Dalglish uses DVD to point out ref failings

Manager’s moaning about referee’s is nothing new, it has always gone and probably will always go on. But Kenny Dalglish took things to another level by playing a DVD during his weekly press conference to point out examples of where his club were hard done by against Fulham last Monday.

The game, which the Red eventually lost 1-0, also landed Liverpool in trouble with the FA after Luis Suarez was charge after giving the Fulham fans the finger, while the club was charged for failing to control their players after they surrounded referee Kevin Friend following Jay Spearing’s dismissal.

Dalglish though was not going to take any punishment lying down, and could not help but let his frustration at the FA pour out in front of the media. The Scot was angered further from he sees as double standards following the FA’s successful appeal to downgrade Wyane Rooney’s England suspension from three games to two, meaning he can play in England’s final group game at Euro 2012.

"If anyone wants to see the truth it's on the screen," Dalglish said.

"If we have infringed rules we will have to accept it and take the punishment, but I'm not certain what the rules are when it comes to disputing a decision," he added. “What I do know is that referees are inconsistent with their interpretations. The only intent in Jay's mind was to get the ball, and normally our discipline is good, as our film clip can prove.

We just want to be dealt with fairly," Dalglish said. "We want the same rules to apply to us as to everyone else. At Fulham I think we got the short end of a lot of 50-50 decisions that on another night might have gone our way. Anyone watching the clips can see that for themselves."

What Dalglish fails to recognise is that he isn’t the only manager who feels hard done by referees. In live football games across the country it is an almost weekly occurrence, and often managers do have video evidence to make their case.

Earlier in the season Dalglish was the beneficiary of a generous sending off by Martin Atkinson of Everton’s Jack Rodwell for a challenge that was barely even a foul. Dalglish, however, said he ‘didn’t see’ the incident.

To be honest I think Dalglish knows decisions swing this way and that, he surely has so too much experience to really think Liverpool – not too long ago one of the ‘big four’ – are picked up by referee’s.

Instead I think he is merely playing the game, trying to influence referee’s by manipulating the press – something Sir Alex Ferguson has mastered over the years.

Will it work and turn the football scores in his favour? Well, he has a task if he is to rescue Luis Suarez’s reputation, mud thrown in the direction of ‘divers’ tends to stick in the English game, rightly or wrongly.

But apart from that I would not be surprised if a ‘favourable’ decision goes the way of the Reds in the near future.