Welcome to Manchester
// September 21st, 2009 // Uncategorized
Updated: News reports are saying today that Bellamy might get a three-game ban for the above offense, which the FA is calling a “punch,” and he is claiming was a “push”. (With his knuckles?) Regardless, it would be an unfair ban either way. I’m almost as pacifist as they get, but I think it’s ridiculous to suspend players for violence when fans invade the field. I don’t care if the dude is already being chased by police, whatever; fans don’t belong on the field, and if you run toward a player, he has complete right to doubt his safety. Whatever happens to you is your own fault. Maybe the above idiot will look at his bruised cheek and realize that it’s time to grow his hair out, spend some more time with his family, and grow the eff up.
Posted by Lazar
21 Responses to “Welcome to Manchester”
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LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!
I see Bellamy had to wait until the stewards had gotten hold of the idiot before doing his ‘hard-man’ impression.
Ferdinand grabbed him by the throat afterwards and he soon changed his tune. I knew we had that guy on the pitch for something.
Have you seen the video? The guy was nowhere near him, wasn’t shouting at Bellamy or anything, and was being held down by three guys and Bellamy just decided to walk up and thump him.
What about Cantona – would you give Bellamy a ban if, say, the guy was hurling racist abuse at Bellamy and he hit him? How about not being allowed to play for a year?
Unfair ban? The thug deserves it. The stewards had the situation well under control, but Bellamy just HAD to intercede. If it was another player you might give him the benefit of the doubt, but Bellamy? (plus he’s Welsh)
if rooney had played like bellamy we’d all be saying he was the best player in the world. and if rooney had slowly pushed a hooligan in the face in self-defence we’d all be lauding him. Bellamy is a hero to me and rather than looking at Bellamy, the FA should be fining United for not being able to control their fans (pitch invasion and Garrido got struck in the head by a coin) and Neville should be kicked out of the game for running down the touchline like a lunatic and taunting the city fans.
ps. here’s PROOF that United get extra time added to their games when they’re behind at OT http://bit.ly/qv0Yd
Cass, Cass, Cass. Bellamy is a hero to you? If Rooney did the same thing he would not be lauded, and it was hardly in self-defence now was it?
Like Adebayor the week before, he took away from a great performance with loutish behaviour. City would be winning a lot more respect from neutrals if the brought a little sportsmanship into their game.
I have a picture of bellamy on my wall and I joined the Craig Bellamy Appreciation Society group on facebook.
When Brian Clough clipped an invading fan on the head HE was lauded as a national hero.
Ps FA have confirmed Bellamy won’t be charged
P.p.s. I really love his arm tattoos
Brian Clough was thumping fans who were marauding freely round the pitch right next to him.
Cass, it’s totally absurd to suggest it was in self-defence so either you’re lying or you haven’t seen the video because the guy is nowhere near Bellamy, Bellamy walks right over to him and starts shouting at him. Maybe you have to be British to understand, but the man’s a stone-wall cunt
Also if you add the time Bellamy’s celebration took and the substitution to the 4 minutes, Owen’s goal crossed the line one second later.
And the final word on the matter is that the game was drawn against a team supposedly gunning for the title. According to all the Anyone-But-United’s, the referee seems to award this magic time on the end where only United are allowed to attack. Maybe City should have pressed on for the equaliser. Maybe Bellamy shouldn’t have ran around making aeroplane (itself completely fucking stupid, although he was probably too thick to realise what he was doing – even Bellamy is not enough of a twat to do that deliberately) celebrations. Maybe City shouldn’t have started time-wasting in the 60th minute. Maybe they should’ve tried to keep the ball at the end instead of hoofing it aimlessly out of their half.
Cass,
That Guardian piece says Utd get more time added to games at home when they’re behind than when ahead over the last three years, but it does not “prove” a single second has ever been added on unfairly.
Surely it’s obvious that visiting teams that are ahead or level at Old Trafford (or any other leading club) are going to stall in an attempt to shorten the game and earn precious points. Just look at Bellamy’s celebration. The ref and/or fourth official note this and add the extra time, but it’s not as long at other grounds because visiting teams are less likely to stall.
Think about it: If Bellamy scores in the 89th minute at Old Trafford to tie the game, he goes into his long, adorable celebration, which the ref can’t possibly ignore and adds to the extra time. If Bellamy scores in the 89th minute at Portsmouth (or Blackburn or any number of horrible teams in the Premiership) to tie the game, there’s little celebration if any as City are in a rush to kick off in the hope of the winning goal.
I like the sentence “the referee, Martin Atkinson, allowed almost seven minutes, EVEN THOUGH the fourth official had signalled a minimum of four,” as if there’s some contradiction between the minimum of four and the actual seven. For anyone unclear about the rules: the fourth official signals a minimum before (NOT AT) the end of the half/game; it is the referee who subsequently calls the game, exercising his own discretion.
Calum, Thanks for all your comments. In the interests of reaching consensus I’ll agree with your 4 letter description of Bellamy (my comments regarding him being my hero were tongue in cheek – I don’t have his poster on my bedroom wall) if you agree that he’s probably equally as much a —- as the fan who ran on the pitch AND Gary Neville. What say you?
Er Purpone,
Interesting hypothesis about extended goal celebrations being responsible for the extra time. This would only account for goals scored in the second half though, so we would need to determine whether that was the case in all those matches. I agree that we need more details about the stats before we can make a concrete decision. E.g. maybe teams try and waste more time when they’re ahead at OT. It would be useful to see the same stats applied for all teams and see if the difference between time added at home when you’re winning versus losing is bigger depending on how high up the league you are.
BUT, the addition of time by referees is obviously extremely subjective and inconsistent. I’ve heard lots of explanations of how we got from 4 minutes to 5.5 of injury time when the united winner was scored, but not a single explanation of how we got to 7 minutes. The obvious explanation of why the referee didn’t blow the final whistle 14 seconds after Owen’s goal is that he thought it would be too contentious so played a little longer. Also, if you applied all the reasoning to how we got from 4 minutes to 5.5 minutes for the whole of the second half we would have had about 10-15 minutes of injury time. I’ve watched plenty of games where the time added on at the end of a game doesn’t even amount to the number of substitutions x 30 seconds which the rules say it should. THEREFORE time added on is extremely inconsistent and subjective. And if that’s the case, do you really believe that referees aren’t (subconsciously or consciously) influenced based on the size of the team they’re playing, the bullying history of the manager of the biggest team, the loudness of the home crowd, etc? I just don’t believe that referees are immune from this type of influence, even if they’re not explicitly aware of it.
ps. it’s the referee who signals to the 4th official how much time to add, the 4th official has no input apart from waving the board in the air.
it’s inconsistent. that’s the nature of the game.
I suggest you read Roy Hodgson’s comments on the matter. The man is pathologically unable to talk anything but sense.
http://football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5576484,00.html
Cass – i’ve been in your bedroom – and you DO have a poster of him on your wall
(big deal, i was in Cass’ bedroom)
Cass,
Goal celebrations, substitutions, pauses for injuries feigned or real — any stoppage of time during the (minimum) extra time would be taken into account by the referee before calling time. This isn’t applied to the entire half (or the games would be as long as cricket!) but generally is at the end of the game when time wasting is most prevalent.
Totally agree that it’s subjective and inconsistent and also that the refs are influenced by the home crowd and the aura of the team and manager, etc. But I also think they’re influenced by time wasting of the players, and you have to admit Bellamy (as usual) didn’t do himself any favors.
City lost because their defense was atrocious (it would’ve been worse without Given) not because of the timekeeping.
PS When I said the fourth official “signals” the minimum time, I meant he waves the sign (ie, signals), not that he decided what it was. The point is that it is a minimum that the referee can then add on to as he sees fit.
PPS Charlie, get out of Cass’ bedroom!
Nice discussion. Both sides are right.
First, we all know that United gets extra time. As soon as Bellamy scored, I announced 14 minutes of extra time. I was joking, but I wasn’t that far off.
Second, City lost because Micah Richards gave up on the last play of the game. After City survived that corner (I think it was a corner) after 5 minutes, he just stood in the box, and didn’t trot out to his position, where Micahel Owen was standing, undisturbed. Giggs had a simple pass.
CONTROVERSIAL COMMENT
No, not really. Or maybe it is. But how many people comment on this stuff? How many people look but don’t comment? Enough to make a forum worthwhile?
There aren’t many American-led football forums. Less for the intelligent fan who can see that Steven Gerrard is just a fat ball-waster.
Basically this all stems from my desire to have a football forum in my life but not one that is updated so regularly that it becomes a drain on my time
My understanding (cough) is that the poster is on Cass’s ceiling, not the wall.