i aggre with you.why should the referee indicate 4 minutes and exceede it without any visible reason. I am not a fan for any of the teams but i believe the referee was waiting for the last goal.If united had scored at 94minutes as indicated by the third official ,the match would have been stoppde.The officials are human and bias sometimes.

As any UK based non Man Utd fan will tell you, this happens all the time at old Trafford (Man Utd's home ground). The generally accepted answer to the question "How many minutes extra time at Old trafford" is
1 MINUTE IF UTD ARE WINNING OR AS LONG AS IT TAKES FOR THEM TO SCORE IF THEY ARE NOT.
I was not alone at not being at all surprised that in a game where the 4th official indicated 4 mins extra time that Utd managed to score in the 6th minute.

By the way i agree fully with the time keeping comments in the article. It works in other sports but football (soccer) seems so unwilling to bring any sort of technology into helping get the correct decision. These decisions can cost tens of millions of Pounds (or even more $$$) when they affect promotion / relegation issues or progress in a competition such as the Chanpions League.

It is very imperative for a referee who is officiating any match to keep his own time in line the time from the stand. He should not compromise inorder to favour a home side. For a referee not to keep time during a match is like officiating the match blindly.It is the duties of both the central referee and the time keeper to insuring that proper time is kept and adhered to with out any compromization because a second can do so much damage to a game that suppose to end on a good note. Above all, a referee is human and luck counts.
John from Nigeria Imo State

I can't agree less with Terry Badoo on the need of an automated umpire in football games not just in the area of time-keeping but,not necessarily limited to,goal decisions,offside rules,infringements as these decisions go a long way in making/marring the careers of players,coaches and clubs/teams.The continued rejection of fifa to induct this reforms against their empirically evaluated results/desirability in other sports,suggests that they are collaborators in this shameful act of allowing personal bias have its way over the established rules of the game.NIGERIA

Maybe all those footballers and referees should just take a year off... I mean if it is the solution to F1's troubles surely it would do wonders for Football...

The idea of Uncle Ben and buzzer blast throughout the entire stadium sounds like fun. I can relate to stopping the time for goal scored, injuries, fouling (where RED and YELLOW CARDs are warrant), penalty kicks etc….. Players are going to need time for goal celebration. (90 mins is 90 mins), but there are some things money can’t replace and ref keeping time happen to be one of them.

Charles

England has the worset refferee's ever seen in any country. in fact worse than any country around the world. moreover, when man United plays any other time.
this kind of system needs to be condemned. man united are always champions becoz of partisan referees who are supporters of that time. they are either awarded penalties, or one player from opponent is red carded or added more than expected time or they are given opportunity to harrass the opponents or undeserved free kicks.
there is no fairness in englinsh football. can the federation wake up?

Stoppage time awarded by the ref applies equally to both teams and doesn't discriminate; City had equal share of the time alloted to score, same as United.
The difference being, United took that opportunity to kill the game rather than watch the clock and holding out for the draw. There's the difference between champions and also-rans.

for me the referee was bias,he should ve ended the game on time.sir alex u should be ashamed of ur self i thought u had respect for the game u only care for ur team and not the game.shame on you sir alex

I totally agree with your proposal, time should be kept by somebody or something external to the pitch... But (there's always a but), could we expect that the most powerful teams in the world would just let go of the enormous advantage of adding that mysterious extra injury time? =S

I Don't agree with your proposal, time should be kept by the referees who responsible for time-keeping as a neutral
I would also favor the game ending with an official buzzer instead of the ref’s whistle to put an end,despite what was happened,it was a great game — one of the best Manchester derbies I have ever seen.

...Please dont take away the passion...and dont take away the poetry...
We can not mix exactness and football in view and in light of time...in seconds...in minutes...

i know all you manu haters feel that there is sth at the theartre of dreams,that makes referrees wanna extend time or favour us in a way or the other,but lemie tell you that if it were your team playing and down with a goal considering that goal could be tha only stroke of justice to settling an old score,am telling you,you wont be saying a thing or even worse still you would be celebrating jubilantly.so to finish this just crawl back to your mighty corner en wait for tha next game.eheheheheheh.

I have always wondered why minutes in soccer are always longer than in any other sport which uses time. In athletics the best runners are timed to the second. In boxing each round is three minutes-no more no less. In basketball each half is given equal time with stopages for time-outs. So what's with football? It doesnt matter if my team will utilise the added time; in the name of fairness time should be exact. Fifa being what they are sometimes liek to drag their feet on good ideas am not sure will take on this as a serious issue. It's not just the Manchester derby even other games in the past have shown that this needs to be addressed. Spot on Pedro. REAL FAN

In all ramification, Manchester United is always favoured by the referees and so does not create a level playing ground. When Ronaldo was there, one out of three of his falls in the penallty box is given as penalty. Now Rooney has taken over. Man. City were really robbed. Too bad. Referees should adhere strictly to time. When it's time, it's time. Four minutes should be Four minutes.

Ndubuisi Okoli, Lagos, Nigeria.

The referee of the Man U Vs Man city march spoilt the whole fun of the game. where on earth did he get the whole extra time he added? if not to favour a particular team this time Man U. lets take away the prerogative of time from the Refs. a time keeper should ring the bell when the time elapses and that be it. man U was just favoured.

Brilliant and absolutely necessary in my opinion ....thanks and now send this on to FIFA and tell them to wake up.

well guys, i do agree the extra time was 4 mins ,but ended up to be 6 mins and everyone is commenting that it was for MANU..but what if Man city had to score ??.. even they had a chance for those extra 2 mins. its not that referee said MANU these 2 mins r for you only and only u are allowed to score... Hughes should realise this and not cry like a baby.. he was once a Red Devil , and knows MANU always fight back.....

Nice idea, but just too american.I guess fifa must have thought of it, so they know better as to why it has not been implemented.As for Mark huges, some days are like that. Up ManUnited !

I don't agree with Terry Baddoo due to the simple fact that this cannot be implemented to all games around the world and that is a big problem. Leagues around the world simply cannot afford or got the manpower to do this. For example in Sweden where I live this cannot be implemented in the 3 division. Im talking about having another referee keeping time or having a buzzer going off at the end of the game.

I also want to say that when the referee says that there will be added time he says that there will be a MINIMUM of for example 3 minutes. So if he/she want's to add more time during this period then the referee can do so.

An argument against stopping the time every time the ball goes dead is that the players will get to tired. The quality of the game will be much worse in the later stages of the match.

And this system also adds a little excitement although it can be very frustrating at times.

P.S I do not like Man U!

i wonder y so many people are against what tha referee did.what if man city won in added time,could this be the scenario right now?
ask your self ,really if it were my team there en facing a defeat,then the referee adds those golden minutes,en then ur team wins .am sure you could even kiss the ref.if chance surfaces.
so you other fans dont be bitter,just know it the technicalities of the soccer game en get over it,k.

Very interesting post, thanks for sharing!