MORE DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOUR
With so much going on in the world by which to be justifiably infuriated, you could be forgiven for thinking a red card issued deep in injury time at the end of a fairly inconsequential scoreless draw between two Premier League teams would barely register on the funk-o-meter of most right-thinking people. But this is football we’re talking about, a sport which seems to be followed by no end of wrong-thinking, downright nasty people, as the relentless stream of recent stories about racist social media attacks on black players has demonstrated.
It was the turn of referee Mike Dean to be targeted by the keyboard warriors who were entitled to be displeased by his absurd decision to send off West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek for an obviously accidental elbow into the chops of Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic, after being advised to review an incident he had originally missed on his pitchside monitor. What these disgruntled fans were emphatically not entitled to do, however, was feel sufficiently emboldened by their rage to send death threats and abusive messages to his family.
On Monday, it was revealed that Dean had notified police after members of his kith and kin had been subjected to online abuse, including death threats, prompting police on Merseyside to launch an investigation into “allegations of malicious communications”. Dean, who finds himself on an unenviable and unprecedented hat-trick after seeing red cards he brandished at Soucek and Southampton’s Jan Bednarek in consecutive matches overturned, will be hoping nobody gives him any kind of reason to reach for his back pocket when he takes charge of Leicester’s match against Brighton in the FA Cup on Wednesday. At his own request, he will not officiate any Premier League fixtures next weekend.
While death threats sent through the ether to Dean or his nearest and dearest may be little more than lurid flights of fancy dreamt up by tinfoil hat-wearing dweebs typing from the sanctuary of their mum’s box-room, manyresponses to them have been unsettling. While Dean’s employers were quick to condemn them and say “online abuse is unacceptable in any walk of life”, a worryingly large section of Football Twitter seem to agree ... unless the abuse in question is aimed at a referee they don’t like. The Fiver can’t help but feel if you’re including the word ‘but’ in a tweet denouncing death threats, you’re part of the problem not the solution and deserve a red card that ought never to be overturned.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join John Brewin for sizzling hot coverage of Leeds 3-2 Crystal Palace at 8pm GMT.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I grew up watching Xavi and Iniesta; I loved the way they played. We used to watch so much Spanish football, the kind of football I thought suited me. The second I heard ‘Spain’ I was like: ‘Yeah, I’m going’”– Scotland Under-21 midfielder Jordan Holsgrove gets his chat on with Sid Lowe and reveals how he jumped at the chance to play in Spain, where he is now scoring worldies for Celta Vigo.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
It’s Max Rushden and the pod squad with a look back at the weekend’s action in the Premier League, WSL and beyond.
FIVER LETTERS
“José Mourinho once called Spurs ‘the Harry Kane team’ when he was manager of Chelsea. Whether or not it was true then, he seems to be doing his best to make it true now.” – David Wall.
“Can I return to an old Fiver passim from a few years back - song of the day has to be ‘Poor Little Allison’ by Gordon Lightfoot?” – Pete Quinnear.
“Now that the 20-21 season is concluded, shall we stop Fiver” – Krishna Moorthy.
“Friday’s quote of the day concerned a chap being caught ‘mistakenly taking his wife’s medicine’. Would that be a polite way of saying it was a case of Onanism?” – Robin Hazlehurst.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day prize is … Krishna Moorthy.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Sir Alex Ferguson has led the tributes to Tony Collins, the first black manager in English league football, who has died aged 94. “One of my earliest recollections of Tony was of the very impressive job he did as manager of Rochdale, beating Blackburn to reach the 1962 League Cup final,” said Ferguson. “I then got to know Tony personally when I joined Manchester United and Tony was the chief scout.”
The FA has called for swift government action after Manchester United’s Lauren James became the latest player to be sent racist abuse on social media.
Paul Pogba has a “few weeks” of small talk with Manchester United physios to endure after suffering thigh-knack.
Jürgen Klopp proved he’s really settled into the British way of life by blaming the weather for Alisson’s pair of howlers in Liverpool’s 4-1 defeat by Manchester City. “Maybe he had cold feet? It sounds funny but it could be,” he honked.
Tommy Wright has been handed the big managerial overcoat at Kilmarnock.
And Karlsruhe still have some way to go before they successfully reinvent the corner.
STILL WANT MORE?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 talking points from the weekend’s action in the Premier League. And here’s Rachel Brown-Finnis with news of Chelsea’s juggernaut skidding off course in our WSL review.
Nicky Bandini on how Nicola inspired Torino to a miraculous Istanbul-style comeback against Atalanta.
Andy Brassell on why Elvis scoring for Cologne/Köln/Köööööln in the derby with Borussia Mönchengladbach is just the latest crazy episode in Rhineland.
Is it the knack, the schedule – or have they peaked? Floating football brain in a jar Jonathan Wilson takes a look at why Liverpool are bobbins.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
