Gooners convinced of match-fixing, is there something to it?

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
05 Feb	3:00 PM	P	Newcastle United (A)	4	4	Draw

Hi everyone. I'm totally over the Newcastle game now.

Not really. Far from it, in fact. Even though defeats for Man Utd and Chelsea certainly helped end the weekend on something of a high, I can't get this game off my mind, as I'm sure is true for all gooners out there, especially as we have to wait until next Saturday for a new Arsenal game to get us moving again.

So from what I read on blogs, comments and forums, the vast majority of gooners are growing more and more convinced that there is some kind of referee conspiracy against us. I have to say although it has crossed my mind a couple of times, I'm still undecided, but since there are some VERY convincing arguments out there it would be wrong for me not to consider it.

As we all know, match-fixing has taken place in football before, as recently as 2006 when big clubs in Italy were docked large numbers of points and Juventus were stripped of their last two titles and even relegated to Serie B. Clear evidence that it can happen and can take a while to be tracked down.

Clear evidence also, that it might not be in the best interests of the victims of this match-fixing to kick up too much of a fuss about it; Serie A has seriously gone down the drain since this scandal, with its reputation damaged meaning lower attendances, less interest from fans around the world, and less desire from the world's top players to play in Italy.

For as long as what feels like the beginning of time, the Italian league along with Spain's La Liga were the dominant forces of European football, but Italy's decline has allowed the Premier League to arguably outgrow them both. With more money in the English game, bigger players moving to these shores have brought more success for the English clubs in the Champions League, with an incredible record of final and semi-final appearances up until last season.

Fans of teams lower in the league might have complained about the traditional 'top four' of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool always dominating, but the success of these clubs on the big stage benefitted the likes of Spurs and Everton, who have been able to attract some top players to come here and play against the big four. The overall quality of the league now is better than ever, as the table reflects, with the traditional top four broken and Spurs and Man City ready to infiltrate.

If Man Utd were to be penalised for match-fixing, the entire league could face a crisis like the one in Italy; players and fans alike could lose interest and the smaller clubs certainly wouldn't benefit financially, which, let's face it, is all that matters to the people in control. Playing in a dodgy league is perhaps a small price to pay for that.

So, yes, something sinister could be going on and we might never know about it. As I've mentioned before, read up on Untold Arsenal for more details on referees and their performances against us this season, particularly when we are starting to pose a serious threat to United.

I would like to add that even if there is not an official conspiracy against us, there quite clearly is a very obvious media bias out there, which could get into the heads of refs when they officiate for us. That would not surprise me at all. The recent Cesc Fabregas saga that supposedly took place at half-time in the Everton game was blown out of such proportion it's staggering. The fact that Cesc can receive this kind of treatment, but the likes of John Terry continue to get away with it is not coincidence, I will give you that.

On the other side of all this, however, I can't say my initial reaction after Saturday's game was to blame Phil Dowd. That's not to say I don't look at it quite differently now, but in general I don't tend to notice referees. That's likely to be my own problem, but the only time I feel a referee properly lost us a game was at the end of our unbeaten run in 2004. Since then, only the Sunderland draw this season comes close (once again Phil Dowd was in charge), and of course the ridiculous decision to allow Louis Saha's goal on Tuesday.

But as I've said, against Newcastle it didn't occur to me to blame the ref, and I think even now you have to admit that with our recent record of losing healthy leads very quickly, you cannot place ALL the blame on one man, when there are 22 others on the pitch who are actually playing the football.

If you didn't know the weekend's football results and I told you that a Premier League team drew a game 4-4 having been 4-0 up, would you not put decent money on it being Arsenal? I can't think of another team in this league or even the world who combine Arsenal's unique combination of a) being good enough to get that kind of lead in the first place and b) being nervous enough to let it slip.

Why blame the referee? Because it's comforting to think Arsenal aren't that bad, that Wenger's youth policy, tactics and motivational techniques work. I wish I could see it that way, and if this was a one-off I'd be more inclined to blame Dowd, but this definitely isn't a one-off; four shocking results of this nature in three seasons says that something else is going on, and the fact that it happens to rarely to other top teams says a lot as well.

Two words summarise it for me: Squillaci, Rosicky. It's rare that it's so easy to place blame on two individual players like that, but each controversial incident can be pinned down to those two very quickly.

Having said that, there were reports flying around last night that Rosicky might be being investigated in relation to some match-fixing in this game. That would certainly explain a lot.

To conclude, I'm still undecided, but to those of you who are convinced something sinister is going on: take action! Make enough noise and maybe people will be forced to take a closer look. The blogging community is growing in strength, but is it enough? Write letters, organise petitions and protests, whatever you feel might help. If there is a chance that this is going on, it has to stop.

If it's been going on for a while there might even be a couple of extra league titles up for grabs...

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