It’s fair to say that as unpopular figures amongst Tottenham supporters go, Howard Webb is a high-climber in the charts and hovering just below Sol Campbell at number one.
This is a man who when we were 2-0 up at Old Trafford last season, gave United a penalty for no reason, setting in motion our predictable capitulation and eventual 5-2 loss.
Then just last night against Liverpool, Webb did little to endear himself to the Tottenham fans, when he failed to give us a blatant penalty and ruled out a perfectly good goal. Yes, we played shit, but it doesn’t help when the opposition are fielding a twelfth man wearing black.
If you Google ‘Howard Webb’ in an attempt to send him hate mail, one of the top ranking results is a website proclaiming itself to be ‘The Official Website of Howard Webb’.
Unfortunately the ‘Howard Webb’ in question, is an IT consultant from London. Having clearly been inundated by abusive messages from irate football fans, IT Howard states at the top of his website that ‘This is not the website of Howard Webb Football Referee and Football Official’. He then goes on to provide links to some articles about Referee Howard, in an effort to get the embittered supporters off his virtual property, as quickly as possible.
Webb is not content to just be a hate figure of fans of non-‘Big Four’ clubs and in 2008 managed to attract the collective ire of an entire nation. In Poland, Howard’s popularity ranks alongside that of a certain Austrian painter with a dodgy moustache and a side-parting.
In Euro 2008 with Poland 1-0 up against host nation Austria, Webb awarded a controversial penalty, after he adjudged Poland’s Mariusz Lewandowski to have pulled the shirt of Sebastian Prodl. Now I know why he was reticent that give that penalty last night.
Poland erupted in moral outrage. Some select quotes from Poland’s great and good include:
Leo Beenhakker: The referee wanted to show that he’s a big boy and awarded a penalty. I’m lost for words about what happened.
Mariusz Lewandowski: This is a fucking scandal.
Pawel Golanski: I feel cheated as a footballer and as a Pole.
Dariusz Dudka: The referee deprived us of a chance to qualify further.
Jacek Bak: I’m lost for words. He would’ve never called it in England. (Editor’s note: You got that right)
Marek Saganowski: If Webb awarded such a penalty in the Premiership he would have been suspended for a couple of months.
Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister: I feel like killing somebody.
Before long internet nerds graphic artists were busy on Photoshop creating all sorts of images, devoted to ridiculing our bald referee.
Even normal Polish people who don’t spend all their time manipulating images got in on the act.
So let’s content ourselves with the knowledge that Howard’s numerous gaffes against us aren’t personal and that he’s ready and willing to be intimidated by any home crowd.
Now when do we get him at White Hart Lane?
“So let’s content ourselves with the knowledge that Howard’s numerous gaffes against us aren’t personal and that he’s ready and willing to be intimidated by any home crowd. ”
Oh but they are
Howard Webb and his linos let Tottenham down big time.
He must hate our club. when i saw it was him officiating I knew we were fucked. Yes we played badly, but with a different ref we would have earned a decent away point.
He is useless. Macherano nearly take off Bales ankle and he gets a quiet word.
Crouchie is given a judo lesson and gets no pen. joke.
and the London based ‘Scouse’glory hunters brag about how good they are.
I seriously can’t accept the man does it on purpose,and let’s say no to any kind of hate mail
BOLLOX! lets get him & eat his children!!!!
foggy.
1)Your a w@nk
2)Your prob. just backing him because you are bald
3) What your e-mail? i’m sure people here would spare the time to send u a few words
I really hope the tw@ hasn’t reproduced
There is a lot of bad refereeing in that Premier League. Top of the list is Howard Webb. I wonder why he is given a whistle at all.
he is terrible, i cannot beleive they call him the best ref, i realy think he dosent like tottenham, their must be some conspiracy with this guy, i want to know what was wrong with defoes goal, and i want to know why crouch didnt get a penalty, yes we didnt play well but had defoes goal stood then the game would have changed as a lot of the second half spurs were on top its so obvious.
also how on earth did jenas get a yellow card when mascheranos tackle was similar to the one gallas done on davis last night, i realy feel theres a conspiracy with the top four, somehow somewhere thers a lot of money on this and i think some refs are in on it just to make sure the top four stays where it is.
There’s no conspiracy, it’s just that all the refs know that if they give squat against the big 4 Fergie, Rafa & Arse will be banging on about to the media and the FAPL will shit themselves and run a mile… Leaving the ref out in the cold to take the flack, face a possible ‘ban’ from Old Trafford and thereby remove all notion of being a FA rep at a major tournament.
Graham Poll said some very interesting things about this when he sent the Dog Terry off and he got abused by all the Chelsea players. He asked the FAPL to act and they basically said ‘You’re on your own son’.
I am getting so fed up with dodgy refs who favour the big 4 and bigger countries as in France against Ireland, I am trying to bring my boys up to be honest and we constantly see cheating it is making me feel like cancelling sky sports because the game has become farsical, my boys like rugby and as there is not so much money involved it seems to be an honest game like football was in the 80’s, Howard Webb clearly has something against Spurs and we should demand he never refs one of our games.
MES…you hit the nail on the head there, the big managers covet the refs knowing that they can unleash their wrath and damage careers if they don”t “play ball”…….
if Howard Webb had another brain cell he”d be a vegetable!!
and how in the name of f*$K did Gallas get away with his assault on mark davis last night??…….wiley”s a Webb Clone!
Very funny article mate. Unlike most of the ‘victim’ Spurs supporters around you rightly emphasise that his incompetence extends far and wide and is not exclusive to your one club. There is no way that Spurs were robbed last night – they were clearly inferior to a low-confidence injury-hit opposition. Even a draw would have been an injustice. Instead let’s focus on the shortcomings of the side that played and the manager who both look far short of Top 4 material.
Eagerly awaiting your retraction and apology after the latest anti-Spurs offering from Webb, Bloated ….
Don’t forget the Italy vs Brazil friendly in February 09 at Arsenal Stadium in London. I was there and saw Fabio Grosso score a goal only to have it called offsides. You can youtube it and see it was clearly a goal and not offsides then another goal was scored only to be taken back as well. Brazil won 2-0. Webb is a joke. He doesn’t even deserve to referee kids matches! FORZA ITALIA!!! FORZA ROMA!!!
He just gave away the WC final to Spain…. 116 min whistling for every minor bitchy offence, forgetting to pull red cards and let the game out of control. Last 5 minutes in my eyes are an attempt to cover for his earlier mistakes. Not seeing a corner, not seeing offside not seeing a red card.
This guy just decided a WC final on his own….
this sucks