There are not many referees better than Anthony Taylor. The 43-year-old is experienced, decisive and mobile enough to keep up with play. He is one of the two English candidates put forward to officiate at the World Cup in Qatar.
Taylor is just the sort of person you would want holding the whistle for the biggest game of the season. Except that a section of the Liverpool fanbase have been in uproar this week because he has been given their team’s game against Manchester City at the Etihad tomorrow. This is simply because Taylor is from Manchester.
The angst of Liverpool supporters was further inflamed by the appointment of Paul Tierney as the VAR official. Tierney is from Salford, 2.5 miles from Manchester. The conspiracy theories started five days before kick-off.
It’s almost insulting to crunch the numbers comparing Taylor’s performances in games involving Liverpool and City but the statistics are remarkably close. Both teams earned 1.9 points per game when he was in the middle and the number of yellow cards distributed to each side is close enough to suggest he is applying the sort of consistency that fans demand (1.53 for Liverpool and 1.48 per game for City).
But forget the reality. The stats do not matter. To be a supporter is to be irrational. It just feels wrong that Mancunians can be in charge of a game involving a team from their city.
What this does not take into account is professionalism. Taylor and Tierney make a living from refereeing. For them, it’s just business. No official would risk their career by being biased against a team. There is not much room for fandom when the sport becomes your main source of income.
That is true of players and managers, too (and, for that matter, journalists). The edges get knocked off fanaticism pretty quickly once a game becomes a livelihood.
In the stands, it is all about passion. For most supporters, their club becomes part of their identity. That is a luxury not afforded to football’s participants. They have to make dispassionate decisions; whether that’s a player moving to a team he despised growing up or a referee awarding a penalty for a side that irritates the hell out of him.
No one will ever be able to take human emotions out of the game and officials are as susceptible as anyone to them. Tierney will probably never forget his run-in with Jurgen Klopp after his side’s 2-2 draw away to Tottenham Hotspur in December.
The Liverpool manager told the 41-year-old: “I have no problems with referees. Only you.” It’s doubtful Tierney will have taken it to heart. He will have heard plenty worse. He is a grown-up. His only concern tomorrow will be getting any VAR decisions right. Whether he likes Klopp is immaterial.
Referees from the 1990s and 2000s often talk about how difficult it was to deal with Manchester United.
The entire team – and Sir Alex Ferguson – would browbeat the officials for the entire 90 minutes and many in the refereeing fraternity would have enjoyed seeing them get their comeuppance. Yet most of the football world – including individuals from rival clubs – would complain that United got all the decisions in their favour.
Social media has amplified the paranoia of supporters. It’s curious that Liverpool fans have become so obsessed with perceived slights. That was traditionally the province of less successful clubs, whose folklore revolved around bad decisions that denied them a chance of glory rather than winning silverware.
The name Clive Thomas is still spat out as an obscenity around Goodison Park, passed down from parent to child like the myth of the bogeyman. The Welshman disallowed what would have been a winning goal in the 1977 FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool. Generations of Everton fans yet unborn will learn to hate Thomas. With good cause, to be fair. It was a horrible decision.
Liverpool supporters have a plethora of more uplifting memories, which makes the fixation on Taylor and Tierney even stranger. Some of them seemed to be too consumed with thoughts of a plot against their team tomorrow to enjoy the 3-1 victory over Benfica in the Champions League in midweek.
It does not matter where Taylor is from. He is one of the best in the business and deserves to be in charge of a game of this magnitude. He may be from Manchester but he certainly will not side with City – and the same goes for Tierney.
