Does Fergie time exist?

[semi-pro waster]

Saw this article on the BBC today and thought it might be of interest for a bit of debate. If the top image is right then it looks like it might exist and that Chelsea have some grounds for believing that referees hate them...

However it seems a rather crude measure and an attempt to link correlation with causation. As an average it might start to look conclusive but that doesn't necessarily consider the individual circumstances of the games. You could just as easily look at the team with the shortest or longest amount of time added on and imply that those were games with very little or lots of fouling and cheating going on but there'd be relatively little to bolster that supposition apart from a subjective view.

 

[semi-pro waster]

These are the most telling stats from the article.

Eight of the longest nine Man Utd games over the past three seasons have been victories for Man Utd (Opta)

21 of the shortest 22 Man Utd games over the past three seasons have been victories for Man Utd (Opta)

Wait a second, the stats you're picking up show that in both the longest and shortest games Man Utd are likely to end up the winners? Why is that particularly important?

Yeah, it's a myth. Just a statistically and evidentially supported myth, openly talked about by retired referees as being true.

The referee states that there's a pressure you can feel from the fans but that it's subconscious when (they are) adding on extra time. The article also notes that it's likely to be a bias for the perceived "big" teams rather than being specific to Man Utd.