By now you’ve probably heard about the extra time fiasco that went down last weekend in the Premier League’s Manchester Derby between Manchester United and Manchester City. The referee allowed the extra time to elapse well over the initial number of minutes officially given. The end result was a Michael Owen game-winner with literally no time remaining on the clock to give Manchester City a chance to score.
Many Blues fans are calling foul on the official ruling including their coach Mark Hughes.
Could a conspiracy theory be the explanation to all of this? Was Manchester United favored by the officials for personal gain? Did too much time run off the clock intentionally to give Michael Owen a better chance of making England’s roster for this summer? Should I go find an eccentric New York cab driver that looks just like Mel Gibson?
The Commish’s answer to all these questions is most definitely NO.
Perhaps officials do favor teams and perhaps they don’t. Either way the ruling of extra time clearly states that the number of minutes given is not the exact time that will remain in the game, but merely a minimum length of time awarded. In other words think of those extra minutes rewarded as basic GUIDE LINES to how the rest of the game will play out.
Often if one team is controlling the ball around the other club’s net, the officials will allow the action to play it self out. If a defender steals the ball and clearly boots it past the midfield the game should be called, but if the offense is passing the ball well and setting up an attempt on goal then the refs should allow the game to play on. Blowing a developing play dead because of an imaginary amount of time in one person’s head is just plain silly. I mean it’s Peter Pan stuff.
Think this is an unfair way of looking at estimated time? Tough luck.
Because if you remember one thing the Commish hates it’s high scoring or even low scoring draws.
Oh… and also Mel Gibson.
