I can’t decide either. I don’t know what the assistant thought he saw but it wasn’t a foul. It doesn’t have to be deliberate. Sometimes they get so caught up in the action that they see things that aren’t there.
One incident that I thought was very suspect and that still bugs me was at Old Trafford on 10th May 1995. It was a midweek game and the season was ending on the following Sunday. For some reason my wife had come with us but was sitting in a seat some way away. We were drawing 1-1 at halftime and I said to my wife that if we were still drawing at 80 minutes then the first time that they got into our penalty area they would get a penalty. Sure enough someone has a slight tug on Andy Cole’s sleeve and the referee Paul Danton pounces on it like a cat pounces on a mouse. He couldn’t give it quick enough.
The title race went to the last Sunday and Blackburn ended up winners. Sky sold a lot of satellite dishes in that last week.