How did he ever bag the WC final?

I don't think he's ever had two decent games on the trot?

You may jest lads but you can get 500/1 on him.

[Link]

Is this a five minute argument, or the full half hour? [Link]

Some talk of how brave Webb was for admitting he was wrong and changing his mind. This puts me in mind of a 'goal' at Selhurst in the early 70s. A palace player had a shot and missed, the ball hitting the outside of the side netting. The ref gave it as a goal and the opposition went nuts. The ref consulted the lino, but neither saw tit properly, so the ref continued to be adamant. The opposition asked him to ask the Palace captain, Stevie Kember, who, honestly admitted there was no goal scored, and the ref gave a goal kick instead. On telly the panel said Kember should not have been so honest as in the future Palace will get a goal that will not be given for no good reason, and these things even themselves out. Some time later Clive Allen put a free into the Coventry net, but the ball hit the back stanchion so hard, the ball flew out and no goal given. Ideal opportunity for the ref to be 'big' and change his mind. He didn't. The moral is to assume the ref is always right and take the good with the bad, as it may even out. In Webb's case, Palace have lots of credit owed!

And the Freddie Sears goal at Bristol City, that was another one that hasn't 'evened out' yet (though we are veering off topic a bit). We need a 'great Palace refereeing injustices' thread!

Didn't this happen again last season? A goal that went in and came out so fast that it wasn't given?

The moral of the story is that we will always be screwed by these decisions. Case in point, in the 1990 FA Cup final, Moan Utd's equalising goal came as a result of a move that started in the midfield when they got the ball back off a blatant body check (maybe on Andy Gray, but I'm not sure). The ref waived play on - which was weird because Utd had fouled US and were breaking with the ball. The resultant disarray allowed them to score (off a spawny deflected shot, I think).

These things don't even out. If you're a big-name team, you get the rub of the ref; when you are perceived to be lesser team, you don't.

Look no further than our trip to Old Trafford this season; we'd more than held our own for 45 minutes, but Ashley Young's nth dive forced the ref into a critical choice. The correct decision was to give Young his 2nd yellow, send him back to the dressing room and award Palace a free kick. The mostly wrong decision was to award a free kick at the spot of the dive - outside the box. The totally and completely wrong choice was what he did: penalty and red card for Delaney (his suspended game now being the only game he's missed this year).

Even Newcastle got an extra minute and two separate possessions to beat us up there a few weeks back. And they've been crap forever, but still have the aura of being a "big club".

Palace never have, and never will, get the benefit of the doubt in such crucial situations. That's ok, it means we have more than earned everything we have and nothing has ever been gifted to us.

Edited by Ray in Houston (23 Apr 2014 8.57pm)

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

It came off their player's chest and was picked up by their 'keeper. The ball didn't go out. It was not a goal kick, admittedly, but that mistake, and awarding a penalty kick in the first place, were the only poor decisions on that occasion.

Then agin, that's two poor decisions in less than a minute

Edited by Tim Gypsy Hill '64 (23 Apr 2014 9.33pm)

Systematically dragged down by the lawmakers