There’s only two things in this world that are worse than seeing a bad refereeing decision. One is a bad referee decision that costs your team result, and the other is a bad decision that costs you a bet. Congratulations Mr Madley, you managed to tick both boxes with your inexplicably shite performance on Saturday.
When Martin Atkinson missed the Bastian Schweinsteiger foul in the build up to Manchester United’s equaliser in the FA Cup, I didn’t complain. Darren Randolph was impeded by the German, but it was a difficult one to spot; it’ll be gutting if it ends up costing my club a place at Wembley, but these things happen and that’s part and parcel of a football fan’s life.
But Mr Madley has no excuse for Saturday’s shower at Stamford Bridge.
Fabregas’s first equaliser was an exquisite free-kick, but to misjudge the distance of the wall by two yards is ridiculous. Worse still, Madley ignored the West Ham protests, insisting that 12 yards was 10. If his poor grasp of measurements is anything like this in any aspects of his life, I can only assume that Mrs Madley was left very disappointed after her visit to his bedroom.
Would the wall have stopped Fabregas from scoring? Would Adrian have had more time to react? We’ll never know. As already stated, it was a brilliant free-kick and I wouldn’t want to take anything away from the player or the strike. But it’s hard not to think ‘what if’, especially as an opposing supporter. Either way, the worst was yet to come.
I’ve never read the rule book, but I’ve always been of the understanding that you can’t give a penalty unless you’re sure. Yet again, Madley’s perceptions were a full two yards out as he awarded that penalty. Ruben Loftus-Cheek did go down a little easily, but I’ve no issue with that; there was contact and he’s within his right to go down. But, even in real time, it was clearly outside of the box. How Madley arrived at the decision of a penalty was beyond me. To award it in the 89th minute is utterly unforgivable.
Those extra two points would have seen the club would have piled the pressure on both Manchester clubs. I still don’t think we will or even would have gained Champions League football, but it does feel like we’ve been robbed at the worst time possible.
Oh and Mr Madley, if you fancy paying out on my £3 scorecast that was set to win before your mistake, that would be great. You utter cretin.
Apologies for a second West Ham post in a matter of days, but I’m sure every set of supporters that has been robbed by such a poor decision can relate to the anger and disappointment currently being felt.
