10 Things That Anger Football Fans

Another weekend of football, another weekend of endless frustration and animated conversation.

Football is a beautiful game, the best in the world in my opinion. But its credibility and reputation is consistently marred by the lack of what should be considered necessary rule changes and technological advancements.

The game serves as a source of frustration for many—be it the tactics the opposition employed, the luck that befouled your team or the ridiculous penalty decision the referee gave in the last minute of stoppage time.

Here are ten things that anger football fans the most, the majority of which can be solved by simple, logical steps.

Enjoy the slideshow!

Lack of Goal Line Technology

Let's start with the classic debate—goal line technology.

Why this hasn't been introduced yet, we're not completely sure, though there are plans to pilot it. A decision will be made in June 2012 as to whether or not we'll see more of it.

The point is, with football being a billion pound industry, why haven't the FA gotten their act together and solved this obvious source of contention sooner?

You can blame UEFA, FIFA, whatever. You all should have realized it needed fixing much, much sooner.

Lack of Instant Replay / Video Referral

Referring to video evidence for clarification on a decision is a subject which leads on naturally from goal line technology talk.

Rugby has a video referee, cricket has a third umpire. Tennis employs Hawkeye, while American Football (NFL) has an entire booth to check decisions.

Specifically, in the NFL, each touchdown is reviewed as a matter of course to check for any matter of foul in the play leading up to the score.

With big decisions come big implications. In light of the recent events at Stamford Bridge, Dave Whelan could legitimately write the FA a cheque for £60 million—should his side suffer relegation.

Tony Fernandes might also feel inclined considering the unbelievable set of events QPR have endured over the last few months.

Set Pieces That Fail to Beat the First Man

I think I speak for all football fans when I say this; a set piece, be it corner or free-kick, should never fail to beat the first man.

Considering all these people do is play football (although training appears limited), you'd expect them to be able to kick the round thing in a fluid fashion.

We've seen an increase in players taking incredibly poor set pieces. Not only does it infuriate the fans, it infuriates teammates too.

The Long Throw

Unless you're a Stoke City fan, your eyes will roll whenever Rory Delap walks over to the touchline and picks up the ball for a throw-in.

The Potters have become famous for this admittedly effective method of scoring goals. It's never become any easier to defend.

It causes defenders, goalkeepers and opposing managers nightmares. It causes fans nightmares too.

Diving

Football fans who pack their stadiums out are quite happy to boo, but nothing makes them more hostile towards a player than diving.

The abysmal showing from Andy Carroll on his return to Newcastle's stadium epitomizes the modern footballer's mentality—happy to crumble in order to gain the advantage.

Unfortunately for Carroll, Tim Krul retracted his hands and there was clearly no foul. He's obviously not the only culprit.

Over the years we've seen plenty of outrageous dives, enough to make us genuinely disgusted.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Eduardo and Luis Suarez have been responsible for some genuinely ridiculous dives in the last few years, and those are just the names who spring to mind after a moments pause.

Refereeing Inconsistencies

Sometimes it feels like you'll never get a consistent game from a referee.

Some players will get tagged with a yellow card after one offence, yet some will be booked after three or four.

A red-card challenge seems to be defined differently by each referee and although they all read from the same rule book, they don't seem to implement said rules the same.

We've seen two-footed or high challenges fly in from two players, one to get red-carded and one to get away with a word in his ear.

The Amount They Get Paid

A source of irritation for every die-hard fan is the amount of money professional footballers get paid.

It is a big-money business, but someone earning over £50,000 per week to kick a ball around for two hours a day is frankly ridiculous.

When deals such as Cristiano Ronaldo's £275,000 per week deal with Real Madrid are announced, many people feel sick to the stomach. That doesn't even take into account personal sponsorships from the likes of Nike and Adidas, either.

To add insult to injury, some of these obscenely paid stars waltz out on to the pitch without a care in the world, strolling around and occasionally touching the ball.

Short-Fused Chairmen

Hands up if you believe Mick McCarthy's sacking as Wolves manager was justified.

Yea, I didn't expect to see any to be honest.

Being a Premier League manager will extract your grey hairs within weeks. The pressure of the job and the stakes at risk mean that, more often than not, a chairman will press the panic button.

You'd be hard pressed to find a better example than Roman Abramovich's hilarious dismissal of Jose Mourinho, possibly their most success manager in the history of the club, after what could be conceived as a "bad start."

It was only September!

Displays of Petulence

In football, the referee is in charge. Although, as touched on previously, decisions aren't always consistent or correct, and there's nothing you can do to influence that.

No matter how loud you squeal or how many times you bash your fists on the floor, the decision won't change. So why get a petulant yellow card for arguing with the referee?

Being booked for taking your shirt off is a silly rule but it's a rule. Don't take your shirt off or, if you do, don't moan when your booked.

Don't slap opposing players or do that weird immasculine version of head-butting your all fond of. You're men!

No Retrospective Punishment

The fact that, for the most part, the FA refuse to dish out retrospective punishment is absolutely insane.

We have enough cameras on the pitch to establish whether or not any of the 22 players on the pitch did anything wrong at any point during the game.

If something goes unpunished that the referee didn't see, the committee should punish the player.

Furthermore, if the referee sees an incident but chooses not to punish it, the FA claim they can't take any action. That is ridiculous.

Ever thought that perhaps the referee was wrong?