With the officials being allocated games for this weekend just gone, one name was very conspicuous by its absence.
This was an official who has been touted as the best currently officiating in the PL, with a reported salary ranging from £180,000 to £250,000 per year.
The official who has shown so few red cards to City115 players, while seemingly refereeing their games completely differently to, for example, The Arsenal and Liverpool.
There’s no need to go into any specifics, as we all know this official ignored the rule book while protecting the spectacle of the game, then changed his mind completely when his decision was reversed and, in both cases, benefited City115.
Why was Michael Oliver missing from the appointments?
Of course, the official in question is Michael Oliver, and I wonder if his name being dropped has anything to do with the questions surrounding his visit to referee a match in the UAE, a country with close ties to Manchester City’s owners.
A reported first-class travel package, along with first-class accommodation and a payment of £20,000, were all said to be part of this arrangement, which was authorised by the PGMOL, led by Howard Webb.
Why wasn’t this looked into immediately by the authorities?
Well, could it be a continuation of the fallout from the guilty verdict regarding Manchester City’s cheating probe, and could the authorities now be widening their scrutiny of possible conflicts of interest within the game and outside as well?
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Will we ever get the answers?
I have no idea whether there is a formal probe into Michael Oliver or what the outcome might be, but if we tagged the City115 investigation with “There’s no smoke without fire”, are we now at the same stage with these particular questions?
My guess? Mr Oliver would be back refereeing in the very near future, with no evidence or explanation given.
And, sure enough, he’s already been appointed to referee Arsenal’s next Premier League match against Nottingham Forest!
Then again, I’ve always questioned his style of refereeing, his repeated actions when ignoring the rule book whenever it suited him and how his stats compared when he refereed City versus other clubs.
ken1945
What do you think about Mr Oliver and his ties to City and its owners?
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