Having read a lot of this thread the major opinions are:
1. he made an awful decision, and most people agree it should have been a red card; and
2. as per one, but the reason he did it is because he wanted Liverpool to win and also because he is corrupt and was paid backhanders by unknown third parties, possibly in Asia.
I think its number 1 and he should be sent for retraining or even demoted from the panel for the rest of the season.
If someone seriously reckons its number two then its a case for the police surely?

Following Palace since 25 Feb 1978

Heavens above !

Big club bias, cheating, Asian betting markets - mass hysteria has taken the place of reasoned debate. I totally reject such risible accusations. Cheap shots as far as I am concerned.

Trust me, referees don't want to be involved in any controversies. They take a pride in their performances and want to come off the field having performed with great aplomb. They might make mistakes but they don't knowingly make mistakes to favour a team. They are human they are not cheats.

With regard to the Mane incident clearly if a second yellow had been issued there wouldn't be the controversy but this is not what lost us the game. Referees err from time to time but they are honest errors and ones which are highlighted in their vigorous post-match evaluation.

Anyway out now so HOL will be a WILLO free zone for a while!

Edited by Willo (02 Apr 2018 9.56am)

The ref bottled it because he didn’t want to send off a Liverpool player, simple as that. It wasn’t as if he missed something, he saw the offence and it was a 100% clear and obvious yellow card. An amateur decision that is embarrassing for the premiership.

He also made a very strange decision when Wilf was clearly fouled in front of the Arthur and it looked like he played advantage to Liverpool.

One thing he did do in our favour was not booking Cabaye for asking for a yellow (twice) although it does suggest Yohan has a better understanding of the rules than the ref does.

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That Asian betting syndicates are involved in match-fixing worldwide and at very high levels isn't in dispute. That Premier League matches have been implicated is at least highly likely. There have been cases of players being caught match fixing again and again since the 1960s. There have been referees caught match-fixing at the World Cup.

It's a fact that referees are not paid anything like what the players are (by two orders of magnitude or so) and it's also a fact that betting markets cover "products" which are distinctly to do with the referee rather than the game, such as how many cards of what colours will be issued, how many free kicks, how many corners, and so on.

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(Those examples are from Bet365 for a Championship match being played today).

Anyone reasonable who looks at that whole picture and thinks that referees in the Premier League and Championship are somehow exempt from being manipulated in the interests of the massive Asian betting markets is delusional.

Edited by chateauferret (02 Apr 2018 10.44am)

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The Ferret
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BIG club bias.....

Spurs scored their winner from a corner that the official COULDNT POSSIBLY HAVE SEEN ( he was looking throught 2 goal posts,a goal keeper and the OPPOSITE side of the pitch)i and many others were less that 5 yards away and were STUNNED to see a corner given as it was clear to us the ball HANDNT gone out of play...
the official at the chelsea game dissallowed a perfectly good goal for a foul even the Chelsea players DIDNT appeal for...

then saturdays NON production of a 2nd yellow card....

im assuming that Mr Swarbricks error will be punished by be removed from the list for this weeks games it being such a high profile mistake?

2010 decided my services were no longer required after 10 years service on the WHITEHORSE LANE FAMILY STAND

#CRPS

please read [Link] to find out what #CRPS is