27 Oct 2016 13:58:53
Does anyone feel the charge against Mourinho is unwarranted? It is not as though he criticized the referee's performance, he merely commented beforehand that it was a potential challenge being a Manchester based ref in a Liverpool United match. So what?

I really don't get it. Managers are compelled to do interviews but when asked questions of interest they are not allowed to answer them honestly.


1.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 14:07:46
Load of rollocks if you ask me. He said it how it was; and invariably, he was proved right because the ref gave us nothing in that game.


2.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 14:13:43
Mentioning referees in general brings more pressure on them and makes it hostile for them even before they've got on th pitch! It's very easy to manipulate the public into a backlash against a referee.


3.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 15:20:27
To be fair to him, it was the Liverpool-infested media, that were banging on about it leading up to the game. He was just redressing things a little.


4.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 16:39:08
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The rules clearly stipulate that managers aren't allowed to question the Ref before a game. It can create a media storm and put undue pressure on the Ref.

That being said there was already a media storm around the appointment already with many media outlets questioning the decision from the FA and the potential decision making of the Ref.

It had gotten to such a point that it was probably going to be almost impossible for the Ref not to be influenced by it.
I feel Mourinho just sympatised with him, but also cleverly put pressure on him from the other side. Maybe it balanced it out maybe it didn't. At the end of the day I thought Mr Taylor did a great job and got 95% of the decisions right if not more. Fortunately there was no contentious decisions to be made.

For me the fault lies with the FA, if they are foolish enough to put this poor Ref in that situation then they should bare the brunt of it. They might as well thrown the guy to the wolves.

Obviously the thing that should be taken out of this is to try and avoid it happening again. Be that in a change in the regulations where by a Ref can't ref a game from either his birth place nor his current residence, or by them changing the rules and not announcing the Ref until the morning of the game.
Speaking of which I always thought that was the case anyway, to stop neferious people approching a Ref and making him an offer?


5.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 19:30:33
when you say the ref gave us nothing in that match, are you trying to say that he gave a lot to Liverpool? Because that's what it sounds like, and that's a weird comment. Same rules for all managers, don't try and influence the ref like that, clear rules.


6.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 22:29:28
Apart from when it's from Liverpool through the media before the game.