Media rally to stop talk of bent refs & support Man U. At least that means they are noticing us. « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
By Tony Attwood
It is always difficult to be sure just how much influence our blog has. We are now getting around 400,000 hits a month – which is a fair old number – but for most of our existence there has not been any sign that the newspapers and broadcast media have the slightest interest in us.
However, it is also a fact that up to about a year ago, no one but no one would even consider the fact that Premier League and Uefa Champions League matches were fixed – or write any comment upon it. The word was – “it all balances out in the end”.
Then the fact that the BBC interviewed Walter and Dogface began to seep through, and slowly the debate began.
Now suddenly all the media is rushing to deny that there is anything wrong with football referees. The right wing radio station Talk Sport got in first with a discussion on Man U penalties and the The Telegraph has an article on 30 March and the Guardian did a very similar article on the same day.
All “proved” there was no match fixing but the way they have done it is so lacking in depth, and in essence so silly that it really has no comparison with the analyses undertaken on Untold week after week.
They seek to prove us wrong, of course, because they have a fortune invested in the Premier League. Even the right to reprint fixtures costs them £££££ every year – and that is just the start. So anything that knocks the Premier League is to be resisted.
Meanwhile, we carry on doing the ref reviews week after week. Here are the latest
Ref Review: Chelsea 3 Manchester United 3
Ref Review: Tottenham 1 Manchester United 3
If you would like to read more about our work and more ref reviews they are recorded on our home page for a few days, and then after that on Untold Ref Reviews and Untold Corruption
So, the involvement of the press has not been of help – but at least they are starting to notice we are here. Here are some of our more recent stories in these areas…
Ref Reviews: Arsenal v Aston Villa. Phil Dowd gives a master class; Liverpool v Everton – he’s ok here too.
Corruption: Are Barcelona and Fifa involved in corrupt practices within football?