Exclusive! Someone Who Thought it Was a Penalty

For once in football there seems to be a unanimous view. Christiano Ronaldo was embarrassed. Gary Megson described it ‘nonsense` and ‘a howler`. To Charlie Nicholas it was ‘The worst penalty decision I have ever seen.` Millions of viewers of Match of the Day and Sky`s Football First agreed. For obvious reasons, the Barasana tribe who reside in the Amazonian rainforest, have a limited command of the English Language, but when questioned on the incident, a spokesman uttered three words which were clearly intelligible – ‘Rob Styles. Pillock`. (He was also less than complimentary about Mark Lawrenson.)

The issue which has brought fans together is, of course, Mr Styles`s decision to award a penalty to Manchester United on Saturday after Jlloyd Samuel had the temerity to take the ball off Ronaldo. Even Styles thinks he`s got it wrong. Two days too late Robert.

There is one man however, who thinks that Britain`s most bumbling official made the correct call. The Observer`s The Verdict feature allows fans to express an opinion on a game and have it published the next day, which is why this little gem saw the light of day.

‘The thing about the penalty is, if you keep on attacking you get more chances and I thought it was a fair reward. The decision looked right to me, anyway.`

Pete Boyle (who describes himself as a ‘terrace songsmith`) – You`re a prat.*





* Of course, there’s a small possibility that Mr Boyle might be on a wind up, but we`re going with the prat theory