Carling Cup Final Misery
Just got back from watching the match and am thoroughly disappointed at the result.
Call me a sore loser, call it sour grapes, call it what you will but I’ll still tell you that I think Referee Mike Riley had a stinker of a game and let Middlesbrough get away with far too much. Every “foul” by a Bolton player was pulled up and even when decisions clearly should have gone our way they didn’t. I mean, if 40 fouls but only 4 yellow cards doesn’t tell the tale of a stop-start game I don’t know what does. The referee missed two crucial decisions that should have gone Bolton’s way and even had the audacity to give Ricketts only a yellow card for blatantly telling him to “piss off” to his face.
The sad thing is that referee Mike Riley hasn’t just cost us the cup, he’s lost us millions in revenue that would have been generated by playing in Europe next season.
Now we face losing some of our big name players such as Okocha, Djorkaeff and Campo. However, if we manage to keep hold of one individual… then please let it be Sam Allardyce. Having watched managers come and go over the years I firmly believe that he is the greatest manager we have ever had and probably will have had for some time to come.
Middlesbrough played well and put together some good attacking football on occasion, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they should have won. I’m not even insinuating that Bolton deserved to win either, as some of our “big name” players just didn’t perform on the day. It’s just that if the game hadn’t been centred around the referee then it might have been a better game altogether.
Oh well, back to the Premiership and let’s hope we can get into the top half of the table and maybe even Europe.
Posted on February 29th, 2004 at 5:30 pm and filed under Football.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Andy Mac February 29th, 2004 at 8:26 pm (Permalink)
Well, they had their chances Chris. Or should I say Djorkaeff had their chances. I thought after that opening 5 minutes that Bolton were beginning to string some good football together - I think they lost the plot in the second half, they let Boro settle into the game and do what they have been doing very well and not concede - except against us of course ;).
I don’t think you could blame the ref for missing that double kick from the spot as I don’t think anyone caught it at the time. Though, I’d add that you should have had a penalty for Ehiogu’s handled block.
Never mind mate, you can at least cheer us on as we head towards the title :)
Chris February 29th, 2004 at 8:33 pm (Permalink)
I don’t really blame the ref for the “double kick” but I definately thought that overall he had a very very poor game.
Mike Riley is and always will be the referee-ing equivalent of the scurge of Bolton.
Cheer “us” on… who do you support mate?
Chris February 29th, 2004 at 9:03 pm (Permalink)
It seems I’m not the only person that didn’t like/want Mike Riley officiating one of the biggest games in Bolton’s history.
Andy Mac February 29th, 2004 at 9:21 pm (Permalink)
I’m sure I’ve said it before - I’m an Arsenal supporter of course :)
Chris February 29th, 2004 at 9:33 pm (Permalink)
Thats ok then (and you probably did)… I’d rather see Arsenal do the treble this season that United win the league again.
Fingers are crossed for you Andy and I’ll be cheering the gunners on when the time comes. :)
Chris February 29th, 2004 at 11:05 pm (Permalink)
Allardyce Blames Referee - BBC News
Paul March 1st, 2004 at 1:29 pm (Permalink)
Unlucky, I had split loyalties for this game because I like Sam Allardyce but I also like Steve McClaren. It was a good game tho I thought.
Chris March 1st, 2004 at 6:22 pm (Permalink)
Yeah, on reflection Boro did deserve the win I suppose… but I still feel that Mike Riley played a big part in our loss. :(
Kelly_Boro April 26th, 2004 at 11:44 pm (Permalink)
Follow follow follow cos we’ve got Juninho, The Ayrsome Angels will sing Steve McClarens the King and It’s off to EUROPE we go :-P