Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: dave.woodhall on March 02, 2026, 10:34:16 PM
-
In the footsteps of the master.
https://heroesandvillains.info/2026/03/02/ill-tell-you-what-else-i-dont-like/
-
100% agree, it stinks.
-
It’s absolutely clear; the decisions that have gone against us or not been given simply wouldn’t to the sky 6. It’s that clear. These aren’t one offs; they are regular occurrences.
-
Like I said on the standard of refereeing thread, this weekend a bit of my love of football died. The last 12 months especially have been difficult because the veil in front of the favouring of that group has been lifted and VAR seems to be even more complicit. I actually think there is a pecking order within that 6 too, with the red clubs getting more of the dodgy calls, but you only need to watch the Brennan Johnson holding of Tielemans in our game at Palace, the push on Rogers against Everton where they score straight after, the debatable 5 minute VAR review against Brentford, the Tammy shove against Brighton, the Rogers goal at Old Trafford last season, and any one of the 5 second yellow cards against us. Tie that in with the money rules which are stacked for the super league clubs, and the sponsorship deals that only these clubs can get due to their system enabled stacked popularity, we have no chance. Football is dead as a competition. We are non playable characters in someone else’s story.
-
Made me smile to see this thread title
-
Spot on, It’s hard to believe it’s just unconscious bias, it looks deeper and more cyclical than that.
-
Let's see what happens tomorrow night.....
-
Blood boiling here.
-
Money doesn’t change hands but future deals are not to be compromised. ManU and the top 5 other money generators are important to the Premier League and its negotiating ability with the TV companies. I don’t think there’s even an instruction to favour the top 6 TV money generators but there are messages, subliminal or otherwise to make sure that officials and their governing bodies are fully aware which side of their bread is buttered.
-
Duly done.
-
Money doesn’t change hands but future deals are not to be compromised. ManU and the top 5 other money generators are important to the Premier League and its negotiating ability with the TV companies. I don’t think there’s even an instruction to favour the top 6 TV money generators but there are messages, subliminal or otherwise to make sure that officials and their governing bodies are fully aware which side of their bread is buttered.
Agree totally.
When the scum 6 and other decided to fuck football for everyone to satisfy their own greed the Premier league and Sky etc completely shit themselves that they would be left with a "product" deemed worthless (as all the fans of the other teams don't obviously matter - cnuts)
Since they decided to not create a new league (pitched as being stopped by the fans) i am convinced they only did so with the almost guarantee that they would get every opportunity to cream the money from the top competitions by being a permanent part of the footballing elite.
As others have better put it - unconscious bias has been replaced by clear as day bias and downright cheating to ensure these 6 get all the calls and all the benefits of having refs and VAR supporting them.
Every Monday there seems to be an apology for some monumental Ref / Var fuck up (cheating more like) and then it goes away - decisions are not reversed, results not changed and points not awarded
It simply is not good enough. If we can see it then i am sure the Billionairres that own any of the other clubs can see it also.
Everyone is sick of the non event that is the result of the Man City case - how soon do you think Premier / EUFA will crash down on Chelsea for creating the biggest ever loss by a football club? I would not hold your breath.
Now imagine if that was us ?
-
Blood boiling here.
Me too. Absolutely fucking raging.
I suppose I should be pleased I can still be arsed to get incensed about this stuff. Thanks Man Utd. Thanks Premier League. And thanks Dave Woodhall.
-
TBH I have given up that there will ever be a level playing field now. I have almost no interest in football generally and only my love of the Villa keeps me checking how we are doing. Depressing
-
Our break with the Football League, which we fucked off with great alacrity and insouciance, despite having founded it, can perhaps be seen as the original sin here.
-
Spot on they're not even hiding the cheat codes anymore it's happening in plain sight
-
Very good article, it’s getting harder and harder to think it’s just incompetence with some of these officials, then you add the tv companies, presenters and journalists, it’s hard to ignore the bias.
-
Couldn’t the less favoured 13 band together and make it clear they are aware of the bias subconscious or not?
-
And you think anyone would listen?
-
In related news Spurs moaning about PGMOL
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj32vg4mxzmo
-
Less favoured '13'? So we have a corrupt divisional authority biased towards nigh-on half its members? How does that work?
-
Spot on they're not even hiding the cheat codes anymore it's happening in plain sight
The lack of neutrality at major broadcasters plays a part in it as well. Games featuring Manchester United or Liverpool will pretty much always have an ex-player from one of those clubs front and centre of the coverage.
-
It’s more than incompetence. It has to be with the regularity of occurrences.
One thing that I think is worth noting is the angle of the replays that often get selected for show. On the highlights package I saw of the Man Utd vs palace game, it didn’t look entirely clear on the VAR review they showed in the package. But then once you see the other angles elsewhere it is so clear and so obvious. I understand that the camera can’t catch everything but there is always a decision being made on which replay to use to justify a VAR decision or what to show the ref on the screen when they call them over.
-
It’s more than incompetence. It has to be with the regularity of occurrences.
One thing that I think is worth noting is the angle of the replays that often get selected for show. On the highlights package I saw of the Man Utd vs palace game, it didn’t look entirely clear on the VAR review they showed in the package. But then once you see the other angles elsewhere it is so clear and so obvious. I understand that the camera can’t catch everything but there is always a decision being made on which replay to use to justify a VAR decision or what to show the ref on the screen when they call them over.
Yeah, during the game the VAR camera angle they kept showing wasnt exactly close up so you couldn't really tell. It almost seemed quite convenient really. I dont think any close up angles were shown until after the ending off (I may be wrong about that though).
-
The Guardian has an article today (admittedly by Jamie Jackson from Man U's marketing department) saying with a straight face that Man U could win the title if they win all their team remaining matches. Madness.
-
I think if it wasn’t for our club I’d have switched off from this game a few years ago. I don’t need anyone on Sky or the like to speak about my club because I know what a great club we are. I don’t want a ground full of half and half wearing day trippers and ever growing corporate seats. I know why it’s being done and can’t knock our owners for having a go but soon every club will have the atmosphere of the 5th day of a test match where a draw is nailed on.
This game stinks now and while the few jump up and down telling everyone it’s never been better the game is slowly eating itself.
-
I think if it wasn’t for our club I’d have switched off from this game a few years ago. I don’t need anyone on Sky or the like to speak about my club because I know what a great club we are. I don’t want a ground full of half and half wearing day trippers and ever growing corporate seats. I know why it’s being done and can’t knock our owners for having a go but soon every club will have the atmosphere of the 5th day of a test match where a draw is nailed on.
This game stinks now and while the few jump up and down telling everyone it’s never been better the game is slowly eating itself.
Sounds like a very dystopian version of the beautiful game but I have to agree. Money has killed the game. Randy Lerner, our first billionaire owner hit the nail on the head when he departed B6. He spoke of how it was virtually impossible to compete with Chelsea and Abramovic's money and Man City and the Oil barons. I know mommy pulled his reins in but it was the first time I realised that being a billionaire in the Premier League was no big deal. Greed has killed it. If you support one of the Cartel clubs you don't see an issue but that's because fans are also greedy. Man City fans for instance have lost none of their appetite to win the league even though their once threadbare trophy cabinet is now bulging thanks to the Arab oil money. Fans of all clubs are just as bad. We don't care how it's done we just want to win shiny things. Newcastle fans won't give a shit how many people have been killed for being homosexual or for saying the wrong things so long as there's a shiny trophy on the shelf.