The NSNO Everton Forums

TheRam wrote: ↑Sat Aug 30, 2025 12:54 pm It isn’t.

The refs just simply are not part of a wider conspiracy to rig games for the scum six or whatever they’re called.

They’re all just really bad at their jobs and have dealt with the implementation of VAR really poorly.

NomadskiEFC wrote: ↑Sat Aug 30, 2025 1:02 pm If that incompetence ran both ways I would agree, but the incompetence only runs in one direction in these games.

Bluedylan1 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 30, 2025 1:13 pm It's not corruption in the sense that it's shadowy men meeting in dark rooms to decide outcomes.

It's a kind of soft, systemic corruption where biases lean towards the more wealthy clubs in 50/50 decisions, where referees cave to larger crowds, where officials are unconsciously intimidated by clubs with larger media presences. A referee is aware that giving a terrible decision against Liverpool or Man U will probably result in death threats on social media and them possibly being removed from games involving those clubs, whereas giving a dodgy decision against Fulham probably won't have much in the way of repercussions.

And of course all of this is exacerbated further by the inequalities of the league itself with bigger clubs being able to spend at will and not being punished for overt cheating (City, Chelsea), while clubs like Palace and Everton don't get the same discretion and wiggle room applied to them.