Them and other clubs.

The notion that referees are not human beings, and swayed by emotion, is ridiculous. Pressure does funny things to people, and it manifests itself in lots of ways. I do not believe that there is a conspiracy in favour of big clubs. I do believe that human beings find it harder to make decisions that are likely to be less well received. I do not believe that VAR is doing any sort of job of correcting emotional decisions.

There have been plenty of occasions where manure have committed offences in their penalty area, and not had the correct decisions awarded against them. That's just a fact. It undoubtedly happens, on average (to a greater or lesser extent), in favour of all home clubs. Human beings don't like tens of thousands of people being vile towards them. So they have a tendency to be over sure...and that sways the percentages. It is amplified when there are other factors likely to be at play as a result of size of club...and of course passages of play, and where they occur play a part of that. That nailed on penalty for wolves last night wasn't not given because Manure were in the wolves penalty area more.

Well, if you imagine the pressure created around bigger clubs to be similar to gravity (bigger, the more massive a club is), then it's also likely that smaller bodies are more noticeably influenced by it.

Okay, try this then. (sure, but it does not mean that only one factor is in play)

You watched an incident in a football match. The referee made a bad decision...but you completely backed it, insisting that it was correct. Then it turned out that almost everyone who had ever watched a football game said that it was wrong, the professional body of the officials who made the decision said that it was a mistake, and those officials were taken off duty. This is for a game that you have many years of experience watching, and during which you (presumably) had functioning eyes.

How could that possibly happen?

Could it be because a part of your instinctive behaviour is to endorse a value structure that has served you well, on the back of belief in, and conformance to, this specific authority?

It seems that could influence your decision making on your own, in the privacy of your own home, where nobody else cares.

Now, remove the feels,m just take what you saw with your eyes...what do you really think? now stand on the penalty spot at old trafford, 50,000 eyes are looking at you from 100 yards, and there is a deafening howl...you are about to finish the match by taking something something away from them, that they think that they have, and that they very much want. You know that they are bigger, and better, than the other bunch...and that millions of people all over the world will be scrutinising what you do, and strongly disliking you...possibly verbally and physically assaulting you for years to come, if you go against them.

Does it influence your decision making?

Try not to lie to us (and yourself). We already know that 'because the ref said so' influences you.

Which had no standing in the laws of the game, nor on the evidential experience that you have built up in years watching the game. Remember, you steadfastly insisted that Chris Cohen be sent off when playing the ball because of the perceived reckless nature of his action.