Whitey Grandad

Thanks for your extensive rely. I think you are expecting too much of any manager for that defeat at Old Trafford. As I pointed out earlier, the penalty was effectively cancelled the next day even if the record books won’t show that but at that stage of the game I don’t know what you think he should or could have done. Most of us can see it for what it was, a heavy defeat of around the six-nil level. Even Liverpool let in seven at Villa. Personally I blame the players. How many of that Leicester team are still with us and playing regularly? I’m not one to whinge and moan, rather I believe in constructive criticism myself.

Yes, the FA could not have afforded the new stadium without agreeing to stage these games there. It cost something like £130 million just to demolish the old one. Then selling the corporate seats helped with the rest of the finance. The result is a capacity for ‘true’ fans not much different from the old.

Normally I would be able to get a ticket to the game.

Agreed. Some of them are good, but a lot of them aren’t. It’s like all service industries. Some are in it for the love of what they do. Others do it just for the money. Others because it gives them a sense of power.

Well actually I have in a few cup games. At least they were ‘elite’ to us. Funnily enough these weren’t the thrashings. I also played once at right back for the All Stars football team. Bill Oddie was centre forward. And Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart was in goal. The others were nobody I had ever heard of. The defeat at Old Trafford was a totally different sort of game to the one against Leicester. It was in 86 minutes that Bednarek was wrongly sent off and the score was 6-0. So a criminally awarded penalty and the two more goals in injury time made it 9-0. What could any manager have done after that incident and why does it matter? As you say, let’s let it rest, but I still don’t get why you feel the need to pursue this vendetta against Ralph. In the interests of openness I think you should let us all know what you personally stand to gain out of this?

Oi, careful! I was with you all the way until then. When I was too old to thud around the pitch I took up refereeing because I love the game and I wanted to keep being involved. The best view of the game is from being out there in the middle.

It used to have a soul. Television stole it.

This is ironic. In The Sunday Times today, Woman died in fall at jab clinic A woman died after tripping over a mat on her way into a clinic in Shrewsbury to get her COVID-19 jab, an inquest heard. Margaret Ann Reilly, 84, a retired VAT inspector, had gone to get vaccinated in December when she fell over the mat designed to prevent slips in the snow.

Once again the interests of the true fans are trampled over. Yet they still talk about the FA Cup having lost its magic. Football is now a commodity to be traded on the market. They have bought the product but destroyed its soul in the process.

I have played in a lot of very poor teams and I played my full part in their thrashings. It is actually very difficult for any game to end 20 - nil. There isn’t enough time to run up one end and score and then walk back again. Especially if the team being beaten plays for time. When I said “Get a life” it was a typo. I ought to have said “Get a wife”

This obviously means a lot to you. It must be the worst thing that’s ever happened to you. Possibly the worst thing that’s happened to the world. Ever. It really isn’t important in the wider scheme of things. There’s a phrase for this. It’s “Get a life”

Of course. They’re both losses. You don’t lose any more points. It’s just a number. Why do you get so worked up over it?

Of course it is. We lost. That’s all there is to it.

Er... why?

I keep turning everything off and then turning it on again.

Reduce San Marino to ten men and put Mike Dean in charge. Simples

Yes. The school and teacher should have known better and the protesters outside could have achieved their objectives without all the fuss. This is not the British way.

It’s past my bedtime.

Reckless with excessive force? Nah, not for me. And look at the position of the referee. Right under his nose with a clear view of it. No complaints from any Leicester player either. Doesn't even qualify as a tackle. This is the problem with VAR. Slow motion doesn't give you any concept of the momentum of the players. All aroubnd me thought that the whole game was a bit of a laugh. Certainly not something that you would go on about year after bloody year.

It wasn't a tackle, that's the point. It was a leg stretched out. Bertrand had stopped moving by the time that the Leicester player arrived. Therefore not 'excessive force'. As I said, you cannot judge anything from a still photograph. Were you at that game?

And that is exactly why you cannot referee by remote image. At the instant that photo was caprured Bertrand had ceased his forward motion. There may have been some contact but even that is not certain. As I said above, neither the referee nor any of the players nor any of the spectators thought that it was even a foul. Total surprise all round when it was called back. This is the problem with only taking a snapshot view. It gives you a blinkered outlook on the world.

I’m not an expert on blondes. My eyes go all funny and blurry

That Bertrand one was never a red card. No one at the game or on the pitch thought it was even close to one. Only someone watching from miles away could ever have thought so.

What the feck is your problem? So, he lost a game or two but if you’re going to be selective you could invent all sorts of arguments. Seriously, you have a problem.