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After Everton's triple torment, should bungling officials pay a heavier penalty?

Referee Alan Wiley and his assistant Glenn Turner could have cost the Goodison men a Champions League place after their gaffes in the Blackburn game. So why does their punishment not fit the crime?

by Ed Bottomley on 11 February 2008

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If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Does the handball by Blackburn’s David Dunne against Everton exist if the ref didn’t see it?

The bungling oafs who botched the Everton-Blackburn game and thus stopped the Toffees from grabbing another priceless two points in their quest for fourth place are to be punished, but are the reprimands commensurate?

Ref Alan Wiley won’t be officiating this weekend and will have to make do with being fourth official in Sunday’s Chelsea-Liverpool match, as way of punishment for failing to send Dunne off for a clear handball, an offence surely justifying a second yellow.

If I was Glenn Hoddle I’d be tempted to say Andy Johnson had done something bad in a previous life to deserve the rotten decisions he gets'

The fact that Dunne later cleared off the line simply emphasises the error in neon lights. Wiley's second gaffe came when he didn’t give a penalty after Andy Johnson was impeded by Blackburn’s Zurab Khizanishvili, but Everton have come to somehow grudgingly accept the fact that penalty kicks never come our way.

However, it is linesman Glenn Turner who committed the real clanger, flagging AJ as being offside for what would have certainly been the winner minutes from the end, when three (yes T-H-R-E-E) Blackburn players were keeping the striker onside. The fact that AJ didn’t throttle Turner on the spot speaks wonders about his temperament. If I was Glenn Hoddle I’d be tempted to say he had done something bad in a previous life to deserve the rotten decisions he gets.

The reality is that AJ’s game is based on speed, sneaking in front of defenders with a pickpocket’s feet, all the time hurling himself around the field like a pinball in a machine being played by Tommy Walker’s better older brother. Any defender who gets in AJ’s way is bound to bring him down; it’s just a shame that referees fail to recognise that he isn’t a duplicitous diver.

For his starring role in robbing two points from Everton, Turner (one of England’s top-rated officials) won’t see any action at all in this coming weekend. But is his punishment and Wiley’s too fitting for the crime? Will missing one game really affect them as much as missing out on the Champions League could potentially affect Everton?

Comments (14)

by Gabby Toss on February 11, 2008

Quit whining you minger

by Rob Long on February 11, 2008

Andrew Johnson does fall over a lot. Dunn's handball was noted by the ref, as a freekick was given. The offside rule is quite a complicated thing now-a-days, so whether Johnson was offside is up for debate. Was he benefiting from his offside stance in phase one of the play? All a matter of interpretation.

by Golden Vision on February 11, 2008

Aj doesn't dive, nor does he even go down easily these days, against Reading he was impossible to fell!

by Poor Rob Long on February 11, 2008

Was Johnson fouled by Kish? - Yes Is deliberate handball a yellow card offence? - Yes Were there more than two players playing Johnson on in that phase? - Yes Let yourself down there Rob, I'm afraid!

by JA on February 11, 2008

Johnson doesn't dive, he plummets

by Everton Al on February 11, 2008

[quote]Quit whining you minger[/quote] And you stop being a gobs***e. The fact is, that even though Johnson gets regularly felled, he has 'earned' less penalties that Stevie G Laaarrrr, who for some reason never gets labelled with being the utter cheat that he is. And for anybody who wants to retort with a snide comment about Everton, Johnson, and penalties, i'll ask you this simple question; Who is the only Premiership club not to have been awarded a penalty this season? I suspect you'll already know the answer. As for the officials, nothing will ever happen to them. miss one match, or be 'demoted' to fourth official? Does that mean he doesn't get paid? Does it bollocks. Which means he doesnt even get hurt in the pocket.

by ToffeeCup on February 11, 2008

[quote]Andrew Johnson does fall over a lot. Dunn's handball was noted by the ref, as a freekick was given. The offside rule is quite a complicated thing now-a-days, so whether Johnson was offside is up for debate. Was he benefiting from his offside stance in phase one of the play? All a matter of interpretation.[/quote] interpretation??? there were four players playing him on side! Thats more that one third of your whole team! it was sickening, the ref and the linesman got dropped for the next game and even a liverpool fans on MOTD deswcribed the pen on johnson as "assault!". end of story!

by scouser on February 11, 2008

i'm sure if the offences had have been in a game with liverpool gerard would have had a word in the refs ear and the goal would have stood plus dunn would a been shown a second yellow and sent off, i'f only the blues had a crying a-hole like gerard in the team we would be level with chelsea on points

by Simon on February 11, 2008

I see Liverpool got away again with a blatant penalty at the weekend. How does this keep happening. Alan Wiley had something to do wth that game didnt he. Maybe Liverpool should keep the same set of referees Clattenburg, Wiley etc. It's the only way they can win the league and get official apologies when they dont get a decision going their way. This season has become a farce so far. A neutral would say that the league is fixed, as this seems more apparent even than what happened in Italy. It is just proving it that is the problem.

by Blue Jim on February 11, 2008

Refs are scared to give penalties v the "big 4", but the reverse in giving pens to them. The League should review this preferential treatment. These clubs already have all the money - now we're giving them friendly refs. God forbid a ref get on the wrong side of Ferguson, Wenger, Grant (not so bad) or Ratface Beneathus. AJ does not go down easily. Once upon a time .... maybe, not now. We'll come 4th the hard way - with next to no money and no help from bent refs. It'll be that bit sweeter.

by MorrisEFC on February 11, 2008

IF EVERY DECISION IN THE PREM SO FAR THIS SEASON FOR EVERY1 THEN EVERTON WOULD BE 3RD BEHIND MANURE AND ARSENAL AND THE RS WUD BE 8TH

by Andy on February 11, 2008

It's paid off for the Yankee Reds over the years !

by Katya's friend. on February 12, 2008

Er. Try Man City...not a penalty all season. You think you've had it rough? Balloons at Sheffield. Linesmen tells ref, ref ignores rules. Offside against Dunn, Blackburn 2-2, officials make the rules up as they go. Handball AND offside Chimbonda v Spurs, ref goes blind, Petrov cropped right in front of ref v West Ham, ref does nothing. I could go on. The quality of officials in the PL this season is the worst in many a year. They are clueless.

by Ted on February 12, 2008

We're in the same boat my friend, Everton haven't had a penalty all season either...

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