bitter about this decision that I'm willing to kick up a fuss to all the referee contacts so that Phil Dowd doesn't get away with this!!!!

Even if it comes to nothing I'm going to be a royal pain just to remind the people that matter of what a complete incompetent, weak, Fergie licker Dowd is!!!

Didn't bolton manage to get a referee to not ref one of their games ever again, im thinking it was Bennett?

[beasley14]

Why didnt he give him a yellow if he bottled it a little? I just cant see how you would justify giving a pen and no card at all.

[avid_1977]

I have it on good authority that this bloke is an arrogant cnut of the higest order and what happended sunday was totally in character for this piss poor "camp as a row of tents" ref..... Wouldnt it be good if somone posted his address on here......

[Holte_EndL4]

i cant stand the rocket polisher for what he did - and over 48 hours later i still cant watch the reply as i only had to see it first time to decide it was a stonewall sending off - however - this thread makes us look bitter - we need to get over this

[The_Lions_Roar]

i cant stand the rocket polisher for what he did - and over 48 hours later i still cant watch the reply as i only had to see it first time to decide it was a stonewall sending off - however - this thread makes us look bitter - we need to get over this

Not really, its the biggest talking point of the game.

[Gizmo]

it was a stonewall sending off - however - this thread makes us look bitter - we need to get over this

I think this sums it up.

We know it was a red, Man Utd know it was a red, Villa know it was a red, everyone else knows it was a red, and I daresay on reflection, Dowd knows it was a red.

Let's hope he remembers his cock up and rectifies it in future games.

[Holte_EndL4]

Yep it's a massive talking point - but i laughed at the Irish when they cried over Thierry Henry and i'm not going to be hypercritical by doing the same over Dowd. The games gone, we were runners up - lets move on. The only person i have heard say it wasnt a pen was graham poll - an ex ref - says it all really. I dont see the point of bomvarding the FA with hate mail - the decision will even itself out - some would say its retribution for getting two corners that never were against Palace and we didnt give a shit then so time to get over it...

[The_Lions_Roar]

He was even involved in the winning goal, look at him willing the ball towards the net!

[JulieB]

Right here's my contribution to email off to TLR's suggestions:-

Dear Sirs,

After travelling to the Cup Final on Saturday at no little cost to myself, I feel I have to write under the circumstances.

As an Aston Villa supporter I was outraged at the performance of the referee officiating at the game, Mr Phillip Dowd.

If I hadn’t been there and taped the whole game so I had the evidence to replay many times over, I wouldn’t quite have believed what I witnessed

Mr Dowd’s bias towards Manchester United particularly in the 1st half of the game, was there for all to see and was even commented on by BBC pundits at half time and after the final whistle had blown.

After correctly awarding Villa a penalty for a blatant tug of the shirt on Gabriel Agbonlahor, whilst taking his legs from beneath him at the same time, Nemanja Vidic was allowed to remain on the field of play without receiving a Red Card by Mr Dowd. Indeed Vidic wasn’t even shown a Yellow card. This was NOT a correct interpretation of the rules of the game. For a similar incident the previous day a Chelsea player was indeed issued with a red card for all to see live on TV. Yet that tackle was not surely as blatant as this incident involving Vidic. This incident appears to have made the headlines.

However what I was incensed about was this clear bias towards Manchester United players continued by Mr Dowd to my utter astonishment.

A few minutes later following the penalty, James Collins made a late challenge on Berbatov and was immediately shown a Yellow Card, when Vidic hadn’t been even booked for the penalty decision, moments earlier.

Rafael was allowed to hack Ashley Young down, shortly followed by elbowing Emile Heskey in the face! Yet NO Yellow card was shown for either incident. You can clearly see Rafael on TV replays laughing at the referee for getting away with the offences.

Michael Carrick was actually allowed to walk away from another incident where he had fouled a Villa player and Mr Dowd actually went to pull his card out of his pocket, presumably yellow and because the player walked away from the referee even though he was being called back furiously he refused to come back . In fact Mr Dowd started running after Carrick in the beginning. However because the player ran in the opposite direction instead of halting play and booking Carrick and imposing himself as an authority on the pitch, Dowd appeared to give up and end his pursuit of the player to book him. That was a disgrace! Clearly from the replay the referee intended to show the player a yellow card, however he was allowed to remain unpunished simply because he refused to listen to the referee and ran in the opposite direction.

In the interests of football in general and fair play, I would strongly urge the FA, football league, the refereeing authorities to carefully watch the replays of the game and Mr Dowds inconsistent actions in particular. This was a Cup Final for goodness sake!

I have NEVER complained like this about a referee before, even though there have been dreadful mistakes made in previous games. My opinion has always been it’s swings and roundabouts. Some decisions go for your team sometimes, other times it can work against you. However as I said at the beginning of my email, Sunday was different in my eyes. It was the systematic bias towards one set of players over the opposing side and it should be investigated.

Yours very angry,

EDIT ADD: Sorry guys Im sending this... If no one makes a stand after a Cup Final for goodness sake then things will be allowed to slide even further IMHO.