Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp insists goal-line technology must enter football after Chelsea controversy

Harry Redknapp, manager of Tottenham Hotspur

Related Links

Teams

Players

By Wayne Veysey at Stamford Bridge

Harry Redknapp refused to blame the match officials for allowing Frank Lampard’s controversial goal at Stamford Bridge but said “anybody with any sense” understands that goal-line technology should be introduced.

Lampard’s first-half equaliser in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham re-ignited the debate about whether officials should be aided by instant replays for line decisions.

“Technology’s got to come in. Anybody who has any sense and understands football can see that,” Redknapp told reporters. “Why can’t the fourth official watch a screen and say ‘goal’ or ‘no goal’ instead of telling you to sit back in your box technical area when you step one yard over line? It takes five seconds to get the right decision. That’s all it takes. You see it in tennis.

“What’s wrong with getting the right decision? People say it’s the fun of the game but how’s that the fun of the game? You get a fair decision, the game moves on.”

Television pictures showed that the ball had not crossed the line after Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes let the ball squirm between his legs before dragging it back.

Referee Andre Marriner appeared to let the play go on and Gomes ran out to throw the ball at a team-mate but Mike Cairns, the assistant referee, signalled for a goal.

Redknapp said: “The linesman’s made a mistake, an honest mistake.  He made an instant judgement. He has guessed and guessed wrong.

“It’s the most difficult thing in the world to see from where he was – he was probably on the 18-yard box when the ball dropped on the line, and he has given what he thought was the right decision.

“No-one can judge from there. It’s impossible to judge. But he has not done it because he wants Chelsea to win or Tottenham to lose.

“The referee was on the edge of the 18-yard line. The crowd all shout ‘goal’ and the linesman goes, ‘yeah, I’ll go with that call’. I think at home you get decisions like that. It does happen.

“The officials obviously felt they made the right call but they haven’t got the technology. It is so difficult – it is a split second. The whole ball has to cross the line and it didn’t.

“I didn’t know at first if it had crossed the line. Someone had told me it was over the line but when I went down the tunnel, they said it hadn’t crossed the line. Joe Jordan and Clive Allen and Kevin Bond were angry but I was saying ‘lads, the decision has been made, there’s nothing we can do’. What can you do?”

Redknapp defended his error-prone goalkeeper Gomes, whose mistakes have been directly responsible for resulting in five Premier League goals this season, the equal worst ratio in the top division.

“It’s the time to stay with him and not crucify him,” said the Spurs manager. “It’s like everything in life, it’s about confidence.”

Tottenham’s hopes of claiming fourth spot in the Premier League for the second consecutive season look dead and buried but Redknapp says it is vital the club do not stagnate.

“It shows where we have come from that we can play like this against the Arsenals and Chelseas,” he said. “What we need to do in the summer is make sure we are still positive. What we can’t do this summer is throw the towel in and say that is the end of Tottenham and settle for being ninth or tenth.

“This is the club that can win the championship in the next few years. If we don’t make the Champions League we can still push on and win the championship.”