Bristol City's Official Response
CITY HAVE THEIR SAY
Posted on: Sun 16 Aug 2009
City chairman Steve Lansdown and manager Gary Johnson have had their say on the Crystal Palace controversy 24 hours after the game.
Plenty has been said in the aftermath of City's 1-0 win - secured through Nicky Maynard's late goal - as Palace shouted foul play over referee Rob Shoebridge's decision to disallow Freddie Sears' first-half strike.
Speaking on Sky Sports News today, Steve hit back at 'cheat' accusations from the opposition camp, and pundits who labelled the club "a disgrace to football".
Gary insisted City had just as much right to complain about Paul Hartley's second half strike that was disallowed for offside was clearly onside - but chose not to whinge and moan.
Below are the full transcripts from the Sky Sports News interviews, which were conducted by Bob Hunt for the 24-hour TV channel.
SSN: There was talk about replaying the game. Is there a decision to be made by the Football League?
SL: I don't think there's a decision to be made. At the end of the day it was the referee's decision to disallow the goal. What he disallowed it for I don't know. We haven't seen the referee's report. The feedback we got was there was some form of incident, a push or something. On the replays I can't see that, but on the other hand it was a goal that was disallowed. As a football club you sometimes get decisions for you and sometimes against you. This one went for us and against Crystal Palace.
SSN: You were saying on the replay there was a bit of hesitation by the referee as he disallows the goal, and perhaps something happened before that?
SL: I was sat in the directors box a long, long way away from it. I didn't know whether the ball had gone in myself at the time. The reaction of the players was such that everyone was saying 'what's happened' and [the referee] didn't give a goal straight away. That's why everyone hesitated, then [the referee] went across to the linesman and then he disallowed the goal. As far as I could see he didn't consult with any of the players to see if the ball had gone in or not. He may have decided [to disallow the goal] for something other than the ball crossing the line. Only [the referee] can tell you that.
SSN: Obviously you didn't approach the referee after the game and nor did Gary (Johnson) asking what happened?
SL: I wasn't across in the dressing room afterwards but I think the referee probably locked himself away at that point. I think managers are entitled to approach the referee and speak to them after the game to find out. I presume Mr Warnock did that. This is the point that's really annoying me at the moment: this morning we're being labelled as cheats and a disgrace to football. We're not, we took a referee's decision, abided by it; it went in our favour. We've had many that have gone against us in the past.
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SSN: Gary sadly you and your team have been called cheats in this instance. What's your reaction to that?
GJ: Well it's not a very nice word to use, especially when really we had nothing to do with other than being the opposition on this occasion. We knew the ball had gone into the net but we got word that the referee had said there had been an infringement. At that point there's nothing more we can do. It's happened to us - twice last year - and you can understand Neil (Warnock) being disappointed, but you have to choose your words nowadays.
SSN: What would you have done in his (Warnock's) shoes?
GJ: It's happened to us. You have a little moan then you have to forget about it. Nobody has cheated, nobody means to make mistakes. We had a perfectly good goal against Palace disallowed, Paul Hartley's goal was onside and it was given offside. We get disappointed when we see it on the video after because that was a perfectly good goal. That happens and it'll happen to us many more times this year, and probably the same for Crystal Palace. You're aggrieved with the decision but you have to hold your hands up and get on with it.
City's manager also spoke on Talksport earlier today, with the interview conducted by Mark Saggers and Mick Quinn.
TS: We've had other club's fans on saying Bristol City and Gary Johnson, they are fair-minded. Did you think about letting Palace walk the ball in after that?
GJ: You can't do it for those situations. We had an incident, a goal by Paul Hartley ruled out for offside. We've seen the video and he was a yard onside. At the time we saw that straight away and could have moaned about it but didn't. Some things go for you, some things don't. I'm probably the only one in the world that's done that. When I was at Yeovil I allowed Plymouth to walk through us and score a goal in a Carling Cup game because we'd put the ball in the back of the net when we were just trying to give it back to the opposition goalkeeper. I've done that and if I felt there was anything worthy of doing that [yesterday] then I would have done it. But in that situation, when at the time we don't know exactly what the referee has disallowed the goal for then there's nothing you can do. He said afterwards that he'd given it for an infringement. We can't see what's happening between 22 players and afterwards, in our opinion, it looks a perfectly good goal. Neil (Warnock) is obviously disappointed.
TS: Are you disappointed with Neil's reaction, not perhaps about the incident but what he's said about Bristol City?
GJ: Yes, I think so. We're both managers, we've both had good times and bad decisions go against us. We have to be disappointed and get on with it. But it seems to have gone a bit deeper than that in the last few hours. That's a bit sad because our only crime was being the opposition. We were there to play a game. The game was competed in a fair manner, it was a competitive game.
TS: It probably rubbed salt in the wound when you scored the winner in the 90th minute, didn't it?
GJ: I said to the lads at half-time, it's ironic, but how many times does it happen. It happens against you on occasions. I said at half-time, hang in there because something will fall for us and it was in the 89th minute. I can understand Neil being disappointed but there's a line you mustn't cross. You've got to make sure you keep your decorum because there's another 44 games to go yet.
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Meanwhile, the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) general manager Keith Hackett has made a public apology to Neil Warnock following Freddie Sears' disallowed goal in the game between City and Crystal Palace at Ashton Gate.
According to Sky Sports News, Hackett has also confirmed all four officials involved in yesterday's game have been removed from the appointments list until a full review has taken place.
Referee Rob Shoebridge was in charge of the match and was assisted by Steve Rubery, Chris Knowles and fourth official Andy Davies.
www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10327~1756879,00.html
