Whatever you think of Mario Balotelli (and my personal opinion is that he is a great player and interesting character) and whatever you think about his stamp on Scott Parker (my personal opinion is that he meant to do it) it is hard to ignore the player who has had, shall we say, a tempestuous time of things in England.
From the sendings off, the sulks, the letting fireworks off in his bathroom, to the trips to Knowlsley Safari Park, the staggering tales of philanthropism and the great goals it has not been a dull 15 months in Lancashire.
But – if comments from his agent are to be believed, it is a stay that could be coming to an end in the near future.
And as always it is the hapless men in the middle that is getting the blame.
For it is refs, so says Mino Raiola that will drive his man away. “Mario doesn't want to leave the club. It's fantastic; he loves it and feels at home,” he said. “But if every week some referee [does this] with Mario, maybe you say, 'That's enough', and he goes to another country."
Now this might be hyperbole – and indeed it is difficult to think that Mario has been victimised, despite the now legendary “Why Always Me?” t-shirt he sported in the derby match earlier in the season – but Riaola did go on talk about how his client was treated differently from other players, and on this fact there is evidence from this very week that he might just have a point.
It is something that Manchester City Coach David Platt alluded too this week when he criticised what he termed “Monday Morning Refereeing.” As you know from our blogs, we at referee-jobs.com are fully in favour of Refs being backed as they make honest decisions, and we have also railed against pundits who seem to have little understanding of the rules of the game so we have some sympathy for Platt when he said: "There seems to be a huge inconsistency in refereeing matches on a Monday morning, if you are going to look at law 12 [violent conduct], shouldn't you then revisit everything that has happened over the weekend under law 12?"
He was referring to an incident in the same game as Balotelli’s stamp, when City defender Joleon Lescott seemed to commit a forearm smash on Spurs defender Younes Kaboul which ref Howard Webb saw and let play continue. Because Webb had seen the incident no action could be taken.
And that has always been one of my arguments against video evidence, using for everything is stupid, but surely you either use it for everything or not at all?
Other players get away with incidents. The day before that tumultuous game at Eastlands, Stoke City striker Peter Crouch was seen to poke West Brom defender Jonas Olsson in the eye, it seemed pretty clear – or at least it appeared clear, although not to the FA who decided to take no further action.
And therein it is possible to have sympathy for the statement that Balotelli’s agent made. I have no idea whether Crouch meant to poke Olsson in the eye, any more than I know whether Mario Balotelli meant to stamp on Scott Parker – a challenge that even Platt conceded “didn’t look good” when slowed down – but I do know that if Joey Barton, for example, had poked Olsson in the eye then there would have been an entirely different reaction form the media and from pundits (and I dare say from WBA players).
It does seem that certain players get away with things others don’t. Not from the refs – who we stress again are always fair and give what they see – but from the treatment dished out from elsewhere. For instance it never seemed to matter how many bad challenges that the likes of Jamie Redknapp and Paul Scholes made, they were “not that sort of player.”
Sometimes it is about perception and that, might be the point that Mario’s agent was trying to make on behalf of his client.
He could have summed it up as: “why always me.” That would look good on a t-shirt….
From the sendings off, the sulks, the letting fireworks off in his bathroom, to the trips to Knowlsley Safari Park, the staggering tales of philanthropism and the great goals it has not been a dull 15 months in Lancashire.
But – if comments from his agent are to be believed, it is a stay that could be coming to an end in the near future.
And as always it is the hapless men in the middle that is getting the blame.
For it is refs, so says Mino Raiola that will drive his man away. “Mario doesn't want to leave the club. It's fantastic; he loves it and feels at home,” he said. “But if every week some referee [does this] with Mario, maybe you say, 'That's enough', and he goes to another country."
Now this might be hyperbole – and indeed it is difficult to think that Mario has been victimised, despite the now legendary “Why Always Me?” t-shirt he sported in the derby match earlier in the season – but Riaola did go on talk about how his client was treated differently from other players, and on this fact there is evidence from this very week that he might just have a point.
It is something that Manchester City Coach David Platt alluded too this week when he criticised what he termed “Monday Morning Refereeing.” As you know from our blogs, we at referee-jobs.com are fully in favour of Refs being backed as they make honest decisions, and we have also railed against pundits who seem to have little understanding of the rules of the game so we have some sympathy for Platt when he said: "There seems to be a huge inconsistency in refereeing matches on a Monday morning, if you are going to look at law 12 [violent conduct], shouldn't you then revisit everything that has happened over the weekend under law 12?"
He was referring to an incident in the same game as Balotelli’s stamp, when City defender Joleon Lescott seemed to commit a forearm smash on Spurs defender Younes Kaboul which ref Howard Webb saw and let play continue. Because Webb had seen the incident no action could be taken.
And that has always been one of my arguments against video evidence, using for everything is stupid, but surely you either use it for everything or not at all?
Other players get away with incidents. The day before that tumultuous game at Eastlands, Stoke City striker Peter Crouch was seen to poke West Brom defender Jonas Olsson in the eye, it seemed pretty clear – or at least it appeared clear, although not to the FA who decided to take no further action.
And therein it is possible to have sympathy for the statement that Balotelli’s agent made. I have no idea whether Crouch meant to poke Olsson in the eye, any more than I know whether Mario Balotelli meant to stamp on Scott Parker – a challenge that even Platt conceded “didn’t look good” when slowed down – but I do know that if Joey Barton, for example, had poked Olsson in the eye then there would have been an entirely different reaction form the media and from pundits (and I dare say from WBA players).
It does seem that certain players get away with things others don’t. Not from the refs – who we stress again are always fair and give what they see – but from the treatment dished out from elsewhere. For instance it never seemed to matter how many bad challenges that the likes of Jamie Redknapp and Paul Scholes made, they were “not that sort of player.”
Sometimes it is about perception and that, might be the point that Mario’s agent was trying to make on behalf of his client.
He could have summed it up as: “why always me.” That would look good on a t-shirt….
No comments:
Post a Comment