The Rational Ref | 'Fergie Time' puts refs under pressure
Stoppage time can be a vexed issue for managers needing a goal and those eager for the whistle
Scoring in stoppage time always creates an outburst of disbelief, delight, duress, despair and drama. It’s why so many people are hooked on the game.
Initially, there is disbelief and delight, like when South China scored the winner last week in the 97th minute to beat reigning champions Kitchee. Similarly, Barcelona came back from two goals down against Sevilla to grab victory in the 93rd minute. Manchester City did it in the 94th minute to win the English Premiership last season. And Manchester United famously did it in 1999, scoring not once but twice in stoppage time to snatch the Champions League from Bayern Munich.
On the flip side, duress and despair surface when managers and players believe they have been cheated with time, either with too little or too much. Teams failing to net a last-gasp goal will always feel there is too little added time, whereas teams desperately defending the status quo will always argue “enough already”. Alex Ferguson brought these feelings to the fore last week when he expressed his disgust at the supposedly incorrect stoppage time awarded during his team’s dramatic defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
“They gave four minutes. It is an insult,” he said. “It is denying you the proper chance to win the football match. There were six substitutions and the trainer came on. That is four minutes right away.”
Straightaway Ferguson has shown he is disingenuous. He has correctly calculated 30 seconds for each substitution plus one minute for the trainer. However, although there were six substitutions, the first was at half-time and therefore cannot be considered a stoppage in play. Two other substitutions were made simultaneously in the 92nd minute. This is important because the official announcement of stoppage time is made in the 91st minute.
Therefore the referee could only consider three substitutions that actually occurred during the second half. It is standard practice to add 30 seconds for each substitution, so 1-1/2 minutes for substitutions plus another minute for the trainer makes a total of 2-1/2 minutes. There were also three goals in the second half, so 30 seconds for each goal is sometimes given should the celebrations be excessive. The referee actually played almost 4-1/2 minutes of added time.