Cheick Tioté after his equalizer
February 5, 2011: Arsenal Football Club lead Newcastle United, 4-0 in the 67th out of 90 minutes. And end up not winning the game.
On September 18, 2010, Arsenal were leading Sunderland 1-0. But in the 55th minute, referee Phil Dowd sent Alex Song off with a highly questionable 2nd yellow card, leaving Arsenal down to 10 men. After 90 minutes, and Arsenal still up 1-0. 4 minutes of stoppage time were awarded. At 4:15 into stoppage time, Darren Bent, formerly playing for Arsenal's arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur, scored an equalizer for Sunderland, taking 2 points away from the Gunners.
Five months later, Dowd would strike again, and in far more blatant fashion.
The Gunners went into the game with 49 points in Premier League play, placing them 2nd in the table, 5 points behind Manchester United. They had played 24 out of the 38 League games, so there was still plenty of time to make up the difference, including a potential title decider at the Emirates Stadium in North London on May 1. (They had already lost away to United, 1-0, in December.)
Arsenal had also advanced to the 5th Round of the FA Cup, the Final of the League Cup, and the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. No English team has ever come close to winning all 4 trophies -- although Celtic, of Glasgow, did it in Scottish football in 1967 -- but the chances of winning a trophy, or even more than one, were there.
In contrast, Newcastle were going nowhere: They were stuck in the middle of the pack, with 30 points, and were in a downward spiral: From a January 5 win over East London team West Ham United until the end of the season, a 3-3 draw with Birmingham-area team West Bromwich Albion on May 22, the Magpies (for their black-and-white-striped shirts) played 17 League games, and won only 3 of them, plus 9 draws, for 18 out of a possible 51 points.
They had been knocked out of the League Cup on October 27, when a less-than-full-strength Arsenal team came to St. James' Park, and beat them, 4-0. And they had been knocked out of the FA Cup on January 8, losing to Stevenage, a Hertfordshire team in League Two, the 4th division of English football.
Newcastle hadn't won a trophy of any kind since the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup, a tournament that meant so little, it is no longer conducted. Their last trophy of any consequence was the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Europe's 2nd-largest competition, which has since had its name changed twice, to the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Europa League. Their last FA Cup win was in 1955. And their last League title was in 1927.
But they have one of the biggest stadiums in England: St. James' seats 52,305. And they have one of the most passionate fanbases, though this sometimes gets taken to excess. An American sportswriter compared the "Geordies," people in the North-East of England who root for "The Toon" ("The Town" in the Geordie dialect) to Philadelphia Eagles fans in terms of intensity of rooting amid long-term failure by the team.
So when Newcastle hosted Arsenal on February 5, 2011, things seemed to be going in Arsenal's favor. So often in an "injury crisis" by this point of the season, Arsenal were mostly healthy: Of their usual intended starting XI, manager Arsène Wenger was able to start everyone but Samir Nasri, replacing him with fellow French midfielder Abou Diaby, ironically so often injured himself. But having Diaby in the lineup would prove more significant than anyone could have imagined.
The game could not have begun any better for Arsenal. English forward Theo Walcott scored just 40 seconds after the kickoff. Swiss centerback Johan Djourou scored in the 3rd minute, a header off of a free kick by Russian midfielder Andrey Arshavin. Dutch forward Robin van Persie scored in the 10th, and again in the 26th. The Gunners were blowing the Magpies away. Could this thing end 10-0?
It was still 4-0 at the half. A lot of Geordies had left St. James'. There seemed to be little reason to stay. It would take an extraordinary turn of events for Newcastle to avoid defeat.
They got it. However, "extraordinary" doesn't necessarily mean "virtuous." Joey Barton, a midfielder from Liverpool, had received a 4-month suspended sentence for assaulting a Manchester City teammate on the training ground in 2007; had served 74 days in prison for assault in 2008; and, having been acquired by Newcastle, had punched Blackburn Rovers player Morten Gamst Pedersen in the stomach during a game.
Especially telling in that last case was the fact that the referee said he didn't see it, but video evidence proved it, and Barton was suspended for the next 3 matches, as would have happened had he correctly been given a straight red card and been thrown out of the game.
While noting Barton's history, it's also important to note Arsenal's, especially Diaby's. In 2006, less than 4 months after Arsenal acquired him, he got his ankle broken by a tackle from Sunderland player Dan Smith. Diaby missed 8 months. Two years after that, Brazilian forward Eduardo da Silva had his leg broken by Martin Taylor of Birmingham City. Eduardo missed one full year. Two years after that, Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey had his leg broken by Ryan Shawcross of Stoke City. Ramsey missed one full year.
Each time, the English media protected the offender, saying things like, "He's not that kind of player," when the evidence proves that each of them had repeatedly been dirty. Word got around England: "Arsenal don't like it up 'em." The media tended to refer to Arsenal's opponents with words like "hard-working," "stout-hearted" and "tough," as opposed to the Arsenal "foreigners," who were "stylish" and "soft."
In the 50th minute, Diaby received a pass, and Barton made a dirty tackle. He should have been sent off. But the referee was Phil Dowd, and he didn't see it. What he did see was Diaby, unhurt, getting up, and shoving the back of Barton's head. Barton, a known diver, fell to the ground, harder than such a shove ordinarily would have done to him. Dowd gave Diaby a straight red, and Arsenal would have to play the last 40 minutes of the game, plus stoppage time, down to 10 men.
Phil Dowd
Well, at 4-0, that shouldn't have made much of a difference. After 67 minutes, the 3/4 mark of the game, it was still Newcastle 0-4 Arsenal. But then, Newcastle's Irish forward Leon Best was shoved in the penalty area by French centerback Laurent Koscielny, who really should have known better. The penalty was correctly awarded by Dowd. But it should not have been taken by Barton, because Barton shouldn't have been on the pitch: He should have been sent off with Diaby. He converted it, and it was 4-1.
That still shouldn't have made much of a difference. But Best scored in the 75th, to make it 4-2. In the 83rd, off a free kick, English defender Mike Williamson tried to head the ball in the box, was stuck between 2 Arsenal players, and went down. No honest referee would have given the penalty. Phil Dowd was no honest referee. He gave the penalty. Of course, Barton, who shouldn't have still been on the pitch, took it, and scored it. Arsenal, with 10 men, had 7 minutes, plus stoppage time, to defend a 4-3 lead that had been 4-0.
In the 87th minute, Barton -- who, again, should have been sent off in the 50th -- jumped for a loose ball, missed it, and went down a bit too hard. Dowd awarded a free kick to Newcastle. Of course, Barton was the one to take it.
Koscielny cleared it, but, in so doing, the ball went to Cheick Tioté, a midfielder from the Ivory Coast, who fired a left-footed shot, and Arsenal's Polish goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, who hadn't come close to stopping either of Barton's penalties, could do nothing about it. It was 4-4. It was the greatest comeback in English football since, at least, the transition from the old Football League Division One to the Premier League in 1992.
The scoreline was not new for Arshavin: Two years earlier, he had scored all of Arsenal's goals, but the team had blown 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3 leads to finish 4-4.
Ironically, the very same day, United lost for the 1st time all season, 2-1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers, a.k.a. Wolves, at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, outside Birmingham.
For Arsenal, things went from bad (by their standards) to worse. On February 20, they could only manage a 1-1 draw away to League One (3rd division) side Leyton Orient in East London, in the 5th Round of the FA Cup. They won the replay, 5-0.
But the injuries piled up. On February 27, a late mixup led to Birmingham City beating them 2-1 in the League Cup Final. Suddenly, the subject of how long it had been since Arsenal won a trophy began to frequently come up. At this point: 6 years, since the 2005 FA Cup. Birmingham City got relegated from the Premier League to The Championship (the 2nd division) at the end of the season, making it even more embarrassing that Arsenal had lost a trophy final to them.
On February 16, at the Emirates, Arsenal played FC Barcelona in the 1st leg of the Champions League Round of 16. A late goal by Arshavin gave them a 2-1 win. But on March 8, in the 2nd leg, at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, everything fell apart, in a game with officiating so bad that I thought it worthy of its own entry on this blog. Barcelona won, 3-1, and eliminated Arsenal, 4-3 on aggregate. Just 4 days later, an injury-riddled Arsenal went to Old Trafford, and sustained another key injury as they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United, 2-0 in a Quarterfinal.
Arsenal would win the May 1 PL contest with United, 1-0, but, by that point, it didn't matter. They finished 4th, with 68 points, 12 behind United, and also finishing behind Chelsea and FA Cup winners Manchester City. United went on to lose the Champions League Final to Barcelona.
Speaking of Man City: The next season, 2011-12, they won the Premier League in dramatic fashion, beating Queens Park Rangers of West London on a goal in stoppage time by Sergio Agüero. Among the opposing QPR players was Joey Barton, who got sent off for attacking 3 City players.
In a playing career that lasted from 2002 to 2017, Barton was called up to play for England exactly once, in 2007. In terms of team achievements, he helped gain promotion to the Premier League for Newcastle in 2010, QPR in 2014, and Lancashire team Burnley in 2016. But he never won a major trophy, or appeared in a major European club tournament. He has gone down in history as a dirty player -- perhaps the dirtiest ever to play in the Premier League era without playing for either Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho.
In 2018, he was appointed manager of Lancashire team Fleetwood Town. He lasted 3 years, then was hired to manage Gloucestershire team Bristol Rovers.
The equalizer was the only goal that Tioté ever scored in his 7 years playing for Newcastle, having previously helped Anderlecht of Belgium and Twente Enschede of the Netherlands win national league titles. He helped the Ivory Coast win the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
On February 9, 2017, he was sold to a team in China's league, Beijing Enterprises Group. He played the for them regularly until June 5, when he suffered a heart attack during a training session, and died. He was a few days short of his 31st birthday. All over the world, from England's North-East, from China, from Africa, and from wherever Newcastle fans lived, tributes poured in. Alan Pardew, who managed Newcastle in the 4-4 game, called him "everything that you want in a Newcastle player."
In the 2011-12 season, Dowd issued a red card to Conor Sammon of Wigan Athletic -- in a game against Manchester United, at Old Trafford. Wigan appealed the decision, the card was rescinded, and Sammon's suspension was dropped. But the damage had been done: Man U won that game, 5-0. In spite of this, Dowd was rewarded by being allowed to officiate at that season's FA Cup Final, in which Chelsea beat Liverpool, 2-1. There were no incidents.
"Fat Phil" missed the entire 2015-16 season due to "injury." His retirement was then announced.
UPDATE: Newcastle United ended their trophy drought on March 16, 2025, by winning the League Cup, defeating Liverpool in the Final at Wembley Stadium.
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February 5, 2011 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. Super Bowl XLV was played the next day, at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-215.
There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Charlotte Bobcats, 101-92 at the Time Warner Cable Arena (now the Spectrum Center) in Charlotte.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Hornets, 101-95 at the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center).
* The Houston Rockets beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 95-93 in overtime at the Toyota Center in Houston.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 111-105 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 89-78 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 113-100 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Utah Jazz, 121-105 at the Delta Center (then named the EnergySolutions Arena) in Salt Lake City.
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls, 101-90 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named the Oracle Arena).
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards, 99-92 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.
And there were 11 games played in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The New York Islanders beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Boston Bruins lost to the San Jose Sharks, 2-0 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh. Erik Cole scored the winning goal with 2:12 left in overtime.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-0 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.
* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-0 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Minnesota Wild, 1-0 at the Jobing.com Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 in a shootout at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* And the New Jersey Devils, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the St. Louis Blues, the Vancouver Canucks, the Washington Capitals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers were not scheduled.
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