Alan Shearer has reacted to Jeff Stelling labelling it a “terrible” decision for Match of the Day to not cover the second penalty incident in the West Ham game against Newcastle United.
The pundit responded on Twitter to the talkSPORT host on Sunday (31 March) to say the producers probably left it out of the show because it was a “certain penalty” for a foul by Kalvin Phillips on Anthony Gordon during the game on Saturday (30 March).
He added that time is also limited on the programme as the game was packed with action, with the Magpies coming from behind to claim a 4-3 victory.
“Interesting that MOTD decided the second Newcastle penalty was not worth discussing despite it being probably the most controversial decision of the weekend,” said Stelling. “Not the fault by the way of Alex Scott, just terrible production decision.”
“Morning Jeff,” replied Shearer. “My guess is they didn’t show it because it was a certain penalty and as you know time is limited on the show.”
Alan Shearer showing Newcastle bias amid West Ham controversy
If the decision had been the other way around, then Shearer would have probably been the one leading the mob against the officials as he often does when it involves Newcastle.
Stelling, however, is much more neutral on the decision and, like most people, he could see that it probably wasn’t the right call to award a penalty.
You can guarantee that, had it been a decision involving one of the so-called big clubs, then they would have been debating it for a good few minutes.
But a penalty was awarded to the Magpies and, although the Hammers have a right to feel aggrieved about that, the response simply wasn’t good enough as we fell apart in the latter stages of the game.
In other West Ham news, David Sullivan has been blasted over his “ridiculous” comments in response to a Hammers controversy.
