I’ve always resisted conspiracy theories about football officials.
I’ve never been comfortable with the idea that referees are deliberately favouring one club over another. Because if that’s genuinely what’s happening, what are we all doing here? Why invest our time, money and emotion into a competition if we believe the outcome is being manipulated?
But I also understand why supporters are losing patience.
And after everything that has happened with Manchester City, the Premier League really should be doing everything possible to restore confidence in the competition.
Instead, we keep finding ourselves having the same arguments.
Why are supporters being left to question whether football is being run fairly?
Why appoint Chris Kavanagh for this game?
The appointment of Chris Kavanagh for Liverpool’s meeting with Manchester City was always going to attract attention.
Kavanagh is from Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester. That fact alone does not establish that he is biased, and it would be unfair to suggest otherwise without evidence.
But surely the Premier League has to consider how appointments will be perceived, particularly when the atmosphere surrounding a fixture is already so charged.
Liverpool and Manchester City have spent years competing for the biggest prizes in English football. Their rivalry has been shaped by extraordinary title races, fine margins and moments that supporters on both sides will remember for the rest of their lives.
Now, with an independent commission having found Manchester City guilty of serious financial-rule breaches and the club appealing that decision, the atmosphere around this fixture was always going to be different. The Premier League confirmed the commission’s findings on September 29, while City maintain that the decision contains material errors and are challenging it.
That makes trust more important than ever.
So why create another talking point around the referee before the match has even kicked off?
I’m not saying Kavanagh shouldn’t referee Manchester City. I’m not saying his birthplace makes him incapable of doing the job fairly.
I’m asking a much simpler question.
When football is already facing a crisis of confidence, why not avoid appointments that are bound to attract scrutiny?
This is about the bigger picture
The most worrying thing about football right now is how many supporters have stopped believing that the authorities are acting quickly enough to protect the integrity of the competition.
The Manchester City case has dragged on for years. The independent commission has now delivered its findings, but the club has appealed and the question of sanctions remains unresolved.
There are legal processes that must be respected. Manchester City are entitled to appeal, and nobody should pretend that a complex case can be resolved without following the proper procedures.
But supporters are entitled to expect progress, clarity and accountability too.
The Premier League’s own statement said the commission found that City had used arrangements that artificially inflated revenue and reduced costs, and that the club had breached its duties of cooperation during the investigation. City dispute the conclusions and are pursuing an appeal.
Those are serious findings.
Yet fans are still waiting to discover what happens next.
And while that uncertainty continues, every controversial decision, every contentious refereeing call and every questionable appointment becomes another reason for people to doubt the system.
That is a terrible position for English football to be in.
You don’t have to believe in conspiracies to question decisions
This is the distinction I think gets lost in these discussions.
You can believe that referees are trying to do their jobs honestly while still questioning the decisions made by the organisations that appoint them.
You can accept that a referee’s geographical background doesn’t prove bias while asking whether the authorities should be more sensitive to the appearance of a conflict.
And you can insist that Manchester City receive a fair hearing while also demanding that the case reaches a proper conclusion.
Those positions aren’t contradictory.
In fact, they’re exactly what supporters should be asking for.
Football needs transparent processes, consistent standards and decisions that people can understand.
It doesn’t need supporters being told that every concern is a conspiracy theory.
Nor does it need people making accusations against individual officials without evidence.
The answer is to make the process more trustworthy, not to demand that everybody simply trusts it.
The Premier League has a chance to restore confidence
I genuinely believe the way the Manchester City case is handled will matter far beyond one club.
If serious breaches have been established by an independent commission, the eventual outcome must be dealt with properly and transparently, following the appeal process.
The punishment, if any, must be determined through the appropriate procedures rather than through pressure from rival supporters.
But the league also has to recognise the damage that prolonged uncertainty can do.
People invest enormous amounts of money in tickets, subscriptions and merchandise. They travel across the country to support their clubs. They arrange their weekends around fixtures and spend years following teams through the highs and lows.
They deserve to believe that the competition they are watching is being governed fairly.
If supporters reach the point where they no longer trust the authorities, the damage won’t be limited to arguments on social media.
Some will simply switch off.
And once people lose that emotional connection with football, winning it back will be difficult.
Enough of the uncertainty
I don’t want to become somebody who sees a conspiracy behind every refereeing decision.
I don’t want to watch Liverpool and immediately assume that every decision against us has been made for a sinister reason.
That would take the enjoyment out of football, and I refuse to believe that is where we have to end up.
But I also don’t think supporters should be expected to ignore legitimate questions about governance, transparency and the appearance of impartiality.
The Kavanagh appointment doesn’t prove that anything improper happened. His location is not evidence of bias.
However, when the game is already dealing with a crisis of confidence, the authorities should understand why supporters are asking questions.
The Premier League needs to finish the City process properly, explain its decisions and demonstrate that the same standards apply to everyone.
Football cannot survive on blind faith. It needs to earn people’s trust.
I’ve spent years watching Liverpool, through the brilliant moments and the painful ones. I want to keep caring about every result. I want to celebrate victories, argue about tactics and complain about referees when I think they’ve got something wrong.
That’s part of being a supporter.
But I want to do all of that believing the competition itself is being run properly.
At the moment, too many people are questioning that.
And the longer the uncertainty continues, the worse the problem becomes.
The Premier League needs to understand that trust is not something it can take for granted.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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