Finger pointed over postponement
Tuesday 29th December 2009, 11:27AM GMT.
Roy Whalley has accused Norwich manager Paul Lambert of putting pressure on the officials to ensure Walsall’s game with Norwich was called off.
Referee Mark Haywood postponed yesterday’s clash at the Banks’s Stadium just 55 minutes before kick off because of a frozen pitch.
And chief executive Whalley says Canaries boss Lambert put Haywood under pressure after the official deemed the surface playable at 11:30am.
He said: “The referee first inspected the pitch at 11.30 and was satisfied that it was playable.
“It was only after pressure from the Norwich manager that he had another look and eventually called the game off less than an hour before kick-off.”
But Lambert has denied those claims and says the call was purely down to the official.
“The referee is the one that makes that decision, nobody else. He came up and told myself and Chris (Hutchings) that the players’ safety was a concern and that he didn’t want the game to go ahead,” he said.
“His view was that you’d be running on to soft ground, then on to hard ground which is a potential problem with injury.”
It was the second postponement in two days for the Saddlers after their Boxing Day trip to Bristol Rovers was also called off because of a frozen pitch.
Their Christmas programme has been decimated by the weather but they have remained 10th in League One, although have slipped seven points adrift of the play-offs.
No new dates for the rearranged games have been announced.
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As a Norwich fan who travelled yesterday I think Walsall FC, and in particular their Chief Executive with his ridiculous attempt to blame Paul Lambert,are missing the point. Walsall failed to protect the pitch properly and the sight of some old oil drum braziers desperately brought in at the last minute was simply pathetic. In a multi-million pound industry such rudimentary measures are simply laughable.
Walsall should have either had the wit to get the game off early or should have protected the pitch properly. 2000 Norwich fans wasted a day of their precious holiday through Walsall’s incompetence and now this clown tries to blame our manager. A joke!
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Pretty pathetic. I have a 70mile round trip to home games but back to Norfolk!!? Poor folk.
At the risk of sounding like Victor Meldrew can anyone else remember winter games at Fellows Park with orange lines and ball due to the amount of white stuff on the pitch!? I suppose officals/the League are concerned these days that they’ll be sued for players’ injuries. Ah well we can play the game on a balmy night in April and get thrashed 4-1.
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To be fair Frank the braziers ahve worked perfectly well since they were bought in the interwar period.
No one wins yesterday, but the way the club have reacted is a direct response to the criticism thrown at the club. What you have to realise is that the club are completely unable to accept any criticism, be it constructive or otherwise. There is never any blame except blame they trhow out to others.
It means that at times like this where there may be reasonable excuses or a lack of blame at their door that people will still look to pin it on their doors.
I don’t know who is to blame here, I am sure there are various causes and reasons. However Frank is right, the losers are the supporters both home and away. (I presume the away fans may get a refund but I am certain the home fans won’t even if they have travelled just as far). I don’t know what happens for those on the hospitality packages.
But if you think this is a joke Frank. Just be grateful you have only had to endure it just the once.
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Frank, you really are making yourself look stupid. The game was inspected at 11.30pm and the game was on. FACT. No indication was made that there would be a further pitch inspection. When your lot saw the pitch another inspection was carried out at 1.45pm. FACT. At 2.05pm the game was called off. Coincidence do you think?
Every effort was made to get the game on. Walsall’s efforts were not “simply pathetic”. The grounds staff do a good job. The methods used to protect the pitch worked for the Orient game and they worked this time.
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As a WFC supporter i think that we would have tried our best to ensure the game was played. I cannot however begin to think that the Norwich manager would have tried to get the game called off, it doesn’t make sense. How much money would the away club have spent just getting to Walsall. I think it was the referee’s decision and should be stood by by both clubs.
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Frankie boy, as Mr. Lambert is so desperately pleading at the moment, it is the ref and no one else who calls the game off, so how exactly should WFC have had ‘the wit to get the game called off early’? If you hadn’t realised it by now, most of us League 1 clubs see precious little of the multi-million pounds you blab on about. The braziers worked perfectly well for the previous home game against Orient when the weather was worse and at the start of February when we got a midweek game on against Leicester at a time when the country was at a standstill … oh yeah and when the ref did his first inspection on Monday morning. Are you suggesting the club should have over-ruled him?
And didn’t one of your precious premier league teams have to call a game off last week too?
I understand your anger, anyone who travels away with their team regularly will have experienced similar letdowns but grow up a bit please.
The clown bit is spot on though.
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The Referee takes the blame plus the usual “lets protect our backsides brigade” who would cause such a decision. Never mind the cost of travel, stewards, police, and inconvenience to all fans.
On that day, if the pitch was playable at 11.30 it should have been playable at 2pm. Either the Ref got it wrong first time or second inspection. Footballers are insured for injuries presumably. Fans are not likely to be insured for their losses. One day the FA will remember who the most important people are at a match- the paying public.
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