Standard of refereeing

Is it just me or has it got worse this season? Andy Woolmer, Keith Stroud, Tim Robinson, Jarred ******* Gillett to name just a few that have been absolutely dog *****. I'm not ageist in any way, shape or form but surely to God the EFL have to have a look at a 54 year old bloke running up and down a pitch with 20 year olds it can't be easy trying to keep up with play and see what's happening at the same time. The standard of referee these days is atrocious and something that seriously needs to be looked at if football is going to keep its integrity

 

it is because the crowd is not there to remind them what they are , they taking liberty's

 

Yeah we need something that’s foolproof ! Something like. VAR . Oh wait!!

 

Trevor kettle is in charge of training refs now it looks

 

I'm not suggesting VAR cos I think it's a completely ***** system. I think the EFL need to look at how difficult it is for younger referees to get promoted to the league pyramid. By the time these guys are hitting the higher leagues they are already past their prime in terms of speed and agility so surely it makes sense to make it easier for promotion for the younger aspiring referees?

 

Garry Willard selects our refs. Tonight wasn't down to the ref though. More savvy we win 4-2 inspite of the helping hand. Looking at ourselves is the best way forward.

At the beginning of our good run before Christmas Cardiff wouldn't have had a sniff. Fitst time I've thought we've missed James.

 

VARs not the problem tbh the problem is they still put the same numpties in front of the screen to make the self same baffling ,inept ,incompetent decisions they make when they’re on the pitch even though they have all the best technology and evidence at their disposal .

 

I agree that the standard of referring is really poor at the moment. Not because of the mistake Mr Woolmer made tonight when giving a corner when it was a goal kick. I guess he just thought he saw something else. Mistakes are much more obvious nowadays because every game is filmed and replays highlight the incorrect decisions but there have always been such mistakes.

But what makes me think the standard is very bad is that I think we're seeing numerous examples of refs who don't seem to understand the nuances, the tricks and tactics of the game, imo because they haven't played it or have forgotten what it was like to play it. The best example for me tonight was just before HT when he gave a fee kick against Woodrow for an apparent push on Ng after a throw in. In reality Ng was backing right into Woodrow who was himself trying to create some space by backing into Flint. Either of those could've been a foul but instead Woodrow touched Ng from behind and he threw himself to the floor and won a free kick. Anyone who had played football can see and understand what happened (and it happens multiple times every game) and what represents sufficient force to genuinely fall over - that wasn't and there are several examples of it every game. And btw I don't excuse our players, we do it too.

It's not easy for referees because cheating is so commonplace but their lack of understanding of what's going allows it to continue and proliferate.

 

I don’t think speed and physical agility were the problem tonight, more eyesight and mental agility.
Refs need experience and to be able to man manage players on £Xk per week. I would guess that would be a harder task the younger the ref. Only guessing though

 

The problem for me is the system we now have for the structure of officials at the top level. As some who was involved at the top level 20 years ago all officials were part time / semi pro so most had a day job. the money involved was not sufficient to live on as a wage. You had approx 60 Referee's to cover the 4 top divisions and approx 220 asst to help them. Everyone knew within the list of 60 the top refs got the big games but it allowed for some new guys to get the odd game to build up experience. When they reached the age of 47 you retired and went back to your day job. The clubs complained that the officials were not fit enough( have to agree as they are generally super fit these days) due to being too old and part time answer have professional refs. But not 60 only 17 for the premier league and now the same for Championship because they cannot afford 60 full time?? (with all the money around) Also they want younger refs, answer to that is promote quicker with less experience. result 17 super fit humans who have no experience of man managing a game and therefore throw cards around to try to control ( which is encouraged by der fuhrer of refs Old mother Riley who acts like a dictator do as I say or you are not getting a game) Also as they are now full time employees you cannot deselect them any more like the part time system where you were retained every year. With Uk employemnt laws the only way to get rid is for them to commit gross misconduct i.e. R Madeley posting on social media that a disabled person reminded him of himself allegedly. So if you were getting circa £80 -90 grand a year would you want to give it up so provided you were fit enough poor performance is not enough to get rid of you. And as the assessors are all "mates" with the refs they ensure the marks are sufficient for you not to get your employment terminated hence you are stuck with dinosaurs like Mike Dean in the premier and Andy Woolmer in the championship.

Football should pay for the full list on a small retainer and pay big bucks on the top games for the refs who get good marks and graded down the league, or even no game no pay for poor performance, hence give good performances to get the top games get the top money. Hence poor performance poor pay this would make them accountable for their actions and performance. Hence lots of poor performances leads to unsustainable wages i.e Trevor Kettle would be on about 30 bob a week!!. Also get the good ex refs such as Halsey, Winter, Hackett, Willard(well maybe not him) as assessors and mentors and get rid of Gallagher and Barber who are just Rileys lap dogs.

I know a lot may not agree but it would be a start, we all had bad games but for some it seems to be every game and the above would go some way to make them accountable?

 

There is another factor. Its called incompetence. We saw a lot of examples for that last night. I think refs should have to do a mandatory press conf after each game. At least be publicly accountable for their performances and decisions

 

Spot on. Woodrow is guilty of doing this a fair bit. That said he was manhandled last night.

Moore was doing it for them. Their game plan appeared to be centred around it - Chuck yourself at the floor, free kick for Moore or Flint to head in.

 

VAR would have given that first goal last night.

 

Thing is, we can all see it, in real-time, without replays, whether we're at home watching it on the telly or sat in the stand. It couldn't be more blatant. There is no way on God's earth that a fully grown man ends up on the floor after an innocuous contact with a fellow human being. If it was normal to go down like that, the supermarkets would be full of folk on the floor and we'd never get any shopping done. I don't know why referees are so easily conned. It's as if common sense goes out the window as soon as they put their kit on.

 

We need to learn to play referees.

 

Refs are useless but if we could cope with set pieces and Styles had took his chance we would have been talking about a win not officials.

 

We're doomed.....

 

We need Assessors to assess the Assessors, because what the hell are they putting in their reports. Probably not the truth

 

That's my point OG. I believe that because they haven't played the game or have but not for many years, they don't know what force is required in order to fall over, don't have sufficient knowledge about the little tricks that players adopt and so on. Knowing the rules of the game and understanding how players seek to stretch and bend them are two different things and too many of them don't have that understanding.

 

It shouldn't be necessary because referees should be knowledgeable, experienced and strong enough to not be played but you're right, we do. I genuinely believe we are disadvantaged more than we are advantaged by decisions because most other teams do it better than us.