I’m wondering if Dundee United can join football’s ‘Invincibles’.
Those legendary teams who’ve gone entire league campaigns unbeaten earn a special place in football folklore.
So can Jim Goodwin’s men join the ranks of the very few clubs to hit those lofty heights?
Arsenal, AC Milan, Celtic, and Juventus are amongst the teams to have performed the remarkable feat, which is a very tall order at any level of football.
However, United’s start to their Championship campaign has been superb, with a seven game unbeaten run featuring 16 goals for and only three against.
The Tangerines’ visit to Stark’s Park to meet Raith Rovers, just a point behind them, will go a long way to answering whether the Terrors can join the pantheon of sides to have remained unbowed throughout an entire league campaign,
United will shortly have met every side in the league and, by then, will know the strengths and weaknesses of those they’re battling with for promotion.
Reaching the Premiership by hook or by crook is the key aim, but what an accomplishment it would be if this group of players could write themselves into the history books by achieving the distinction of remaining unbeaten on their way back to the top.
The audio recording of the VAR discussion that led to Liverpool's wrongly disallowed goal in the 2-1 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday has been released.
Read more: https://t.co/NFEhLnfe0c pic.twitter.com/2QpOdNeMVd
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 3, 2023
After the latest and worst VAR cock up to date in last week’s Liverpool v Spurs match, I saw Stan Collymore say he would scrap VAR completely and only have goal-line technology in football as an aid.
I have some sympathy with his view, but the game has invested far too much in VAR to scrap it now, so it’s wishful thinking.
However, communication between those monitoring and the ref in the middle has to be much more precise in the language used and the messages passed on to ensure the proper outcome.
Football is now big business and millions are made or lost on the decisions given by the officials.
The standard of refereeing has always been fair game for critics, but VAR was supposed to root out almost all errors.
When a mistake happens as egregious as the Liverpool goal, wrongly backed up by the video assistant referee as offside, it brings the whole system into disrepute.
🗣 "I think the only outcome should be a replay… Something like that has never happened."
Jurgen Klopp discusses the VAR audio that has been released since Liverpool's incorrectly disallowed goal against Tottenham 🎙🔴 pic.twitter.com/LanJACtB6j
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) October 4, 2023
There’s no precedent here for a game being replayed because of a ref’s mistake, so Liverpool’s hopes of that happening are zero.
However, what happened to Klopp’s team could easily happen to yours unless the system clearly deals with the issues that made it a laughing stock last weekend.
The first thing that has to happen is to allow the referee to alter the decision after a clear mistake has been made, AFTER play has restarted.
Presently, that’s not allowed, but it’s the obvious solution to avoid another ludicrous situation.
🔜 Next up: Aberdeen
We travel to Pittodrie this Sunday 👊
✉️ Deadline for ordering tickets to be posted out is 3pm today.
🎟 Physical tickets only (no E-tickets)
❌ No matchday sales for away fansClick below for all ticket information! ⤵️
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) October 4, 2023
Few sports treat fans as badly as football.
St Johnstone supporters wanting to travel to Pittodrie for Sunday’s meeting with Aberdeen had a midweek deadline to order physical tickets for posting, with no E-tickets available and no matchday purchases possible.
You can buy almost anything on your phone these days within seconds, so why are no E-tickets available for Saints fans?
Football treats punters like dirt and abuses their loyalty, knowing it’ll get away with it because of that devotion.
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