Points For Styles: Chelsea Dives And Abramovich Drives
DARK deeds suspected in the world of Premier League football as the Sun’s front page zooms in on Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich’s driveway.
We look at the asphalt. Our eyes search for bumps and lumps. Is this a clue to what happened to the old Chelsea die hard, less turned on to the delights of black footballers, corporate dining and victory than buried in his butcher’s coat?
Inside and readers are introduced to Rob Styles, a Premier League referee.
It was Styles’ lot to officiate at last weekend’s match between Liverpool FC and Abramovich’s Chelsea.
Liverpool are winning by one goal to nil. And then controversy as Chelsea’s new boy Florent Malouda shows that Chelsea’s decision to train 20,000 leagues under the sea was a wise one. He holds his nose and takes the plunge. The crowd hold theirs. Styles looks. Greg Louganis rises to his feet. Angst. Hope. Penalty!
1-1.
Says Styles one day later: “In mistakenly awarding a penalty, I accept that I may have affected the result of the match and for that I apologise.”
And now we learn that Styles, a surveyor by trade (and he should check Malouda for signs of rising damp and rot) operates a company hired by Abramovich to lay that aforesaid drive.
A spokesman for the Professional Game Match Officials tells us: “The PGMO investigated this at the time and was entirely satisfied that no conflict of interest existed.”
Mr Styles is available for all manner of contracting work…
Posted: 21st, August 2007 | In: Back pages Comments (7) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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August 23rd, 2007 at 9:15 am
[...] and dumping his hacked-to-pieces body in two wheelie bins. Rob Styles is suspended from duties… Points For Styles: Chelsea Dives And Abramovich DrivesShare This Opinions? : Add your view now! | In: Back pages | By: Anorak | Most Popular Stories | [...]
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:29 am
Kevballer in dive shocker - whatever next a fat Rugby Union player?
August 21st, 2007 at 8:12 pm
The diving is getting worse and I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But its the falling over like they’re shot which drives me up the wall. Get off the floor you bunch of pussies….is what I normally shout at the telly. The Prem League really need to get to grips with it. But there seems to be an easy solution to all this and in Scotland it seems to have yeilded results already, and thats giving players a retrospective automatic yellow card if they dive or simulate, with all Prem matches viewed again after play by an official. I doubt the FA will have the guts to do this as the clubs have them in their pockets. I totally agree with Anorak about Stevie G but would also say that he along with Joe Cole are probably the biggest divers and simulators in the English game (outwith Robben) but are not slaughtered in the press because they’re English.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Have you seen Poll in the Mail, looking over the refs’ decisions?
Relive his work here:
http://www.anorak.co.uk/news/back-pages/175730.html
August 21st, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Marvellous. At last an Anorak site that won’t be overrun by Americans with weird dreams and delusions about finding Madeleine, except for Liverpool’s owners of course although their dreams are about winning the Prem - hopefully also deluded.
Anyway back to Styles, yes he’s a joke and clearly got it wrong, honest mistake you might say, so fair enough but it just happens too often when Chelski are involved. Even my mates - who are Chelsea fans - admit that he seems to favour them.
Nick you’re absolutely right about Gerrard against Villa, just ran into the defender, then there was the Penalty he was given on opening day v Sheffield United which was also ludicrous. Now who was the Ref??
August 21st, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Nick - chelsea’s are in no way the only players guilty of simulation. As one of the leading teams ther actions are just more noted. If Steven Gerrard were foreign he’d be a reviled character - remember those hard-won England penalties? And Robbie Savage - hardly a revelation - managed to confuse his chest with his face at the weekend and crumble in a heap.
August 21st, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Crazy though it may seem if you watch the match there is little evidence that Malouda dived. He definitely jumped over the ball, he made contact with the oncoming Liverpool player but neither he nor any of the Chelsea players appealed at all. In fact the Chelsea players seemed just as surprised as the Liverpool players that a penalty was awarded. Its a shame that tabloid fruitiness means you have to lie.
Obviously its a lot more popular to hate Chelsea at the moment. Its funny how in the tabloids this incident is not being compared to Stevie G’s dive the weekend before against Villa. There may be a reason for this though as the incidents had an important difference. At Villa Gerrard went down under a fair challenge and then immediately got up, screaming at the referee in a direct attempt to influence and con his way into receiving a freekick. In Malouda’s case there was no evidence of intent to mislead. Another incident where there was intent may be Torres’ theatrics before half time though! He gave the ball away in a dodgy position after a fair challenge in which his ankle was caught. He then lay on the floor with his arms over his head (nowhere near his ankle) knowing full well the ref would have to stop the game if there was any chance of a head injury. It was obvious Styles was worried about a head injury because he ran straight over to Torres (in itself not normal refereeing behaviour for a standard injury), then proceeding to pull the players arms away and inspect his head. Chelsea had been in a great position with Liverpool stretched when play was stopped (when it definitely should not have been). The ball was then returned to the Blues keeper and half time sounded. Torres got up and was fine.