O’Neill and Cattermole cry ref justice, claiming Wirral Whistler visit from Toon

Posted on March 5th, 2012 | 35 Comments |

Sunderland manager, Martin O'Neill.
O'Neill: Tales of irregular ref visits from Toon.
Speaking in a post match interview, Mackems manager, Martin O’Verrated O’Neill, cast light on the unusual sending off of Sunderland’s bad boy hatchet man, Lee Cattermole, who was given a straight red card by Wirral whistler, Mike Dean, a full two minutes after the final whistle had sounded. It brought his total number of bookings up to 64 yellow cards and 7 red cards in a total of 193 senior appearences so far.

It was a match marked by controversy, which of course is not an unusual thing in Geordie / Vagrant derbies. No less than seven yellow cards and two red cards were brandished by the Wirral whister. The indiscipline also spread to the dugouts, where Alan Pardew and O’Neill were shouting and waving their handbags at each other on two occaisons, with goalkeeping coach, Andy Woodman, also being banned from the dugout for the second half after what was reported as a “scuffle in the tunnel” at half time.

Coming back to the original story though, it transpired that “Clattermole” had taken issue with Dean’s second half decisionmaking in a not altogether polite fashion as the players and officials were walking off after the game. According to O’Neill, the Sunderland camp had also heard that a Magpie mafia had paid a visit to Dean’s dressing room at half time, possibly to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse?

Speaking on the incident, the Ulsterian explained that although Cattermole was a very naughty boy, there were mitigating circumstances, saying:

“The referee said he had sent Lee Cattermole for foul and abusive language towards the referee. It must have been coming up towards the tunnel.”

“I don’t think first of all you can be doing that sort of thing, he should leave that to me if that’s the case. But possibly in mitigation we’d heard that some of their staff had visited the referee’s dressing room at half time.

“Of course, we weren’t party to what was said but I think Lee’s mitigating circumstance was he felt that alot of decisions had gone Newcastle’s way in the second half.”

It could be that this is some kind of prelude to an appeal against the hatchetman’s three game suspension, with Sessegnon and Cattermole being key players for the Mackems, losing both of them for the next three games (against Liverpool, Everton and Blackburn) will undoubttedly be a setback to the O’Neill revolution in the North East’s Third World enclave.

Meanwhile, the Magpies’ Silver Supremo, Alan Pardew, played down the handbags, and denied that any meeting between Newcastle United staff and Mike Dean. He said:

“Unless you are a manager or a player you do not understand the pressure there is on this game,” he added. “There is a lot of emotion and that is why both games this season have been so tight.

“This is a passionate game. In terms of the mind-set of the other team, yeah, it frustrated us. I am not going to get away from that and maybe the benches could have handled the frustration better and we could have been a bit more grown up about it.

“But this is a game that gets you I’m afraid and if one or two or us – including myself – stepped over the line today I can only apologise for that but it happens.

“Let’s not all get carried away here. This has been a great game of football. Hat happens on the bench sometimes gets out of hand, silly things gets said and it happens all the time. I am not taking the moral high ground other than to say it was a bit unsavoury.”

Going on to strongly refute claims of any halftime meeting with the Wirral whistler he continued:

“It is completely untrue,”

“None of our staff is allowed in the referees’ room. No one tried to enter it and no one did enter it. I heard that rumour and it is not right.

“But you shake hands at the end of the game and it is all forgotten. It will be in my case. He is upset about it. I am upset about it but I hope he comes in and has a glass of wine but I am told he’s gone.”

Pardew also made some remarks in the interview on Sunderland’s style of play. It was brutal but effective in the first half, with the Mackems closing down our midfield relentlessly, choking the supply to our two Senegalese “Lions of Teranga” upfront. O’Neill’s team were playing like ten “Chopper” Harris’s, and “Clattermole” himself could have found himself taking an early bath after a vicious challenge on our own delicate flower, Cheick Tiote, in the first couple of minutes of the game. It was certainly a long way from the kind of football practiced by O’Neill’s managerial mentors, Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, who were masters of the art of fluent, flowing football. On this the Grey Gaffer said:

“I didn’t like the way the game started. The first tackle [Clattermole on Mr.T] set the tone for the first half. It was premeditated. I was disappointed with it and he could have gone off at any other time.

“There was a physical pattern to the game and it was just a matter of who could keep their head and I was just hoping to get to half-time with 11 players.

“When they did get down and play, Sunderland were better and bossed us a bit but we changed it because we got wrapped up in the physical side of things and we had to get away from that.

“I was really frustrated at half-time with the attitude of both teams but in the second half the pressure started from the very first whistle. When you put pressure on like that something is going to give and I knew that someone was going to go if we put them under pressure.

“In the end it was an unlikely source because Stephane Sessegnon had been quite calm. I didn’t expect him to get sent off. Maybe one of two of the midfielders and then it was a case of whether we would get the two goals we needed.”

To Pardew’s credit, the Magpies did seem to take a much better approach after the half time interval, stopping the rot even before the sending off of Sessegnon (once again for a foul on Tiote), though that incident certainly helped. In some respects it was a reversal of our recent poor performaces, where the team would be firing on all cylinders in the first half, only to be outmanoeuvred in the second when cannier opposing managers made tactical changes to adjust.

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35 Responses

  1. FFS why can’t the makems be gracious. I’ve got a couple of good friends who are 5under1and fans and I went out for a pint last night. No sooner had I got the words “good hard derby” etc out than they jumped on the bias of the ref towards the Toon. They must have seen a different match than me, Dean gave us nowt! They then bleated on about press bias and thugish toon players. Honestly, you couldn’t make it up! They kicked us off the park first half, had 2 players sent off, we had 2 genuine penalty shouts waved off, their keeper and players kept feigning injury and wasting time when one nil up and they even kicked off after the match. These 2 friends of mine are professional decent men but still they turn into blind fools over their filthy team! I was too soft on them over the recent 5-1 and 4-1 results. I don’t think it would be reciprocated and from now on I’m gonna gloat way more!

  2. Pardew said – “Unless you are a manager or a player you do not understand the pressure there is on this game”
    – oh yeh? I’ve felt the pressure long before you arrived sonny, and I’ll be feeling it long after you’ve left and been forgoten!

  3. “The Wirral Whistler” I like it – was he a baddy in Bat Man?
    on MOTD even Shearer gave him 9 half out of 10 – but he missed at least on penalty to us!

  4. Derby games are for fun – but our real rivals are Chelski Spurs & Liverpool – and they all got beat, so a good day for NUFC – euros look closer each week, epecialy with that 2nd half team we fielded!

  5. Supermac says:
    March 5, 2012 at 11:11 am

    “just a passing thought – Pardew for Chelski?”

    Yhey’ll probably want someone who has won more than the Mr Clutch Cup or whatever it was, Supermac.

  6. so69,

    Oh dear!

    They are so pathetic!

    I thought ftm meant ‘F*** the mackems’, divvies!

    :lol:

  7. I don’t know if it’s true or not like it’s not gospel by any means. What is true though, on the way back they were all crammed in to the metro and some of them decided it would be funny to urinate, though their comedy backfired when it became apparent that they would have to endure the rest of the journey with urine washing around their feet. Idiots.

  8. You have to make allowances, don’t forget colour tele hasn’t reached wearside yet and so they get confused with all these different coloured stripes.

  9. summerof69 says:
    March 5, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    After further research, ithigk the feaces tory might not be true.

    Sunderland supporters captured on film yesterday, Summer.

  10. Puhleez !
    Look it’s one thing to dislike the rival club doon the road and sure the derby games should be special, with a lot of emotion.
    But lets not sound like a bunch of macho schoolboys, with insults and de humanizing our neighbors, after all you may be related to some of them.
    Grow up folks !

  11. Though i missed yesterdays game (caught the high/low lights)
    What happened to Simpson ?
    Guess we would’nt have HBA on, had they not moved Raylor to RB, prsonally i would have sent him RB to Wigan or wherever he came from and take Williamson with him.
    I dont get it, guys like HBA and Santon are sitting and the useless couple mentioned are starting.
    It’s like deja vu all over again, refering to (Pardews) sitting the Argentino’s at W/Ham.
    Not my idea of a judge of players (Pardew)or a tactician.
    Then the guy has the audacity to praise HBA highly ?
    Guess it pays to cover all bases, that way you cant be wrong.
    Looks like Jr. Hoilett is being tracked by Spurs, Arsenal and other clubs.
    The fact we could almost guarantee him a starting role, whereas he’s gotta few guys ahead of him at the other two sides, may be an advantage.
    However the offers on hand (knowing Ashley) will probably be better elsewhere, plus the luxury of being in London, rather than the Athens of the North East.
    Also rumored we could put in a bid for Moses at Wigan, were we not chasing him a couple of seasons ago ?
    Probably end up with more Frenchmen as they seem to fit the bill when it comes to younger, better and especially cheaper.
    Got nowt against that like, only, could we also get Didier De Champs to manage them, pleeze !

  12. chuck says:
    March 5, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    “But lets not sound like a bunch of macho schoolboys, with insults and de humanizing our neighbors, after all you may be related to some of them.”

    Hear, hear Chuck!

    Some fans should be ashamed of themselves with they say and write about our esteemed neighbours fron the Wearside area. Clint, Supermac, UTD111, Summer of 69 and Clint Magnum, hang your heeds in shame!

  13. Crybaby. The ref had a horrible day-but of course, he can’t see that we were denied two clear penalties (handball not called and Ba’s should have been retaken as homeboy was WAY off his line).

    I’m seeing Clattermole’s suspension reported as two games. Can anyone explain this? Was it not a direct red? Because when Cabaye and Gosling got direct reds, they served three matches, not two.

    Get the impression guys don’t like playing against Tiote, eh?

    I can’t believe the ref’s performance has gotten praise. Yeah, good job Mike-you made another match all about you.

  14. There have been 28 complaints from families from the family section of Sunderland supporters throwing carrier bags of urine down on the family section and spitting constantly too. Club loyalties aside that behaviour is lower than a snakes belly. Urine and spitting on families!? And it wasn’t a couple of idiots, apparently it continued for ages. The club and stewards are also aware. Hope something gets done. Scum.
    Its just been on the three legends phone in on real radio too from fans below complaining. I hope action is swift.

  15. Clint Magnum, this is more or less what they were saying in the press about it:

    “MAGPIES’ security chiefs have dismissed police reports of Sunderland fans causing damage at the Sports Direct Arena.

    The football club has praised the behaviour of all fans at Sunday’s derby game – and said the level of damage at the stadium was lower than for a regular fixture.

    Newcastle’s head of security, Steve Storey, said only one seat was damaged and a small number of ceiling tiles broken in the toilets.

    He said: “With the exception of a very small number of incidents, fans from both clubs throughout the stadium were very well behaved before, during and after the game.

    “The level of damage in the away area was low even for a regular fixture, let alone a highly-charged derby match.

    “I commend the behaviour of all supporters at the game yesterday, including the vast majority of the 2,650 Sunderland fans who showed respect for the away area of the ground.”

    http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/newcastle-united-praises-sunderland-fans-behaviour-1-4313614

    Though apparently a Metro train was trashed before the game. Of course, the alleged behaviour may be true, but it certainly doesn’t look as if the club are taking much notice if it was reported to the Stewards.

  16. chuck says:
    March 5, 2012 at 9:00 pm

    “Worky
    Yeah a’right, i got it.”

    You got what Chuck? if you’re still about “Mackemism,” don’t take it quite so seriously, just put it down to quaint British eccentricity or something like that.

    As Clint Magnum said at the top the Mackems he was gannin’ on about were good friends of his, some Geordies have even married Mackems and they still go on about Sunderland, remember poor old Bowburn? I’ve even known hooligans down here who used to really knock lumps out of each other and they go drinking together and have a laugh together now.

    Some people do take it too seriously and that’s a bit sad. But as I wrote, just put it down to eccentricity and don’t confuse it with real prejudice and bigotry, unless it’s Rangers of course!

  17. well all i can say to the piss bags statement…..

    piss bombs next season. all the makscum bastards are kettled until they reach central station so a few water bombs full of piss might be a good ploy. see how those feckers like it.

    piss bombs and flour, cant be bad.

  18. Howay Stephen, lets not get carried away.

    Assuming that these allegations are true, how would you know that you would be getting your revenge on the same people who were the culprits? You can’t tar them all with the same brush. Well, you could but it would be wrong. Generalisation is almost always wrong and leads ro all kinds of nasty things.

    Let’s not stoop to the level of a small minority, let’s just rise above it. Not all Sunderland supporters are evil, some just don’t know any better and with patience, education and support CAN be taught to join the world of decent society.

  19. chuck,

    howay man, get with the spirit of it mate.
    I hang with a mackem, top bloke, i’ve even tried talking about & EVEN suggested watching the big game with him, but no dice!
    He absolutely won’t even entertain the idea, i was totally blase about it, i had nee idea man!
    I don’t even mention the game/s or take the piss at all now, he obviously can’t handle it. I’ve approached, tentatively, talking about football, & sneaking in Toon/mackem stuff, i think i’ve got away with it. But i don’t push it.
    I see it as a kinda of therapy for him, he does seem to be starting to respond to the treatment.
    Machismo is not an option!
    ;)

  20. Well guys, i recall a time when there was no fan segregation at “St. James Park”, Roker Park or for that matter any stadium in the country.
    You paid your half a’ croon and went through the turnstile.
    For that matter theres presently no segregation of opposing fans at rugby games or Gaelic sports events.
    So how did this all come about with football ?
    Back in the day, unsegregated fans could have banter going back and forth, without any threat of violence and being to-gether was probably a good thing each respecting the other.
    IMO segregation though probably required in certain circumstances, could itself be part of the problem.
    I recall going to watch Newcastle play away at Man. Citeh a couple of years ago.
    Having bought my ticket at the box office,I ended sitting among the home fans.
    The seat was fine, but to have to sit through an entire game, without being able to cheer for your own side is just ridiculess.
    How did Fans of both clubs Sunderland & Newcastle ever share a ground without being segregated, what took place to cause such emotional nonsence to where they now vilify each other and engage in violent behavior.
    To complete strangers yet.
    Does this kind of behavior make sense to anyone ?
    Personally i find it all a bit primative and encouraging this behavior (which is a phenomena which was unknown in the fifties) is both dumb and macho, serving no good purpose.

  21. Just heard when Martin O’Neill got home he told his Mummy about that naughty Alan Pardew waiving his fist at him and getting the ref to do an honest job instead of favouring the mackems. Aw diddums

  22. chuck says:
    March 6, 2012 at 5:42 pm

    “Well guys, i recall a time when there was no fan segregation at “St. James Park”, Roker Park or for that matter any stadium in the country.”

    Chuck, it comes and it goes seemingly. Football was banned by Edward II in the fourteenth century for it’s violence. In those days it was just two rival villages knocking the shite out of each other over a pig’s bladder. There was alot of violence in the early days of the modern game too (Victorian and Edwardian periods). As you write, the early fifties was a relatively placid time. Perhaps this was because many men during that period had lived through unimaginable horrors, real, total war on a global scale and next to that, football hooliganism was just silly nonsense. It gradually started to kick off with the next generation though with “Teddy” boys and such later in the fifties, sixties and beyond.

    It’s true that we’re an fairly unruly lot who do like a few pints and a good fight over here in general.

  23. Complaining about the ref when we were denied a clear penalty when Turner reached up and punched the ball of Demba Ba’s shoulder… There were also 1-2 other handballs in the box that could have been given as pens and Ben Arfa was pushed off the ball in the box… None of which was given. Sunderland had plenty of decisions go their way.