My God, the outpouring of bile from so-called football lovers around the country makes me want to puke.
In my humble opinion, Riley refereed Sunday's game in the only way possible. Chelsea and Man Utd have shown time after time over recent seasons that they cannot be trusted to play 90 minutes of football without declaring war on each other. So a referee has no choice but to be harsh and to stick to the letter of the law.
In a more relaxed match, Riley would have refereed differently. As it was, he only just kept a lid on the poisonous behaviour of players like Rooney, Ferdinand and Terry. And he's to be applauded for keeping all 22 on the field.
Ferdinand's crazed ranting at the end of the match was comfortably enough for a second yellow for dissent but Riley avoided the drastic action. His reward from Ferdinand: more ranting and foul language.
In the cauldron of Sunday's match, Riley was a picture of calm and professionalism. He deserves fulsome praise, not the ignorant confirmation of supposed football supporters who really only want to see 90 minutes of clogging after downing 10 pints in the pub at lunchtime.
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