Is there an honest-to-God refereeing conspiracy against Tottenham Hotspur? Well, no (probably), but it’s sure beginning to feel like it after the Football Association yesterday announced a misconduct charge against interim Spurs manager Igor Tudor:
As specified in the release from the FA, the charge relates to comments Tudor made following Spurs’ away loss to Fulham, in which a two-handed shove from Raul Jimenez in the back of Radu Dragusin created space for a flick-on that resulted in Harry Wilson’s opening goal. It was an especially egregious non-call in the light of Spurs’ previous match as well, when Randal Kolo Muani had a goal chalked off against rivals Arsenal as defender Gabriel went down under even less contact in a similar coming-together. Suffice to say, Tudor was not well pleased at the inconsistency, as well as a number of other calls that went against Spurs in the match at Craven Cottage:
”I didn’t like the referee today, too much of a home team referee. I didn’t feel well with him.
”All the decisions were on their side. He doesn’t understand football, the feeling of what is wrong and what is right.
“He [Jimenez] was not thinking about the ball, he was thinking how to cheat, he cheated the player, was pushing, it was cheating and it’s a foul. Ninety-nine of 100 people will say it’s a foul, it’s so obvious.”
Well… yeah. It’s those first two lines above that the FA has taken issue with and which fall under the umbrella of “making comments that imply bias and/or question integrity”. By the letter of the law, the charge is correct.
That doesn’t mean Tudor was wrong to speak out, though. Spurs have had a raw deal under the current set of officials on multiple occasions this season, and what’s in some ways even more aggravating is they aren’t the only ones. Inconsistency has become rife, with more and more calls being made from week to week lacking any sort of logic or clarity. Instead, the referee corps have tended to double down, arguing that the decisions made have been the correct ones, with a level of obstinance that almost beggars belief.
With that in mind, somebody had to say something; and given the position Spurs are on the Premier League table, these calls could end up being a deciding factor in Spurs’ top-flight survival. Perhaps the spotlight the comments could bring may cause referees to pause for thought before making fifty-fifty decisions against the Lilywhites; perhaps though they will lead to the referees adjudging Spurs more harshly.
In a just world they arguably should have no bearing.
But that is not the world in which we live, nor is it the quality of referee we currently have to suffer, one in which a referee can put unconscious biases out of their mind and make rational, well-thought-out decisions, with VAR there to cast a critical eye and clean up any understandable misses. It’s a hard job after all; however, it’s one that should be done to a certain standard, and given that’s not been the case, Tudor’s comments are timely.
The likely punishment is probably a fine, which the club will surely wear; though there could also be touchline bans for Tudor. Hopefully the consequence is on the lighter side, and we’ll get improved refereeing performances here on out - though given what we’ve seen in the matches post-Fulham, that hope is unlikely to be fulfilled.