Bradford City boss Phil Parkinson puts referee on the spot

7:20am Monday 1st October 2012 in Bantams Photograph of the Author By Simon Parker, Bradford City Reporter

James Hanson and Alan Connell hold their heads in disbelief after another City near miss in the final minutes of Saturday’s home defeat James Hanson and Alan Connell hold their heads in disbelief after another City near miss in the final minutes of Saturday’s home defeat

Phil Parkinson is calling on referees to give City a fair crack of the whip with penalties.

Parkinson believes his side are being short-changed with spot-kicks after seeing another strong claim turned away in Saturday’s first home defeat of the season.

Port Vale defender Robert Taylor appeared to handle in the box but official Paul Tierney ignored City’s appeals. Tom Pope scored Vale’s winner two minutes later.

Parkinson said: “We thought it was a penalty on the bench. The ball bounced up and hit him on the arm.

“The ref should have given it and I asked him about it at the end. He just said the lad was trying to take his arm out the way.

“But it’s about time we got a penalty. We don’t get many.

“We’ve had a few near misses and that’s a decision you’d expect kicking towards our home end with 11,000 fans packed in the ground. But we didn’t get it.

“I’d just like to think the refs would be honest and if it’s a pen they’d give it. To me, those are normally given.

"Refs have got to make big calls. We conceded soon after that and Port Vale must have thought it was their lucky day.”

The loss ended their perfect record at Valley Parade and was only the second in 21 home games since November.

But Parkinson took plenty of encouragement from the performance with his side on top for long periods without managing to break through.

“I hate losing. But if you get beaten playing as well as we have done then you can live with it.

“Some of the football first half was exceptional. When we pass the ball simply and move it quickly we look a good side.

"We had a tough game on Tuesday and the worst thing you want after that is to chase a game. But the fitness levels again were superb and the lads kept going.

“We knocked on the door numerous times and the amount of crosses we got in the box would normally have resulted in two or three goals.

“But we’ll dust ourselves down and go to Rochdale tomorrow and be really positive again. Hopefully we’ll take as many supporters as possible and that will give the lads a lift.

“There’s no question about this team’s character; absolutely none at all.”

Meanwhile, City will cash in on Andre Wisdom’s rise into the Liverpool side.

The 19-year-old defender, who left Valley Parade for Anfield five years ago, made his Premier League debut in Saturday’s 5-2 win at Norwich.

Under the terms of the deal, the club are due a payment for each of his first 50 appearances in domestic competitions.

Comments(34)

Up with the partridge says...
8:02am Mon 1 Oct 12

The ball bounced up and hit him on the arm says Paekinson.
So that's why it is not a penalty.
What an idiot does he think penalty kicks are some sort of bonus that you are entitled to?

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ALEXIMO.56. says...
8:13am Mon 1 Oct 12

I'm not being baiased here, but I thought it was a pen from where I was sat in the Sunwin and Tim and Sticks had a clear view of it and they were also convinced that is was a clean cut pen. Parky is not an Idiot, as he is right in what he says. We see it on the TV and they say, if it was outside the area then they would give a free kick. I think Parky's wording could have been better.

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spleen ventor says...
8:37am Mon 1 Oct 12

I've said it before and I'll say it again...officials are biased against City at home because they don't want to be seen to be influenced by the biggest crowd they ever refereed infront of.

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total90 says...
8:39am Mon 1 Oct 12

I really enjoyed the game against Vale. We could easily have won but we did'nt, that's football. Although the critisism of the referee was justified, I don't think it has ever been in our interest to do it publicly. I thought the Vale fans supported their team really well. I would love to hear some new songs sung at City, especially designed to lift the team when they are losing. I would love City fans to develope a notion of being proud of their own reputation and out sing any support that comes to VP, we had ten times the number of supporters than Vale. Our job as supporters should be to make it so that opposition supporters can't be heard. This is not knocking our support I am trying to stimulate positive postings that are about how we as supporters can improve the atmosphere further assisting our team. There is a chance that at some stage at Rochedale we may be a goal down, I am encouraging a game plan of getting louder in our support rather than quieter. We will have the numbers, don't leave it to 30 lads to do it, let the thousands we'll take rock the spot as one for every song sung. Let every fans that goes on Tuesday come away knowing that regardless of the score that we as supporters won the competition between supporters.

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paulwardmbe says...
8:52am Mon 1 Oct 12

Up with the partridge wrote:
The ball bounced up and hit him on the arm says Paekinson.
So that's why it is not a penalty.
What an idiot does he think penalty kicks are some sort of bonus that you are entitled to?
read it again......Parkinson does not say that, he says the referee said that.

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Meat Pie says...
9:05am Mon 1 Oct 12

I thought it was a penalty too but in this leageu the referees are pretty poor every week. And as for the linesmen, they are a waste of time and often looking at the referee and which way he signals before they put up their flag. Useless the lot of them.
However, it is what it is and therefore more important than ever that we put the ball in the net under our own steam and without relying on referees.

Having said that, I thought we were very unlucky and deserved to win thoug Port Vale also defended brilliantly.

Just shows though that they had 2 chances (both of which we created for them) and they took one of them.

CTID.

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northyorksbantam says...
9:25am Mon 1 Oct 12

After seeing the highlights again I can't believe how clear cut Hansons chance was, unmarked with half an empty goal to shoot at from a few yards out, no composure at all with that one and a bad miss.

It didn't show the handball on the Sky highlights but the rules for not giving a pen are below, and to be fair even Parky said "the ball bounced up and hit him on the arm" which the rules below may suggest it shouldn't be given.

"A handball should not be awarded if a player is ruled to have handled the ball accidentally. This refers to a player either attempting to protect himself from injury, for example by placing the hands in front of the face and then being hit by the ball, or a player being hit on the arm by the ball without moving towards the ball and without being able to move out of the way. An example might be a snap shot hitting the arm of a defender at point-blank range. However, if a player's arm is in an unnatural position, for example outstretched or above their head, then a foul should be awarded whether accidental or not".

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Rambo says...
9:38am Mon 1 Oct 12

Did anyone see the highlights from Tuesday and the penalty decision which was turned down and Connell booked for 'diving'? That seemed more obvious...

It seems since the Gillingham game at VP last season - when the ref reversed an offside goal from the linesman (seemingly due to the crowd influencing the ref) - there seemed to have been many big calls that have gone against us when its clear as day what they should be.

You do wonder if refs are warned at their meetings and what not to sway to the crowd, and use that goal as an example. Before I'm accused of being a conspiracy theorist, I'm just wondering as it seems many refs just bottle out of big decisions.

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nowt fresh says...
9:38am Mon 1 Oct 12

Up with the partridge wrote:
The ball bounced up and hit him on the arm says Paekinson. So that's why it is not a penalty. What an idiot does he think penalty kicks are some sort of bonus that you are entitled to?
Good to see you back with your anti City comments "Up with the partridge", I'd have thought your concerns would have been looking at your teams results and league position, re last Saturdays game against a very average Liverpool side Norwich 2-5 Liverpool !!.

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macca1969 says...
9:51am Mon 1 Oct 12

paulwardmbe wrote:
Up with the partridge wrote:
The ball bounced up and hit him on the arm says Paekinson.
So that's why it is not a penalty.
What an idiot does he think penalty kicks are some sort of bonus that you are entitled to?
read it again......Parkinson does not say that, he says the referee said that.
Read it again yourself as parky does say that. He only says the ref said he was trying to move his hands out of the way.

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Up with the partridge says...
10:30am Mon 1 Oct 12

nowt fresh wrote:
Up with the partridge wrote:
The ball bounced up and hit him on the arm says Paekinson. So that's why it is not a penalty. What an idiot does he think penalty kicks are some sort of bonus that you are entitled to?
Good to see you back with your anti City comments "Up with the partridge", I'd have thought your concerns would have been looking at your teams results and league position, re last Saturdays game against a very average Liverpool side Norwich 2-5 Liverpool !!.
I have dumped Norwich in favour of Chelsea and Leeds United. I was also supporting Huddersfield Town and Notts Forest but after a bad couple of weeks I have binned them off.
Cheers.

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Up with the partridge says...
10:30am Mon 1 Oct 12

nowt fresh wrote:
Up with the partridge wrote:
The ball bounced up and hit him on the arm says Paekinson. So that's why it is not a penalty. What an idiot does he think penalty kicks are some sort of bonus that you are entitled to?
Good to see you back with your anti City comments "Up with the partridge", I'd have thought your concerns would have been looking at your teams results and league position, re last Saturdays game against a very average Liverpool side Norwich 2-5 Liverpool !!.
I have dumped Norwich in favour of Chelsea and Leeds United. I was also supporting Huddersfield Town and Notts Forest but after a bad couple of weeks I have binned them off.
Cheers.

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pudseykid says...
10:32am Mon 1 Oct 12

Hang on Mr P U said it was "ball to hand"...the ruling i believe is "hand to ball"...if my understanding is correct, then U R wrong...andU dont understand the rules of the game!! (ps) answer this one: IF i pay my £50 quid and after several home games NO ONE can tell me where my season ticket is-who is the cheat???????

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JonniBravo says...
10:48am Mon 1 Oct 12

I didn't think it was a pen, the defender did not move his arm towards or away from the ball, it is true to say I have seen them given, but in all honesty as a amateur ref I would not have given it as it did not prevent an opportunity or goal and even if it did I would find it hard to justify giving a pen for that incident, I remember thinking that's a pen at the time the sloping back into my seat thinking naaaa it wasn't NOT A PEN!!

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guitar ray says...
11:11am Mon 1 Oct 12

"....that’s a decision you’d expect kicking towards our home end with 11,000 fans packed in the ground." In all my years of watching & playing football I never realised you had to be kicking towards a particular end of the ground to be awarded a pen. Is this a new rule or do we make them now up like little kids in the park?

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bcfc1903 says...
12:12pm Mon 1 Oct 12

It was a definate penalty as the fella moved his hand towards the ball to help control it, a stonewall penalty, how the ref thought he wasn't sure defies logic as he was stood in a good position to see the whole incident. That said it was from a mistake by our player that Vale scored and we had some quality chances to equalize and if we had i fancy BCFC would have gone on to win. Parkinson has every right to question the officials when such a pivitol decision goes against the team he's managing.

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nowt fresh says...
12:24pm Mon 1 Oct 12

As long as it's done in a correct manner IMO managers should have the right to question a decision why the ref did or did not (in this case) award a penalty,but when you see some of the refereeing decisions it makes you wonder as a fan wether the referee is more worried about the "assessor" in the stand and scoring him low than making what might be classed as a contraversial decision !!.

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bigang02 says...
12:28pm Mon 1 Oct 12

city were very unlucky on sat .i did think it was a pen as the lad palmed the ball away we saw it so how the linesman didnt is beyond me.after the first 20mins of the game i did say this game had 0 0 written all over it and a lucky goal would win it .and i was right just a shame it went the wrong way.bring on rochdale tom nite and lets get back to the winning ways as i know we can do it.

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Cityman23 says...
12:29pm Mon 1 Oct 12

To be honest, I was/am unsure of whether the incident 'PP' has referred to should/should not have resulted in a City penalty.

However, there are so many 'provisos' it must be difficult for the referee to give a decision, in some cirumstances.

eg DID the ball 'play' the man or did the man play the ball?!!

Was the ball coming at the 'offending' player from a very short distance away so he had no time to move hand/arm out of the way?

Did he come at the ball with arms down or were they up-generally thought to mean, a pen could be given? etc etc

To be honest, overall, I thought the ref on Saturday had a very good game. Perhas one of the best we've had recently. I certainly don't blame him for City's probs scoring on Saturday or the result.

Perhaps 'PP' is right, we haven't 'had a fair crack on pens' from refs, but you can't just 'try to even the score' by giving doubtful pens in other matches to make up for pens that should have been given previously.

Concentrate on Tuesday, 'PP' and let's get 3 pts v Rochdale!! (one point minimum!!)

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bcfc1903 says...
12:34pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Yes i agree NF in some cases i fancy they do have one eye on how they are assessed, in this case the right decision was a penalty kick, surely not giving it was a poor decision and should have been assessed accordingly.

**
One thing's for sure, if BCFC keep playing in a similar vein as last Saturday and in the great majority of the league and cup games previously BCFC are not going to have to rely on refs giving us penalties as we'll get enough points over a season to get into the top three without them. Bring on Rochdale.

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bigang02 says...
12:37pm Mon 1 Oct 12

sorry to go off the topic but does any1 know when the wigan game is going to be and when and who can get tickets and how much they would be please.

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nowt fresh says...
12:43pm Mon 1 Oct 12

bcfc1903 wrote:
Yes i agree NF in some cases i fancy they do have one eye on how they are assessed, in this case the right decision was a penalty kick, surely not giving it was a poor decision and should have been assessed accordingly. ** One thing's for sure, if BCFC keep playing in a similar vein as last Saturday and in the great majority of the league and cup games previously BCFC are not going to have to rely on refs giving us penalties as we'll get enough points over a season to get into the top three without them. Bring on Rochdale.
"surely not giving it was a poor decision and should have been assessed accordingly" not if the assessor" saw it the same way as the referee ? hence he would have got a better score from the assesor, I would have liked to see it again because at the time I screamed for a penalty (but then so did every other Bradford City fan) in the stadium !!, as you say bring on Rochdale that will be another big test as they seem to be going well and will be full of confidence after beating Gillingham on their own ground.

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bcfc1903 says...
1:13pm Mon 1 Oct 12

LOL, true, the assessors probably come from the same ref academy, which i believe is sponsored by specsavers.

**
Rochdale will be a tough game, respect should be given but not too much, Adebola needs to be shackled, i believe BCFC this season are a match for the top teams in this division and more than a match for the rest. I'd settle for a point in this particular away game and we should be going to Dagenham to set our stall out to get three points.

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BigFigure says...
2:47pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Bit of a mixed message here from PP....asking refs to give honest decisions but then expecting them to be given when attacking "home" end..

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shoesman1 says...
3:55pm Mon 1 Oct 12

if im honest we seem to play great every week and seem to have most of the play to in nearley all the games, having sead this though for all the ball play i do think we should be making more of thees chances , i dont mean to be negative as i love my home team and good look lads against rochdale ; come on city

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Freddy says...
3:58pm Mon 1 Oct 12

*
This Pen incident happened so quickly, and a player was partially blocking my view. The Kop gave a very loud shout for a Pen. But as City supporters, we shout for everything that could be advantageous, and in the Team's favour. Also, we want to win, as we are playing the game, with the players.
*
I recall in my day that if a Player gained an advantage from a hand-ball. Then it was a foul. If inside the Box, and a defending player gained advantage, from a ball hitting him- . Then it was a Pen.
*
I have TWO concerns about Reid and Hanson.
Reidy tries to do too much. Tries to take on too many players. It is noticeable the opposition put two defenders on him when he is attacking.I would like him to try other variations of his play. So that his trickery down the wings, is not so predictable.Change direction and cut inside much more. He scored that way.Don't try to beat too many defenders.
*
Hanson always seems to head the ball at the target--but at the keeper- in the middle of the target. When eventually a good cross comes in. He heads it at the keeper. I was always taut to go for the corners.
*
So I would like to see both these players practice their shortfalls in play- during training. Getting better quicker crosses from Reid. Better direction of headed crosses by Hanson --INTO THE CORNER(S).
*
Can not make tomoz match at Rochdale--but the way this Squad are playing --constant attacking pressure on the ball, and at the target, will reap dividends.We could win.
*

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audal says...
5:00pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Thats right, slag the refs off and then wonder why they notice you. i stopped doing that at the age 16 in the craven league.

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Period Drama says...
5:17pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Did they have refs in those days audal? ;)

It's a bit of a conundrum because it was a highlight and talking point and they went upfield within 90seconds and scored. Should we maintain dignified silence, should we highlight officials shortcomings?

All managers haver the right to write a report on the game and the handling of the game by the official. I think really that should be the forum for raising concerns and not the local or national press. Saying that, I have much disdain for the quality of officials we seem to get at VP, some give of the air of it being their first ever game, that includes. All 3 main match officials and in most matches. It's our fault, 4th division qualit officials tend to get 4th division matches.

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mickyoi says...
5:22pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Stonewall penalty. Some of you lot just can't wait to have a dig at parky. Not seen one comment on the mistake that cost us the game.

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nowt fresh says...
5:48pm Mon 1 Oct 12

mickyoi wrote:
Stonewall penalty. Some of you lot just can't wait to have a dig at parky. Not seen one comment on the mistake that cost us the game.
"Not seen one comment on the mistake that cost us the game".

So have a dig at Jones then is it ??, first mistake the lad has made this season, he's a great captain and a great leader.

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Whoisevans? says...
6:09pm Mon 1 Oct 12

total90 wrote:
I really enjoyed the game against Vale. We could easily have won but we did'nt, that's football. Although the critisism of the referee was justified, I don't think it has ever been in our interest to do it publicly. I thought the Vale fans supported their team really well. I would love to hear some new songs sung at City, especially designed to lift the team when they are losing. I would love City fans to develope a notion of being proud of their own reputation and out sing any support that comes to VP, we had ten times the number of supporters than Vale. Our job as supporters should be to make it so that opposition supporters can't be heard. This is not knocking our support I am trying to stimulate positive postings that are about how we as supporters can improve the atmosphere further assisting our team. There is a chance that at some stage at Rochedale we may be a goal down, I am encouraging a game plan of getting louder in our support rather than quieter. We will have the numbers, don't leave it to 30 lads to do it, let the thousands we'll take rock the spot as one for every song sung. Let every fans that goes on Tuesday come away knowing that regardless of the score that we as supporters won the competition between supporters.
Why not Ferguson does it virtually every week and it works. I thought it was a Penalty his arm when towards the ball not away. We can't keep waiting for pens to win games. I was annoyed that some set pieces were wasted Hanson went down to the byline and took two defenders with him but we failed to get the ball into the on running forward at the edge of the penalty area. When we learn that the two defenders are down at the byline and get that delivery in the right areas we will be unbeatable.

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silverbantam says...
7:47pm Mon 1 Oct 12

I have been told by a football league referee that if your hands are in an unnatural position and the ball hits them then it should be a free kick. It doesn't matter if the hand moves towards the ball or not.

On Saturday the Vale defender had his hands up when the ball hit them so it should have been a penalty.

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total90 says...
8:04pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Does any one really thing that anything is gained by our manager publically questioning a referees ruling. I feel that it only serves to get the refereeing fraternities back up. It's just like some fans booing ex City players when they return to VP. Those players usually go on to have a great game when they play against us or worse, go on to score a goal. Does anybody who posts on heare ever sing at VP or away or even have any views on crowd contribution at all.

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bcfc1903 says...
9:57pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Why not, every other manager seems to have a pop at officials, why should Parky be any different. I was pretty close to the incident, the Vale player used his hand/arm to control the ball, penalty decisions don't come much more obvious, it was a pivitol non decision, and questions to the officials needed to be asked.

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