Manchester City have complained to the Football Association over the actions of the officials in their FA Cup "Balloongate" loss to Sheffield United.
Luton Shelton's opener for United came after Michael Ball failed to clear the ball as it rolled through the balloons.

Referee Alan Wiley had asked City goal keeper Joe Hart to get rid of the balloons while play was at the other end of the pitch.

But City have written to the FA arguing play should have been stopped.

You can't ask a player to clear the pitch when the ball is live

Man City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson

"The club believe that Mr Wiley and his team should have stopped play and instructed Sheffield United staff and stewards to remove the obstacles from the field of play before continuing with the game," said a club statement on their website.

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"It was the officials' responsibility, and their failure to do so had a direct bearing on the first goal being scored in a very important FA Cup tie, which was decided by one goal."

The balloons were brought by City's away fans and after the Manchester's club 2-1 defeat Eriksson said: "I've never seen a goal like it before.

"The ball changed direction and the balloons played a one-two with Michael Ball. But we should not blame the balloons - we should have done better."

"We asked the fourth official to tell the referee Alan Wiley to stop the game and take away the balloons or kill them.

"But the referee told our goalkeeper Joe Hart to do it during the game which isn't fair. You can't ask a player to clear the pitch when the ball is live."

bbc.co.uk

replay the match- i'm sure thats what arsenal did the years ago when the blunts kicked up a fuss (something to do with an injury and a throw-in if i remember rightly)

Yeah. Thats old new mate ha ha! Hopefully they replay the match as City vs boro is much more exciting than blunts v boro.

replay the match. that would be a joke. they lost the match simple as. get over it. The ref asked the keeper to pop them when the ball was at the other end of the pitch and he didnt.

Originally Posted by Middlesbrough No1 Fan

replay the match. that would be a joke. they lost the match simple as. get over it. The ref asked the keeper to pop them when the ball was at the other end of the pitch and he didnt.

sheff utd fans should be asking for it replayed- when they screamed about arsenal what happened didn't breach any rule whatsoever. this one, as far as my interpretation goes did as surely a balloon is classed as an external party- that would have to cause the game to be stopped

Originally Posted by Middlesbrough No1 Fan

replay the match. that would be a joke. they lost the match simple as. get over it. The ref asked the keeper to pop them when the ball was at the other end of the pitch and he didnt.

You're dead wrong. The ref in this incident did not apply the laws properly. He simply asked him to remove them. It was his choice not too. The referee cannot blame him here because once the ball touches any agent that changed direction with the ball, play should be restarted with a dropped ball. Me thinks you rather play sheff. utd than man city! yes:

Originally Posted by triniboi101

You're dead wrong. The ref in this incident did not apply the laws properly. He simply asked him to remove them. It was his choice not too. The referee cannot blame him here because once the ball touches any agent that changed direction with the ball, play should be restarted with a dropped ball. Me thinks you rather play sheff. utd than man city! yes:

i couldn't really care less which one we play. all it would have took was for the players to pop the balloons. if i was playing football and balloons came onto the pitch, id pop them straight away before they got in the way. yes its down to a ref to control everything that happens in a game. but come on the players have brains in their heads dont they

Yes they have brains lol but had the ball hit a balloon in the centre of the pitch then the referee restarts with a dropped ball. This same concept should be applied in this instance IMO.

Originally Posted by wednesday4life

bbc.co.uk
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Oh is that all the threads about.

Originally Posted by Reno

Oh is that all the threads about.

I'm sorry?

Sven should be done for attempted manslaughter "We asked the fourth official to tell the referee Alan Wiley to stop the game and take away the balloons or kill them"

surely that would be attempted balloon slaughter- no men were involved

Originally Posted by Middlesbrough No1 Fan

replay the match. that would be a joke. they lost the match simple as. get over it. The ref asked the keeper to pop them when the ball was at the other end of the pitch and he didnt.

They should have been complaining before the goal went in. They were obviously happy with the situation before the goal went in. Any excuse.

Originally Posted by boro_boy

They should have been complaining before the goal went in. They were obviously happy with the situation before the goal went in. Any excuse.

sven did complain

Originally Posted by wednesday4life

sven did complain

Well they should have protested on the pitch. If it was that bad. They could have refused to play until the balloons were removed.

Originally Posted by boro_boy

Well they should have protested on the pitch. If it was that bad. They could have refused to play until the balloons were removed.

if a ref won't do what he's supposed to after interference from an outside agent, do you really think that would work?