Referees often make high-profile mistakes, and Tottenham Hotspur have been on the wrong end of some terrible decisions over the years.
The 2019 Champions League final was marred by a dodgy VAR call on an early penalty for Tottenham.
Meanwhile, just this season VAR made a mistake as Tottenham lost to Chelsea as Moises Caicedo arguably should’ve been sent off for a poor challenge.
On other occasions, Tottenham have benefitted from refereeing errors, for example, Luis Diaz’s offside goal back in 2023.
Speaking on Stick To Football, Paul Scholes was asked to name the worst refereeing decision he’s seen in his life, and he gave an answer that involved Tottenham.
Paul Scholes names the worst refereeing decision he’s ever seen
According to Scholes the worst refereeing decision of all-time came back in 2005 as Tottenham faced Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Pedro Mendes had a speculative shot from more than 40 yards against United, and Roy Carroll, inexplicably, spilled the ball over the line.
Luckily, Mendes’ blushes were spared as both the referee and the linesman failed to spot that the ball had crossed the line.
According to Scholes, this was a terrible decision, and Gary Neville agrees.
“What is the worst refereeing decision you’ve ever seen?” Scholes was asked.
“Oh god, Roy Carroll over the line? It was miles over the line,’ Scholes said.
“You’re right, the ball was over the line, it was that far over the line,” Neville said.
How Alex Ferguson reacted to Pedro Mendes ghost goal
Pedro Mendes’ goal 20 years ago should’ve been given, but, as ever, Alex Ferguson wasn’t willing to concede much ground after the game.
Indeed, while Ferguson admitted that the goal should’ve been given and that technology should come into the game, he also said that from his angle he couldn’t see the incident properly, while also bemoaning the referee for another decision involving his team.
“Well, I make the point about technology and cameras. Most people in the game are making the point that progress has to be made in the game and that proved it tonight,” Ferguson said.
“I don’t think you can blame the linesman or the referee, even from my position I wasn’t dead sure. The linesman was scurrying back, but he couldn’t do it. That could’ve won the game for them.
“We should’ve had a penalty kick when Rio Ferdinand was brought down and all of your highlights are about that goal when you’re missing another obvious bad decision.”
Of course, Mendes’ goal wasn’t the only time goal line technology, or the lack thereof, has had a massive effect in the Premier League and English football as a whole.
Perhaps most famously, Frank Lampard’s goal vs Germany was disallowed at the 2010 World Cup.
Meanwhile, Luis Garcia scored for Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League semi-final but the ball seemingly hadn’t crossed the line.
Clint Hill also had a goal disallowed vs Bolton in 2012 which could’ve condemned QPR to relegation.
Going even further back, one of Geoff Hurst’s goals in the 1966 World Cup final arguably should’ve been disallowed for similar reasons.
Luckily, these days, goal line technology is there to save the day and these sorts of decisions are no longer huge issues.