Klaus wrote:

Dean has been a joke for a very long time. I usually don't like to accuse referees of deliberately screwing us over (most of the time they just do it because they're shit referees), but it's been clear for years that he's got a bias against Arsenal.

Phil Dowd is the only other one I've reacted this way to. He genuinely seemed like he was on the take in that 4-4 game against Newcastle. It's still the most disgraceful refereeing performance I've seen against us.

I thought Phil Dowd wasn't the best of referees but he wasn't that biased.

Mike Dean needs a proper investigation, if not for bias, for sheer incompetence.

And uncameraworthiness.

Klaus is right about Dowd. People including myself try to erase that game from our memories but the fact it was diabolical.

Van Persie getting booked for a cynical tackle by Barton on him.

Two soft soft penalties.

Fuck Van Persie, I'm glad Adebayor stomped on him.

Phil Dowd is actually a great referee. He is one of the few guys out there who spots pretty much everything. Which is why I'm convinced he was on the take in that 4-4 v. Newcastle.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... Phil Dowd a great referee?

Fucking hell.

I rate Michael Oliver, Mark Clattenburg and Martin Atkinson as the only referees in this league who are not completely inept. They all make mistakes, that's a given, but with those three in charge of an Arsenal game I don't have to go through the game in fear of a major refereeing fuck-up that will ruin the game.

Bring back Uriah Rennie.

est wrote:

Whoa, whoa, whoa... Phil Dowd a great referee?

Fucking hell.

He's bent, but when he's not being managed by Chinese gambling syndicates he gets most things right. Martin Atkinson is terrible, he's one of those typical English refs who "lets the game" flow, i.e. lets other teams kick us to shit without doing anything about it.

I remember Michael Oliver being pretty bad when he first started out.

I don't really rate Michael Oliver, he had that great game when we played United but thats just because he lets so much go. He's fair and brave though I'll give him that.

Atkinson is probably the best ref in the league.

Biggus wrote:

Michael Oliver was 4th Offical and you could read his face- Yes he fucked up but sorry I can't do anything about it.

Saw that in real time and thought the same way. He clearly knew what happened.

Why is everyone rating Atkinson that highly? He had a couple of stinkers for us.

Oliver is definitely the best out of a very bad bunch. Said it somewhere else, the level of refereeing in the EPL is so far off the other leagues it's not even funny. Few years ago the Bundesliga was even worse but after a series of huge blunders German refs got rightly slaughtered by managers and in the media. They had to attend further education and training afterwards which lead to a decrease of the number of high profile mistakes since then.

Instead of the same happening in England the fucking fossils of the FA back twats like Dean for no fucking reason at all. Only explanation I can think of is the FA and the refs all engage in pigfucking and for that reason have to cover for each other's fuckups.

Yes yes Jonesy everything is worse in the EPL...

I never want to believe refs are corrupt, despite numerous stories none seem to stick.
I prefer to accept that other great human failing besides greed- Incompetence.

Gurgen wrote:

Phil Dowd is actually a great referee. He is one of the few guys out there who spots pretty much everything. Which is why I'm convinced he was on the take in that 4-4 v. Newcastle.

Yep. I think Dowd is a good referee too, but that game was insanity from start to finish.

We got screwed that day, no doubt. The worst performance from a referee ever. The match at the weekend had one incident. The one against Newcastle - it seemed like Arsenal going on a rampage by scoring four had killed some plan and something had to be done about it.

No team should lose a 4 goal lead- Ever.
No manager should allow it to happen. There are no excuses.

This is a thread about Mike Dean and by extension iffy reffing Biggus.
There's about five threads in the Arsenal forum for you to bring Wenger into the ongoing discussions - leave it out of here.

[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]The panel, essentially, took their side and they deemed Dean to have made an error of judgement. It is unusual to see a decision over-turned when the referee has had a clear view of the incident but it has happened in this instance. Dean can expect to be demoted from the Premier League list.[/font][/size]

from the grauniad. anyone know what that actually means? hopefully he'll be reffing scunthorp games for the rest of his days