By Nitram
Following on from my article [‘Penalties for and against.](https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/114514) Are Arsenal being hard done by?’ I thought I’d look back a little further to see just how long this extreme bias against us has been going on. What I was hoping to find was a clear and obvious moment when things suddenly changed for us, and boy did I find one. And I found it in the shape of the disgraceful Mike Riley.
Now before I start, I have to say I always felt that the moment things changed for us was the year Mike Riley took over as the head of the PGMOL back in June 2009 and I was right. In fact, the day Mike Riley took charge of the PGMOL was like somebody had flicked an Anti-Arsenal switch.
So, let’s look at some numbers.
The first table below shows the six years of penalty statistics that take us back from the last year I did in the previous article, which was season 2015/16. As such the following table covers six seasons running from season 2009/10 through to season 2014/15. 2009/10 is chosen as it was the first with Riley in charge of the PGMOL.
**Club**
**Penalties for**
**Penalties against**
**Percentage Difference**
**Arsenal**
**29**
**35**
**\-17%**
Liverpool
40
27
+48%
Manchester City
43
21
+104%
Chelsea
48
19
+152%
Manchester Utd
41
23
+78%
Again, a damming set of numbers. In fact ours were even worse back then, than they are now, as if that could be possible.
This is what those numbers look like added to the 10 years survey I did in the previous article. In other words season 2009/10 through to this current season 2024/25. The 15, almost 16 seasons since Riley took charge:
**Club**
**Penalties for**
**Penalties against**
**Percentage Difference**
**Arsenal**
80
86
\-7%
Liverpool
101
57
+77%
Manchester City
123
54
+128%
Chelsea
110
62
+107%
Manchester Utd
106
62
+71%
I think you’ll agree those numbers are shocking enough on their own, but when you compare them to the five seasons prior to Riley’s appointment they become quite unbelievable. Here are the numbers for those five seasons, 2004/05 to 2008/09, prior to Riley taking charge of the PGMOL:
**Club**
**Penalties for**
**Penalties against**
**Percentage Difference**
**Arsenal**
32
14
+128%
Liverpool
25
13
+92%
Manchester City
20
14
+43%
Chelsea
21
12
+75%
Manchester Utd
22
12
+83%
Beyond doubt, those are some of the most damming statistics I have ever seen. Of course, performing better in the league improves your penalty statistics to some degree, but to that extent? No way.
In any case in the five seasons prior to Mike Riley’s appointment when we had that +128% number we finished 2nd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, and 4th. In the first six years after his appointment, we finished 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th, and 3rd and yet we went from a PLUS 128% figure to a MINUS 17% figure.
In other words, team performance had absolutely nothing to do with it. And neither did playing style, personnel or manager as the manager remained the same and the players only changed gradually. These numbers changed overnight.
Quite honestly I’m lost for words. As I said at the top, I always had a feeling it all changed with Riley, as I have been all over these numbers for years, and that was always what they appeared to be telling me.
My feeling has always been that Riley was given the job on the back of his disgraceful performance in the infamous Match 49 at Old Trafford. That was his audition and he passed it with flying colours.
He hasn’t let them down, and to his disgrace, Webb has followed his lead admirably.
**Footnote:**
I see Mikey is looking at the cards and is going to look at the yellow card stats and if he does, I believe he will find that they changed under Riley in a very similar way.