United pair escape bans
Hcomments of Shaw and Solskjaer bring game into disrepute yet the FA has chosen to take no action
Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Luke Shaw have escaped punishment for their comments about referee Stuart Attwell for his decision not to award a penalty against Chelsea on Sunday. Attwell failed to penalise a handball by Callum Hudson-odoi, but the Football Association will take no further action.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Luke Shaw have escaped punishment from the Football Association despite criticising referee Stuart Attwell for failing to award a penalty in their goalless draw against Chelsea on Sunday.
Shaw was forced to withdraw comments he made immediately after the game at Stamford Bridge, in which the full-back claimed Attwell had told United captain Harry Maguire that if he awarded the penalty it would attract controversy towards the referee.
Shaw later claimed, through the club, that he had misheard what had been said.
Solskjaer, the United manager, had also criticised the decision by Attwell, saying it was definitely a penalty, while complaining about an article published on Chelsea’s official website before the game that raised previous possible penalty incidents involving United and Maguire in particular.
Shaw said on Sky Sports: “The ref even said to H [Maguire], I heard him say, “If I say it’s a penalty then it’s going to cause a lot of talk about it after”, so I don’t know what happened there. H [Maguire] said that they got told it was a penalty by Var.”
Shaw risked a ban over his comments, as they appeared to imply bias and/or attacked Attwell’s integrity, but the FA decided not to charge him after the case was reviewed by an independent regulatory commission. Solskjaer will also receive no punishment.
“It was a very strange situation,” said Dr Tom Webb, a senior lecturer in sport management at the University of Portsmouth, who has conducted academic research into how referees in this country are treated.
“You heard Luke Shaw saying he had heard one thing and then you have Ole coming out straight after that saying he couldn’t understand why the penalty hadn’t been given.
“Manchester United tried to row back on the comments that were made afterwards, particularly in terms of Luke Shaw mishearing what he said he’d heard.
“Now, for me, that looks like they were trying to avoid what they have managed to avoid, which is that FA statement saying they were not going to take any further action.
“The FA is not usually very lenient with something like that. Does it send out the wrong message? It’s certainly confusing because there was clear criticism of the referee there. Solskjaer said it was 100 per cent a nailed-on penalty. And he said he was a bit concerned they don’t get those penalties [decisions].
“He’s tried to imply the referees are being influenced by things said before the game, and it wasn’t very well disguised.”
So, what exactly did referee Stuart Attwell say to Harry Maguire? The heat of a Premier League match is hardly the time to go all forensic on what was said, but in this case it is important, when Luke Shaw, Maguire’s team-mate, appeared live on television to effectively claim the official bottled giving Manchester United a penalty against Chelsea because he was fearful of causing “a lot of talk about it afterwards”.
The irony is that an even bigger fuss has now been caused by the post-match comments of Shaw and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who also seemed to question Attwell’s integrity, even if the manager was a little more coy in saying he did not want to discuss what was said because “that’s not going to be good for him [Attwell]”. But that hardly leaves much room for interpretation.
United later tried to clarify matters by stating that
Shaw had misheard what Maguire had said about the referee, and maybe the alacrity of their climbdown helped their case, as the Football Association decided not to take action when the damage was done and, surely, there had to be consequences.
It felt like a clear case for Shaw and Solskjaer to be charged with improper conduct. It was personally offensive to the referee and brought the game into disrepute, and it is not much of a defence to make an accusation and then suggest it was a misunderstanding.
Noticeably, there has been no apology.
Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo must be wondering how he was fined £20,000 for criticising referee Lee Mason and saying he “is not good enough”. But then, it is open season on referees. Whether Attwell was right in effectively going against Chris Kavanagh, the Var, and not awarding a penalty for a handball by Chelsea’s Callum Hudsonodoi
is almost immaterial. What matters is what is alleged to have been said and the reputational harm it has caused.
Are United not aware that they have added to every conspiracy theory about referees?
In the wake of Mark Clattenburg being accused of using inappropriate language towards John Obi Mikel in a game nine years ago – coincidentally, also between Chelsea and United – the referee did not face any disciplinary action. It was announced instead that all conversations involving match officials would be recorded. So, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the referees’ body, should already know what Attwell said.
A personal view is that football would benefit from referees’ conversations being broadcast. It would be interesting to hear how some players are viewed.
The baiting of referees is uncomfortable. Like players and managers, they are overstretched this season with, for example, Kevin Friend on Var duty at Stockley Park on Saturday for the 8pm kick-off between Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers and then refereeing the 2pm kick-off between Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley the next day.
There are only 18 referees in the Premier League’s select group, and while one solution may be to have more, how will that work when officials stand accused of being of the lowest standard? In normal circumstances they would meet at St George’s Park to train together, discuss issues and provide support, but as with all areas of society, that is denied them.
A significant issue is the magnification of football. Games are spread out over the weekend, kick-off times are staggered and so every decision is scrutinised in real time. It is hard to defend Mason for the free-kick farce during Brighton’s loss to West Bromwich Albion, but it would not have blown up so
much