The Top 5 Worst Derby Controversies

Status
Not open for further replies.

Tubey

Allardyce Out
We've had the new, definitive "Goal That Never Was" this week, if you listen to Liverpool fans who have very short memories. They've been so hard done by that the pain may never go away - damn those forever fortunate, long ball humping Evertonians!

Of course, we know better. Our catalogue of refereeing errors reads like a who's who of unlucky bar stewards.

So, to catalogue the misfortune (or just to wind you all up going into a lazy Sunday!), here's a rundown of the worst decisions to go against Everton in the Merseyside derby. It'll serve as a history lesson for those new to Everton, an infuriating read for those who remember each and every one and maybe give a chuckle to the browsing neutral fan who didn't realise just how bad we've had it.










5. The Gerrard Two Footed Shocker on Gary Naysmith - Graham Poll (2002)

31556.jpg



The most disgraceful tackle in the Merseyside derby doesn't belong to Tim Cahill wrestling over his man - as some Kopites would lead you to believe - or even Suarez executing a move directly from the WWE on Heitinga. Nope, it belongs quite clearly to one Steven Gerrard, who in the drab 2002 goalless draw decided to go through Gary Naysmith with a horrific, straight-legged, two footed potential leg breaker which had everyone wincing.

Except Graham Poll, who waved it on and didn't even deem it a foul.

Amusingly, Steven Gerrard later "apologised" after the game, but said it was "lucky he pulled out of the tackle".

If that's what you call "pulling out of a tackle"... :S

Only three minutes remained on the clock when that horror "tackle" went in, but the blatant nature of it left many Evertonians bewildered as to how it was missed - much more than a simple dodgy offside decision.



4. The Suarez Dive/Rodwell Sending Off - Martin Atkinson (2011)

348315-luis-suarez-and-jack-rodwell1.jpg



Everton went into last seasons first derby with enthusiasm - we felt we had the stronger side and overall form, and were facing a side on the ropes in terms of overall squad depth and consistency.

Unfortunately, after a bright start from Everton, referee Martin Atkinson killed the game dead with a stunningly bad call.

The sending off decision would have been bad in any normal circumstance, but what makes this worse was the occasion in which it happened, the blatant simulation from Luis Suarez (hardly surprising, I'd expect nothing less) and the fact the referee had a crystal clear view and was five yards away.

Liverpool went on to win at a canter as the extra man took it's toll, and the red card was rightfully rescinded by the FA in quick order. It is known as the "derby that never was" amongst a lot of fans from both sides of the divide - a game thoroughly ruined by a referee too easily conned by a certain Uruguayan.




3. The Goal That Never Was #2 - Graham Poll (2000)

1284460413-lg.jpg



It's amazing how short the memories of Liverpool fans seems to be. You'd swear that the disallowed goal from the recent derby was the first time any such "mistake" has occurred. Of course, it's happened to Everton twice...

The latest one was in the year 2000. An Everton win would have secured a fairly rare derby double for the Blues, but it was ebbing out to a 0-0 draw.

Liverpool win a free kick in their own box. Goalkeeper Sander Westerveld grabs the ball quickly and, for reasons best known to himself, decides to thrash the ball directly at the back of the retreating Everton midfielder, Don Hutchison.

The ball rebounds off his back, loops over Westerveld, and trickles over the line.

The Everton fans go wild - but Graham Poll blows up for full time. A full 30 seconds before he was scheduled to, and without an explanation to the bewildered Everton players and fans.

To be fair to Poll, he has since admitted that he simply bottled it. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/ever...e-to-forgive-poll-for-howler-100252-19267964/ . Nothing more, nothing less. Everton were prevented a perfectly valid derby double, and Graham Poll would continue his absolute ineptitude as a referee by giving out three yellow cards in a World Cup and not sending Steven Gerrard off for Grievous Bodily Harm on Gary Naysmith two years later.


2. The Goal That Never Was #1 - Clive Thomas (1977)

evertongoaldisallowed.jpg



The funniest thing about the Suarez disallowed goal is how outraged and bitter they are - after a full 35 years of stick we have had off them for the Clive Thomas affair.

Ahhh Clive Thomas... The event is so well known that Evertonians not even born at the time are aware of the events.

For the neutrals reading this, here's the background. It's an FA Cup Semi Final and a Merseyside derby. Everton are not the all-conquering 1980s outfit of Kendall, but the plucky underdogs of Gordon Lee. Liverpool were the stronger side and favourites to win, and they took the lead twice. Everton responded twice, pulling it to 2-2.

As the final whistle approaches, Ronnie Goodlass sends in a speculative cross, it's flicked on and substitute Bryan Hamilton - in comfortably the biggest professional moment of his career - gets on the end and puts it home to give Everton the 3-2 win.

However, not in the eyes of Clive Thomas. The Welsh ref disallowed it.

To this day, nobody knows why. The Liverpool fans don't know why. Thomas has never explained why. Everton were denied a place in the FA Cup Final - and to this day we have absolutely no idea why. Liverpool went on to win the replay 3-0.

The similarities between this event and the Suarez affair are obvious - except it cost us a place in a prestigious final, whilst the Kopites lost two points.

But for the next 35 years we'll be hearing all about the Suarez disallowed goal from the "bitters" ;)


1. The Clattenburg Derby (2007)

GerrardAP_468x295.jpg



Mark Clattenburg. The name alone provokes outrage from disgusted Evertonians who will forever remember the Merseyside derby from 2007 that has since became known simply as the "Clattenburg Derby".

It wasn't just one shocking decision - it was pretty much everything. You will never see a worse refereeing performance in professional football ever again. I'm listing the three "major" decisions below, but the pattern was repeated with 50/50 decisions all game:

Incident 1 - Tony Hibbert brings down Gerrard. The penalty was soft but it was a penalty. Clattenburg pulls out his yellow card, Gerrard gets up, walks up to Clattenburg, has a word in his ear, Clattenburg puts the yellow card away and brings out the red, sending Hibbert off. To this day, he hasn't explained why he did this.

Incident 2 - Dirk Kuyt all but drop kicks Phil Neville. I'm not exaggerating - it was a stomach high, two footed lunge that everyone in the ground could see from every angle you care to mention. Clattenburg DID see it - but, for reasons only known to himself, he only produces a yellow card. To this day, he hasn't explained why that tackle wasn't a red. Kuyt's post-game comments where hysterical - "maybe I was a bit lucky!"

Incident 3 - With the game running down and Liverpool leading 2-1, Jamie Carragher grabs hold of Joleon Lescott and wrestles him to the ground in the box. Again, I'm not exaggerating. Again, everyone in the ground sees it. Clattenburg, just five yards away from the incident, waves play on. He also waved on another penalty claim against Jamie Carragher in the game.

Liverpool win the game 2-1 thanks to two pens (ironically taken by Kuyt, who should have been off the pitch long before he took the second) and two Everton players being sent off (Hibbert & Neville).

All of the above isn't solely the opinion of "bitter" Evertonians. The FA dropped Clattenburg from refereeing duties for a period of time due to poor officiating in this game, and suspicion regarding the motives of Clattenburg's performance has meant that he has not refereed an Everton game at Goodison Park ever since. He refereed an Everton game for the first time in five years last season - an uneventful away game where he was on his best behaviour.

It's worth noting that less than a year after this game, Clattenburg was suspended from the game due to business debts and problems in his personal life...






I hope you "enjoyed" the read, for want of a better word! What order would you place them?
 
------------------------------------------------------------------

uuuuuuuuuups...i completely forgot that this thread is derby controversies...sorry mate, ignore my post



------------------------------------------------------------------
Good thread, mate...all bar the 1977 one still fresh in the memory. They're so outrageous, really...

I would add another one in place of the 1977 one (but place it 5th and move the others up), just so we have them all in recent memory for everyone here:

Sep 2010 (Martin Atkinson again):

Man Utd are notorious for somehow always getting an extra minute to find that winner in games. With the score at Goodison at 3-3 after our amazing comeback in the final minutes, Jags was bearing down on goal on a quick counter with support from his strikers and only a couple of Man U defenders back...we were all feeling the winner coming!

Then the ****ing ref blew his whistle, in the middle of a riproaring attack! When do you ever see the whistle blown in a moment like that? Normally it's when play has died down a bit, then the fat lady sings. It wasn't even at Old Trafford, ffs, it was at our ground...and we still didn't get the time to finish the attack!

Ridiculous.

And only gives more credibility to the theory that Champions League clubs get favorable treatment from referees. I don't believe Everton are one of the unluckiest teams in the Prem, I believe that including us the 14 or 15 clubs outside the glamour set are generally hard done by over the course of a season, due to this kind of favouritism.
 

i think you missed one of the worst ones out Tuber- carragherlaas tackle i mean assault on pienaar in the first minute of the anlfield derby (t`was 2010 i think) . stevie p has done well to swerve those games in the last couple of years
 
What annoys me more than all of this, is that it wasn't a foul in the first place and when the ball is played, Coates was fouling Jagielka. It was dissallowed for the wrong reason, but it was rightfully dissallowed.

Liverpool going on about their bad luck in the derby is absolutely laughable. Yes every team has their bad luck in games, but some of the derby matches have just been so bad I (especially with Clattenburg) suspected something was going on. You can take the odd poor call (Atkinson red card was horrendous but he was conned into it) but that derby was suspicious to say the least.

As for Poll 'bottling it'. I dont get it? I would say the braver decision would be to controversially dissallow the goal? If he'd have rightfully let play on, he wouldnt have had to do anything and nobody would have spoken about him?!
 
Liverpool going on about their bad luck in the derby is absolutely laughable.

they whinge to high heaven for months if a throw in goes against them. i only heard a few bits of commentary from us vs fulham yesterday and we shouldve had 2 clear corners in the short time i listened but we are used to getting the ****ty end of the stick.
 
The 0-0 draw in a FA cup game at anfield. It was the game preceding the famous 4-4 clash at goodison. Pat Nevin gets taken down by Gary Ablett (RIP) at the anfield road end for a painfully blatant penalty. It was'nt given. Regardless of the fact that we went through eventually, this is one of the worst refereeing derby calls I've ever seen.
 

The 0-0 draw in a FA cup game at anfield. It was the game preceding the famous 4-4 clash at goodison. Pat Nevin gets taken down by Gary Ablett (RIP) at the anfield road end for a painfully blatant penalty. It was'nt given. Regardless of the fact that we went through eventually, this is one of the worst refereeing derby calls I've ever seen.

Midgeley the ref apparently said to Kendall we should have thanked him for that as otherwise we would not have had the 4-4!!I've got even longer memories,my first derby was Dec 1973 at Goodison,Mickey Lyons has a perfect header chalked off for"pushing",Alan Waddle goes down the other end looking suspiciously offside one on one with Lawson,shins it,and it agonisingly rolls in off the post!!I should have known from that day eh?!!Jammy tw*ts!!!Don't start me,Jimmy sh*thouse Case snapping Geoff Nulty in two and finishing his career,don't want to think about it anymore,there's that bloody many!!!
 
What annoys me more than all of this, is that it wasn't a foul in the first place and when the ball is played, Coates was fouling Jagielka. It was dissallowed for the wrong reason, but it was rightfully dissallowed.

Liverpool going on about their bad luck in the derby is absolutely laughable. Yes every team has their bad luck in games, but some of the derby matches have just been so bad I (especially with Clattenburg) suspected something was going on. You can take the odd poor call (Atkinson red card was horrendous but he was conned into it) but that derby was suspicious to say the least.

As for Poll 'bottling it'. I dont get it? I would say the braver decision would be to controversially dissallow the goal? If he'd have rightfully let play on, he wouldnt have had to do anything and nobody would have spoken about him?!

In bold are points 1 and 2. Point 3 is that with a ref doing his job, Suarez wouldn't have been on the pitch
 
Personally I would say the Poll incident was worse than the Clattenburg one - Clattenburg you could concievably just put down to incompetence, but Poll actively cheated in order to prevent the ****e losing the game and lied about what happened afterwards (though he has admitted the "error" more recently).
 
What annoys me more than all of this, is that it wasn't a foul in the first place and when the ball is played, Coates was fouling Jagielka. It was dissallowed for the wrong reason, but it was rightfully dissallowed.

Liverpool going on about their bad luck in the derby is absolutely laughable. Yes every team has their bad luck in games, but some of the derby matches have just been so bad I (especially with Clattenburg) suspected something was going on. You can take the odd poor call (Atkinson red card was horrendous but he was conned into it) but that derby was suspicious to say the least.

As for Poll 'bottling it'. I dont get it? I would say the braver decision would be to controversially dissallow the goal? If he'd have rightfully let play on, he wouldnt have had to do anything and nobody would have spoken about him?!

Exactly, but let's be honest, it will make them fume more if we just admit it should have been a perfect goal.

Personally I would say the Poll incident was worse than the Clattenburg one - Clattenburg you could concievably just put down to incompetence, but Poll actively cheated in order to prevent the ****e losing the game and lied about what happened afterwards (though he has admitted the "error" more recently).

"You don't give a penalty against liverpool football club in the 90th minute" btw, this is only what i've heard, someone on here could probably clear it up further.
 
You should have made it a top twenty, easily filled with bucketloads of ****e derby decsions against EFC.

Also - Clve Thomas...worth pointing out he was 40 yards beyond play so disallowed a goal he had no view of, and the linesmen are on record that he was asking them in the dressing room what could he say it had been disallowed for- they both said no offside, no handball.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.
Top