Ghost Ghoul Attwell - Pispoor The Unfriendly Ghost

https://twitter.com/i/status/1380143640568336385

 

I’ve been watching football for over 50 years…and that was still the most incompetent moment of officialdom that I’ve ever seen. For those that witnessed it live you genuinely thought Jeremy Beadle was about to set foot on the pitch

 

The second most disappointing thing that day was that Reading, managed by Steve Coppell, didn’t voluntarily concede a goal to us to right the wrong.

 

I was down the Vic Rd end so couldn't understand what was happening. Remember that git Hunt celebrating like it was a genuine goal.

 

It would have been one of his best gotchas considering he was already dead.

 

Yes, that celebration still rankles now. I didn't remember Coppell offering to replay the game or even telling his players to let us score. I think this was bollox. Noel Hunt jumping around celebrating when he knew that the ball was nowhere near the goal just summed up Coppell's Reading's attitude.

I remember it sparked a moribund game to life and we went 2-1 up but couldn't hold on. Probably the most bizarre thing I've ever seen live. Given his allegiances why was Atwell given the game. Mark Halsey who used to live in Welwyn Garden City, he was never allowed to ref us even though he followed another team. Surely you shouldn't be able to ref your local teams, the team you follow, or their historic rivals.

 

Still remember it, I was behind it in the Rookery. First he awarded a goal kick, then not just a goal but an own goal. I think at first I thought he'd changed his mind and given a corner which was outrageous enough until I realised he'd given a goal. He cannot be a premier league referee on merit because he has a career of idiotic mistakes, especially early on. Wasn't he on some fast track fa programme?

 

At the time I figured I missed something. And that it was cleared off the line (and over it according to the lino) rather than simply flush off the bar. In the scramble the lino flagged it was over the line and the ref - figuring as I did, that I'd missed something as it hit the bar, didn't overrule the flag. I can see how it happened.

Still sums up the ref, the fa and the system that he was then fast tracked into the premier league.

 

He’s an odious, incompetent vile piece of **** that should be nowhere near the game.

To think we are actually sending him to represent our country at the Euros is a humiliation.

We can add him to the list of most of our Eurovision entries of recent years, and that hideous buffoon of a Foreign Secretary who then went on to be Prime Minister.

You can bet your bottom dollar Atwell will mess up on VAR duties in Germany and the scorn of a nation wronged will fall upon us all.

It’s just awful.

 

Does anybody know what the rules actually state regarding referees and the clubs they aren't allowed to officiate due to their associations with specific teams?

Reason I ask - there was an article in The Mail (yeah I know...) that was discussing the appointment of Jarred Gillett on VAR for the north London derby. In it there was a throwaway line regarding him being unable to officiate on Liverpool games due to being a fan, but also that he isn't allowed to ref Everton matches because of his Liverpool association.

Of course The Mail has a reputation for just making things up which could be the case here - but if it's not then I think Watford as a club would have every right to ask why Attwell is allowed to take charge of our matches if Gillett is barred from doing so for his team's rivals. After all, we have a quite significant example to use as evidence for his personal allegiance potentially swaying his on-field decision making.

Here's the article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...inst-Tottenham-huge-impact-title-pursuit.html

Here's the bit in question:

 

If I remember correctly then reading game was live on TV, at half time everyone in the stand I was in (Rookery) at least, knew it was a mistake, I would say Attwell tried to even things up by giving us a penalty to put us at 1-1 or 2-1 I’m not sure which, but unfortunately someone made an error in defence and Reading equalised for a 2-2.

The question has to be why wasn’t the incompetent fool binned straight away instead of being promoted to the Premier League not long after, it beggars belief really!

 

Hi Teide. Reading actually had the penalty, not us. And in a very small defence of Atwell, it was the linesman who signalled for the goal and he went along with the decision.

Blimey. I never thought I’d say anything in defence of him. I’m off for a lie down.

 

Yes, he was, and the powers that be couldn't be seen to have dropped a large bollock with their chosen one.

 

It just beggars belief doesn’t it that even if your linesman flags for a goal that you yourself never saw, that not one supporter in the Reading end was cheering or any of the Reading players were celebrating. Surely the penny would have dropped then and you’d go talk to the linesman to see what he thought he’d seen and then correct him?

So you didn’t see a goal (as there wasn’t one) and you weren’t aware of any player reaction or celebrating in the stand, but seeing as your linesman flagged for a goal you thought you’d better award one despite all the evidence in front of you.

That’s why he should never have been allowed to officiate again.

But oh no, it’s English football so we promote inadequacy.

 

I was in the Rookery and remember this well. The injustice did seem to galvanise us, but it is huge incompetence. An error of that magnitude in any of our jobs would probably see us dismissed, but instead Atwell has continued to fall upwards. Quite baffling really.

Noel Hunt is a ****. Celebrating like he'd scored the winning goal in a World Cup final. Reading were classless too, they should've allowed us to walk the ball into an empty net. I would fully expect us to do the same thing as well if the shoe was on the other foot before anyone suggests otherwise.

 

Ah well I got that all wrong, I was mesmerised by such a momentous joke of a goal that the rest of the match is just one big blurr!

 

No prob. I didn’t mean to correct you in a schoolmasterly sort of way. You’re right that the ghost goal completely overshadowed everything else.

For the record we scored twice in the first 20 minutes of the second half, only to concede a penalty 3 minutes from the end.

Poor Scott Loach, victim of the goal that never was, wasn’t even meant to be playing. He came on for the injured Mart Poom after only 3 minutes.

And @wfcwarehouse the ironic thing of N Hunt celebrating was the ‘goal’ didn’t even get credited to him anyway in the end, but as a Eustace own goal!

 

"Beadles not about".

 

Pen was given for a foul throw in their own half IIRC ?!!

 

He was stood down from officiating after the incident but later returned as an assistant, including in the PL.

 

He went on to release a number of famous hits, including Isn't She Lovely.

 

He wasn’t one of our better signings from Spurs though.

 

It was the other Hunt brother I remember celebrating, with his shaggy black hair flopping about. Absolute bell end.

Penalty was conceded in front of me at the Vic Rd end and looked a fair decision iirc

 

Saw a brilliant one on YouTube randomly a few months back. They picked some xenophobic tradesman with a van and stuck an articulated lorry in his drive manned by a couple of stereotypical French guys, then had some council jobsworth arrive and tell him it was a new extension of the Entente Cordiale.

Obviously the bloke lost it completely held back by his wife “what about my f888ing tools?” while council guy said “the great thing is if you are in a Paris suburb you can use a drive there”.

 

Sometimes went too far though. I remember a tradesman, who was uninsured, watching what he thought was his van containing his whole business/tools etc being driven off a quay into the sea. If that had been me, and he'd appeared from round a corner with a smile on his face, I'd have beaten him to a pulp and stuck his mic "where the sun don't shine".

 

By a long way,

 

Shall we talk about your unresolved anger issues?

 

Yes. The best (and more believable ones) were the more subtle ones that relied on the victim gradually spinning themselves into a state of fury.