da betsul： A few weeks ago I wrote a piece praising the honesty of Louis van Gaal, and how the Manchester United boss makes for a refreshing antidote to the nauseating hypocrisy regularly spouted by most managers in the Premier League. Following the events at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday, it seems that digging out this tattered old article from the dusty depths of my Football FanCast portfolio, as well as admittedly being a shameless attempt at self-promotion, serves a pertinent purpose.
da luck： It was in the aftermath of Stoke City’s victory over Swansea City that the already-overexerted dial on the worn-out Premier League hypocrit-o-meter – wheeled out whenever a manager is about to comment on a contentious decision – finally blew off the scale, unable to cope with the cataclysmic levels of pure hypocrisy lethally emanating from the mouth of Mark Hughes.
Just to recap on what actually happened: Swansea were rightfully awarded a penalty with 34 minutes gone after Ryan Shawcross bundled Wilfried Bony to the ground, while on the stroke of half-time Stoke were presented with a spot-kick of their own for what was a blatant dive by Victor Moses. Most neutral observers would agree that this is a fair interpretation of how things unfolded, and one would hope that Stoke fans can also find no fault in such a viewpoint; after all, they are safe in the knowledge that their side’s eventual 2-1 victory will stand, and that no protestations, no matter how convincing, will ever take their three points away from them.
Enter Sparky. Rather than acknowledge Moses’ transgression, the extent to which the Welshman defended his player while also dismissing the legitimacy of Swansea’s penalty saw a Premier League manager reach previously unfathomable levels of hypocrisy. The Stoke boss – a true two-faced pioneer, the Yuri Gagarin of footballing duplicity – had the following to say about the Swans’ spot-kick:
“I am disappointed because Ryan Shawcross has been highlighted in the media as apparently holding players in the box which is complete nonsense.
“I see everybody holding people at corners. The fact that it has been highlighted was maybe in the back of the referee’s mind. Wilfried Bony is a big lad, and he goes down too easily in my mind.”
One can see why Hughes would want to protect his captain from criticism, yet it is his claim that there is some kind of media-led conspiracy against Shawcross that is complete nonsense. There may be a reason why the Stoke defender is singled out – he is a frequent offender – and the fact that Hughes sees everybody grabbing onto opposition players at corners does not make it right. Shawcross was guilty of a foul, and the punishment that was meted out by Michael Oliver was appropriate.
However, it is Hughes’ argument that Bony goes down too easily that is the most compelling indictment of his contradictory nature. Whether or not the Ivorian falls to the ground a bit too readily, there is clear bodily contact between him and Shawcross, which cannot be said about the incident leading to Stoke’s penalty. The Swansea full-back Angel Rangel does not even touch Victor Moses as the Nigerian flings himself to the floor, a majestic dive which impresses Mr. Oliver so much that his finger is compelled to point at the spot. If Bony was guilty of theatrics, then surely Hughes is even more censorious of Moses? Read it and weep:
“With Victor Moses’ pace in the box, Angel Rangel has come across him and impeded him in my view. It doesn’t take too much at that pace.”
What Hughes is essentially saying is that Rangel somehow managed to impede Moses by harnessing the power of air, causing him to fall over. Even to the most starry-eyed football fan, this seems a tad unrealistic. And if it “doesn’t take too much” for human beings travelling at running speed to topple to the ground, then it’s remarkable that we never seem to see some tangled, cartoonish pile-up of Olympian limbs at the finishing line of 100m sprints.
Hughes clearly doesn’t believe what he said; his words were merely an unashamedly desperate act of hypocrisy as a means of protecting the under-fire Moses. But if Premier League managers – Hughes and many others – are to continuously condone what are pretty categorical acts of rule-breaking just because their own players are the offending parties, how can we hope to rid the game of such behaviour?
An end to this silly culture of hypocrisy and finger pointing can lead to the betterment of the game.
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