Sir Alex shows respect – if he can, anyone can!

This past weekend in English football saw four contentious decisions in relation to sendings-off (or not) and four totally contrasting reactions from the managers involved.

Impractical

In a week whereby the Scottish managers have agreed an extremely laudable but impractical deal in which they will refuse to comment on refereeing decisions after games, and a season that has been dominated by the FA’s ‘respect agenda”, the reaction of the manager’s becomes more and more interesting.

Let’s start with the most famous of the allegedly blinkered manager’s, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger. On Sunday he probably was dealt a harsh blow when referee Howard Webb sent off Emmanuel Adebayor for a second bookable offence. The first yellow card was fairly clear cut and there were few arguments about it. The second card was, having seen the incident in slow motion and from several different angles, a little bit harsh.

Over the ball

What referee Howard Webb saw was that the striker had his foot raised as he competed with Alvaro Arbeloa and caught the defender with his elbow as he spun. On first view it looked like he had gone ‘over the ball’ and had also raised his arm. In fact, he probably did neither of those things but it was obvious to everyone watching, why Howard Webb produced the card. Everyone that is except Arsene Wenger.

“It was very soft. If we get red cards like that from opponents away from home then I’m very happy. It was not a red card, it was not a second yellow card. I don’t know what it was for and I’m sure he (the referee) doesn’t know.”

I can understand Wenger being bitterly disappointed by the decision, despite the fact that his side were so much better with ten men than they had been with eleven, but to say he doesn’t know what it was for is stretching the truth.

Leg breaking

The second incident involved Middlesbrough’s Julio Arca. As I said yesterday, Arca is not a dirty or malicious player, but the awful challenge he put in on Fulham’s Andrew Johnson on Saturday was a potential leg breaking disgrace. There is no doubt that it should have seen the player given a red card and facing at least a three match ban.

Unbelievably the referee, despite having seen the incident clearly, decided it was worthy only of a yellow card. Middlesbrough were incredibly lucky to keep eleven men on the pitch but went on to lose 3-0 anyway.

At 1-0 down, Middlesbrough conceded a harsh penalty for handball when the ball clearly struck a hand but there was little the defender could have done to get out of the way.

Try to guess which incident Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate wanted to talk about afterwards.

“There was huge decision given against us when we were 1-0 down when they were given a penalty and scored from it. We have had three unbelievable decisions against us in the last three weeks. We refuse to criticise referees but it is there for everyone to see.”

What a shame that Southgate didn’t also criticise the decision not to reduce his team to ten men and condemn the tackle made by his player.

The third incident involved Plymouth player Simon Walton being sent-off in their Championship defeat at Barnsley. Walton has a chequered disciplinary past and is Plymouth’s record signing. He has only just forced his way back into the team after falling out of favour.

Criticise the referee

Did his manager Paul Sturrock criticise the referee or look to other decisions in the game to blame his side’s defeat on?

No. He spoke very clearly about his own player’s lack of discipline.

“I just cannot believe the boy’s mentality to get back in the team and then show that kind of stupidity, it will cost him dear. He’s cost us dear as far as the game’s concerned. It’s very difficult to play with 11 men in this league never mind 10.”

Well done to Sturrock for his honesty. So who else has been honest and accepted the sending-off of one of his players?

I know it is hard to believe but despite losing his immense defender Nemanja Vidic for the first leg of the Champions League battle with Inter, Sir Alex Ferguson calmly accepted the referee’s decision to send him off in the Club World Cup final.

“It’s a soft sending off but he swung an elbow. When you do that in front of the referee you’ve got no chance. He gave the referee no option.”

Now surely if Sir Alex can be that mellow, anyone can! Maybe the Scottish managers have got it right and managers should not be allowed to comment on referee decisions.