Comment by Lou Macari

REFEREES get enough stick from managers, players, fans and pundits, so let’s take this opportunity to applaud Stoke ref Phil Dowd.

I was at Fulham on Saturday to see him red-card Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney during a stormy little affair by the River Thames.

And I have to say that Phil got the big decisions right in my book.

He was criticised by some afterwads for showing Rooney a second yellow card because the United striker wasn’t throwing the ball at the ref.

But for me, it was the manner in which he hurled the ball that counted and he can have no complaint with the outcome.

Dowd is a reasonably cool and calm ref, something that stood him in good stead on Saturday.

He was also spot on when confronted by Cristiano Ronaldo’s constant sniping at decisions, even when they were going United’s way.

On one infamous occasion the ref summoned Ronaldo to him, only for Ronaldo to incredibly summon the ref to him instead.
The ref rightly stood his ground, demanded the player come to him and fortunately for all concerned Ronaldo complied.

Had Dowd trotted obediently over to the player he knows he would have lost all respect. As it was, I think he comes out of the game with more respect all told.

United’s defeat really does open up the title race, just seven days after I was thinking their loss to Liverpool was little more than a blip.

Conceding six goals in two games, scoring just one from the penalty spot and picking up three red cards in the process suggests their forward line isn’t firing and their defence is all over the place compared to what it was.

And that has all coincided with Liverpool smashing in goals left, right and centre while playing their best football of the season in disposing of Real Madrid, United and now Aston Villa.

Why this sudden reversal of fortune between the Reds? People will talk about match-winners and great players, but I’m not sure they exist in as much abundance as some might think. No, for me it’s still down to the kind of breaks that saw a probable United win at Fulham made far less likely from the moment Paul Scholes was sent off.

I don’t care how many so-called top players are out there on the pitch on a Saturday, such flashpoints can ultimately decide titles and cup finals.

Vale fans and club must pull together

I DON’T want to get into any kind of public slanging match about Port Vale ... or any other club for that matter.

But I feel I must respond to the irate reader writing in to have a go following my column a fortnight ago concerning the Vale.

Let me assure Mr Dunning that I don’t go out of my way to comment, nor certainly criticise, events at Vale Park.

I am simply asked by this newspaper for an opinion and I’m happy to give it as best and as honestly as I can.

It just happened to be about Port Vale that particular week.

I can also say I don’t go out of my way to be controversial to earn my fee because I choose not to be paid for the column.

He seemed just a little pre-occupied with my Stoke City connections, but to me that is irrelevant because I am commenting as a football fan.

Perhaps he has no problem with the assistant editor of this newspaper criticising the club, its manager and what not because he happens to be a Vale fan.

Mr Dunning points to the fact that the Vale of this world are poor because of the top clubs breaking away to form the Premier League.

That’s perfectly true, but wasn’t it the point I was making, which was simply that Vale and their like are in an awful financial situation that won’t be helped by people campaigning against the present board in the belief there is a rich sugar daddy with good intentions just itching to take over.

Vale, I’m sorry to say, simply have to get on with what they’ve got, however tough in this present financial climate, and so fans demonstrating for a change can only be counter-productive.

No fan of football likes to see a club tearing itself apart, which is what Vale are in danger of doing if they’re not careful.

He also criticises my sentiment that the current custodians at Vale are not to blame for everything because the club has been in decline for years.

He rightly points out the success Vale had under John Rudge and Co in the 1990s, but I wasn’t going that far back in time when I referred to them being in decline for a long period.

He insists he won’t accept any hard and bitter truths from me.
That’s fine, as long as he isn’t just burying his head in the sand and ignoring the financial realities biting hard at Vale’s end of the market.

I wasn’t throwing stones from the sidelines, as he suggests. On the contrary, I was suggesting fans and club alike had to pull together to stand any chance of riding this storm.

On the subject of Vale, what a terrific result at Bradford on Saturday when they became only the second team to win up there this season.

Now for the task of turning round that poor home form.