‘An official & a gentleman’ sums up an extraordinary PL season

Kristian Jack

TSN Soccer Analyst

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As one of the most remarkable seasons of all-time gets closer to a true climax, its star characters continue to shine.

The latest plot came on Sunday at a fitting stage, Leicester’s King Power Stadium, where one of the biggest headliners of this blockbuster seemed to be thrilling its audience again, on his way to conquering another key challenge with a moment of brilliance. But wait, surely, if there was ever going to be a twist in this tale now would be the perfect moment to write it in, wouldn’t it?

The dismissal of Jamie Vardy started a series of events where referee Jonathan Moss was the unwanted centre of attention.  Regular viewers to past series will be all too aware of this familiar theme. If a script was ever to be written to plan a Premier League season, throwing in a controversial game, featuring questionable decisions around mid-April involving a team going for the title is what would usually be decided upon.

Scenes of angry players crowding around the officials, fans voicing their displeasure and managers being bitter and rude towards each other and the referee would usually follow. Except, this time only two of those three predictable scenarios played out.

Commentating on the match for BBC radio, John Murray described the scenes in front of him at the final whistle of Leicester City 2 West Ham United 2: “Boos all around the stadium for the referee, who in the end gave them a penalty who won them a point. Referee Jon Moss is standing with his assistants, he is surrounded by three stewards, and some of the players are trying to get to the referee.”

His analyst, Mark Lawrenson, added:  “Both managers are going to come on and they will be moaning like hell.”

Minutes after the final whistle in Leicester both Claudio Ranieri and Slaven Bilic took their turns in front of the waiting microphone.

The Italian stepped up and after he spent 40 seconds talking about ‘a very, very tough match’ he was asked ‘do you feel that Jamie Vardy deserved to be sent off?’

“Never do I speak about the decision of the referee,” replied Ranieri calmly.

The interviewer tried to get more by saying ‘you are the only one not talking about the referee’.

The impeccably behaved Ranieri continued: “Never, I don’t want to speak about the referee.” He later admitted the referee’s job ‘is very difficult’.

Next up was Bilic, the brilliant boss of West Ham who has, much like his side, played a big part in this exhilarating campaign but has also seen his team be wrongly punished in three successive Premier League games heading into this clash. Now he had to talk about a game in which a referee harshly ruled against his team by giving Leicester a penalty kick in the final seconds of the match.

The Croatian, who talks in a quiet, yet deep scratchy voice that would suit a James Bond villain, was equally as dignified in his reaction: “It was extremely hard for the referee, I mean its no penalty at all but its hard for him because for 90 minutes, every contact, they shout ‘handball or cheat or penalty’. It’s very hard to be a ref, very hard. People will say ‘he shouldn’t be influenced by people’ but ok that is easy to say but this is real life and its hard, really hard. We are gutted.”

Different teams may well be taking up different positions near the top of the Premier League this season, but there has also been a notorious turn in attitudes of managers. Claudio Ranieri currently leads Mauricio Pochettino, followed by Manuel Pellegrini and Arsene Wenger in the race for Premier League glory. This is another reason why this year has been a title challenge like no other. Gone are the mind games, gone is the arrogance, gone is the rudeness and gone is the aggression and intimidation that many bosses have decided upon in the past. Instead, honest interviews have been conducted with class.

During one the most heated games of the season, in the April sunshine on Sunday, Ranieri and Bilic often came together on the sidelines, put arms around each other and joked with the fourth official. It was another scene in a season that has put the smiles back on the faces of neutral football fans. Bilic even waited after the game to personally shake hands with Moss, a stark contrast to the actions of Jose Mourinho who confronted the referee in the tunnel during half-time of a match last October.

Moss later told an FA hearing: “Mr Mourinho asked me about a tackle, an offside and a goal line clearance. I gave him brief answers to his questions.
“After this I asked him to leave the dressing room area. He refused. I asked him again.

“At this point Mr Mourinho became very aggressive and animated. He shouted that ‘you f***ing referees are weak … (Arsene) Wenger is right about you … you are f***ing weak’.

It is not difficult to understand how Mourinho would have gotten his team up for an April game against this Leicester, when you look back at what he told Gary Neville in the Daily Telegraph about the ‘Steven Gerrard slips’ game back in April 2014. Just substitute Liverpool for Leicester.

“I felt during part of last season that the country wanted Liverpool to be champion,” he told Neville. “The media, the press: a lot was to put Liverpool there. Nobody was saying they were in a privileged situation because they didn’t play Champions League. Nobody was speaking about a lot, a lot of decisions that helped them win important and crucial points. And I felt that day was a day that was ready for their celebration.

“I used the word with my players. I said – we are going to be the clowns, they want us to be the clowns in the circus. The circus is here. Liverpool are to be champions.”

Neville, who has since tried his hand at coaching himself, wrote about the comments: ‘The finest coaches are dangerous when they feel wronged. Don’t back them into a corner. It was Ferguson-esque.’

Ah yes Sir Alex Ferguson whose comments during the 1995/96 season prompted the most famous rant in league history from Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan.

The same Ferguson, who during the 2010/11 Premier League race after a loss to Chelsea, said of ref Martin Atkinson: “you want a fair referee, or a strong referee anyway and we didn’t get that.”

The same Ferguson who during the 2011/12 Premier League race after a loss to Man City, confronted Roberto Mancini on the sidelines and later said ‘he’s been complaining about the referees the last few weeks, he won’t be tonight that’s for sure.”

Neville’s words don’t go so far to condone such behaviours but they hardly condemn them either, yet throughout such a volatile and intensive period in the season we have two fine coaches doing it their way while leading their teams in the race to become the newest Premier League champion.

Mourinho will be back, of course, and the challenge facing Leicester and Tottenham is likely slightly easier because of his absence, but the jovial nature of this season meant there was no place for his behaviour this late in the year. Instead, it has been a campaign where gentlemen like Ranieri and Pochettino have jumped out of the spotlight and let their players, quite rightly, get the majority of the headlines. How refreshing.