Football FanCast columnist Rob Facey thinks that while conspirators will agree with Avram
Grant's comments that Man United received favourable referring decisions on
their way to the title, the Chelsea boss should not be drawn into the debate
after a successful first season in charge, especially with the Champions League
final so close.
In a week's time, the Champions League trophy will be back
in England. United, who are arguably the favourites, will be hoping that they
can parade around the streets of Manchester as part of a magnificent double,
while Chelsea will be hoping that they will be showing the European cup off to
the public down the Kings Road.
However, Avram Grant, the Chelsea coach, could not resist
one last opportunity to suggest that his team were hard done in the Premier
League this season.
"I think in England there are some very good referees, but there are some, a few of them, you can influence, like you saw," Grant told The Times.
"Look at the Wigan game. The referee? He was, as expected, good for one team."
Sour grapes, or does the man have a point? He went on to talk about his first fixture in charge of Chelsea, which was at Old Trafford, in which the Blues were sunk 2-0.
"I think that the game we played against United at Old Trafford, the referee, he changed the result for sure. The red card for Mikel was not a red card, the red card that wasn't for Scholes on Sunday should have been. Then there was the penalty.
"I do not think the world is against Chelsea, or English football, but in this case there were some coincidences for Manchester United. What happened is what I expected, but again I congratulate them."
This view is open to debate, but should the Chelsea camp not be 100% focused on next weeks game rather than feeling hard done by about the season gone by?
The Israeli pushed United right to the last game after everybody had written the Blues off after Jose Mourinho's departure, but is Grant right to feel hard done by with regards to refereeing in England?
Is their really any truth in the myth that United get away with more than any other Premier League team and is Grant wrong to be buying into this? I mean one look at the Right Result League table paints quite another picture.
The Right Result is an organisation who
formulates the League table based on how it would look if all refereeing decisions
were correct. It shows that Avram Grant's men should consider themselves quite
fortunate as his Chelsea actually find themselves 6pts better off than they
should have been whilst Manchester United were 4pts worse off. You could say that Grant's comment's don't stack up but unfortunately we don't adhere to the Right Result's table.
CLICK HERE to view the final RIGHT RESULT LEAGUE
TABLE for the 2007/08 season.