“Ridiculous decision, that. Clear penalty. #NUFC don’t get em, do they?”
The words of Mark Douglas, Newcastle United Editor (yet a Bradford fan) for The Chronicle, The Journal and Sunday Sun on Twitter on Saturday night, following the replay on Match of the Day of the blatant penalty The Magpies should have been awarded at QPR. The penalty would have enabled a late chance to equalise.
The incident wasn’t mentioned in match reports yet BBC analysts Jermaine Jenas and Alan Shearer felt it was a ‘stonewall’ penalty, demonstrating once again the absolutely vital need for technology to be used in Premier League football.
Why Don’t Newcastle United Get Penalties?
Match of the Day’s commentary remarked about referee Lee Probert, brought out of hibernation for the crucial run-in and who already awarded Hull’s Michael Dawson winning goal against Liverpool with three men offside.
“Lee Probert seemed to have an unimpeded view of it but didn’t give it…”
Probert waved the claims away and denied Newcastle a chance to equalise and edge to safety – the latest in a string of decisions that have unfairly denied The Magpies.
“Sometimes big decisions like that can make big differences to people’s livelihoods and futures.”
The words of then caretaker head coach, John Carver, back in January after his side were robbed of a blatant penalty when Southampton’s Jose Fonte clearly handled Emmanuel Rivière’s goal-bound effort late in the home match, which they lost 2-1.
It’s not just the livelihoods of the people who work for Newcastle United that these decisions affect; it’s 50,000 hard-working Geordie season ticket-holders paying £500 and above who are being cheated out of seeing their team play on a level playing field, celebrating hard-won points and good results.
If it was a one-off human official making a mistake, fair enough; yet it is part of a wider pattern that means Newcastle United have not been awarded a penalty at home since 2013. Furthermore, The Magpies have played 2,530 minutes (plus 28 Premier League matches’ worth of additional time) without being awarded a spot-kick at St James’ Park, despite a string of undeniable incidents.
It’s been over 5000 minutes – 57 Premier League matches – since Newcastle enjoyed a man advantage after an opponent was sent off and, in the same time-frame, Newcastle have had 12 men dismissed.
Don’t forget Remy Cabella’s wrongly disallowed goal against Leicester in The FA Cup with the scores at 0-0. There was clearly going to be no repeat of last season’s Yohan Cabaye winner at Old Trafford; “Newcastle’s Yoan Gouffran denied Stonewall penalty” was The Metro‘s headline when the Frenchman was pushed by Juan Mata after a bright start with the scores still at 0-0.
Mike Jones awarded Newcastle an 87th minute penalty at 3-0 down yet it’s the only Premier League penalty Newcastle have got all season. Despite being dispatched with aplomb into the top corner by Papiss Cissé, this means The Magpies have not had a meaningful Premier League penalty all season.
That decision was in Alan Pardew’s penultimate game, who said at the time:
“The ref gave us a soft penalty out of guilt for the penalty he should have given us.”
In the return game, Manu Rivière was denied a clear penalty by Greater Manchester-based referee, Anthony Taylor, in the home fixture against Man United – again, with the scores at 0-0.
The club’s ‘luck’ with refereeing decisions has not changed since Pardew departed and John Carver took the helm – in fact, it has got worse with a string of stonewall penalties going against his team. A pattern of Newcastle attacking in the area and being fouled without recourse has been established.
Game after game, football experts are in agreement that Newcastle are not getting the game-changing decisions pivotal in their slide down the table. For example in the recent Tyne-Wear derby, Jamie Carragher described Santiago Vergini as a “lucky boy” when analysing his two-footed scissor challenge in the box on Ayoze Perez, at The Stadium of Light. Jermaine Jenas went even further on Match of the Day 2 saying:
“I do [think it was a penalty]. I’m actually shocked that no one’s really talking about it.
“For me this is a penalty. The referee (Mike Dean) has got a clear view of the incident and if that is outside the box I think that’s a foul straight away.”
Just a week and a game later, Sky’s Gary Neville on Monday Night Football said after the Ayoze Perez penalty not given against Liverpool at Anfield:
“They (Newcastle) have been poor, yeah, yet they should have had a chance to go 1-1 and it’s an absolute stonewall penalty…
We always look at the referee’s position…Lee Mason’s view of it and he’s got no excuse, he’s staring right at it there, he’s so close, he’s within 5 or 6 yards.”
Lee Mason is a graduate of Liverpool Hope University.
Following that decision, John Carver told the media he was going to ring the Professional Game Match Officials Boards (PGMOB) Referee Chief, Mike Riley, yet to no avail.
Newcastle have also had several very good shouts against Everton for handball on the line and Arsenal for a foul on Cabella that has been awarded, just to every other club but Newcastle. It is highly suspicious Newcastle never, ever get the benefit of the doubt.
This is in contrast to rivals Sunderland whom Mike Jones awarded 2 penalties – more than Newcastle have had all season – in their crucial game against Southampton a fortnight ago as well as a soft dismissal enabling a vital win and the Black Cats are now safe.
The Chronicle has dubbed the West Ham fixture on SKY’s ‘Survival Sunday’ the “richest game in Newcastle’s history” with £80M of TV money at stake. It is also a future full-share of the new £5 billion TV rights deal and even more in future mega-deals with SKY and co.
Not being awarded penalties does not completely exonerate the poor run of recent form by the only club in the world to have beaten both this season’s reigning champions, Chelsea, and last year’s champions, Manchester City. However, it does offer some balance to explanations of their slide.
With distinct shades of Italy’s Calciopoli scandal colouring the matter, Martin Atkinson must have a strong game at St James’ Park on Sunday or there will be serious reprisals.
The League Table doesn’t lie – nor does Lance Armstrong.
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