Pull the other one, Sparky!
I see that Mark Hughes has made a feeble attempt at playing mind games by suggesting that the so-called Big Four teams enjoy the benefits of referee bias. While I agree that there have been numerous situations, especially recently, that appear to give his argument credibility, I somehow doubt that Hughes felt the same concern when he was pulling on the red shirt for United every week. And I would also argue that one of the Big Four has never enjoyed anything remotely approaching favour from the men in black while playing Blackburn. Perhaps Mr. Hughes has simply forgotten the match in which Uriah Rennie allowed the Rovers to quite literally break and repeatedly kick Chelsea players, or the one when Mike Riley rightly booked five Blackburn players for rash challenges but bottled the decision on several more occasions, or when Steve Bennett let Rovers get away with three clear penalties against the Blues, or when Mark Clattenburg followed that example to deny Chelsea another spot kick at Ewood, or when Phil Dowd failed to punish yet another penalty infringement, or the match just this season when the officials ludicrously chalked off a Salomon Kalou winner for offside, gifting Hughes' Blackburn two undeserved points.
Yes, I can certainly see now why Hughes has every reason to feel aggrieved. *HEADDESK* Here's a tip, Mark, you whinging hypocrite: instead of moaning about your team's reputation as dirty bullies, try booting the likes of Savage and Mokoena out of your squad and then getting the decent professionals who remain to concentrate on kicking the football more than their opponents. You never know, you might actually win something more than the respect you have deservedly lost thus far.
That said, if Blackburn spend the entirety of today's Carling Cup match kicking lumps out of Arsenal I will not shed a tear. As far as I'm concerned those sides deserve each other and whatever hopefully excruciating pain they may suffer.
Yes, I can certainly see now why Hughes has every reason to feel aggrieved. *HEADDESK* Here's a tip, Mark, you whinging hypocrite: instead of moaning about your team's reputation as dirty bullies, try booting the likes of Savage and Mokoena out of your squad and then getting the decent professionals who remain to concentrate on kicking the football more than their opponents. You never know, you might actually win something more than the respect you have deservedly lost thus far.
That said, if Blackburn spend the entirety of today's Carling Cup match kicking lumps out of Arsenal I will not shed a tear. As far as I'm concerned those sides deserve each other and whatever hopefully excruciating pain they may suffer.