I have reached a decision and decided to stick with RM for 4 more games and then have a look at it all again. That's been sanctioned right at the top with the Dragon himself. He didn't look too impressed though.
I've reached a decision and A Taylor should never ever referee again. If his reported comment is true that he has ignored a blatant foul he has seen and chooses to ignore, he deserves to never gain financially from football ever again. No excuse, caught on camera. In most walks of life if a decision like that occurred the offender would be open to civil prosecution.
Pretty sure even Tom was lambasting the referees performance. That's when you know it was really really bad.
To be honest, most Referees are very good, they are being tainted and tarred with the same brush through the behaviour of a few individuals.
While I accept that Taylor was extremely poor on Saturday and way below his usual standards, this is OTT. Referees have been told to only give shirt pulls if it will directly affect the play (e.g. stopping a player from getting to the ball). So in Taylor's opinion he felt Tall Paul wasn't getting to the ball with or without the shirt pull. Before you bite my head off defending the referee, his judgement was horrific and he got it badly wrong. VAR really should have told him to go to the monitor. At the end of the day Taylor had a really bad day at the office. But to say he should never referee again is way OTT. There is certainly an argument to be had that actually the VAR should be more accountable as he has access to replays and can inform Taylor he should look at it again. Referees at every level will make mistakes live, that is part of being human. Taylor didn't choose to ignore a blatant foul - he felt it wasn't a foul. Horrendous decision - yes. Corruption/cheating - absolutely not.
I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but the Referee's prime job is to ensure fairness for both teams, in this he failed, and this one mistake completely turned the result of this game on its head, you must understand why the angry response from Saints fans is understabdable in the circumstances?
As you say that is over the top, but he could have been the trigger for RM to lose his job! Then again some of our lot would change their opinion of him, funny old game!
But Taylor said he had a clear view. It's not that he missed something (apparently). VAR isn't there to re-referee the game. If the VAR can offer something to Taylor which he missed, then that can constitute grounds for a referral. But it's not there just to let referee see a replay of what he's already seen. We had a similar thing a few years ago when Vestergaard was sent off. I think it might have been Robert Jones? It was the wrong decision to send him off, but VAR didn't recommend a referral because the incident was clearly seen on the field. The VAR had nothing further to offer. So the red card stood. We appealed it and won, to illustrate the bad on field decision. Where the referee has seen the incident in full on the field, the VAR's hands are tied. It's totally on Taylor, the error. (But I agree, not corruption etc)
Valid point. I really hope this incident is included in the next show with Webb on Sky. I want to hear the entire conversation.
I never mentioned corruption or cheating. However, incompetence and arrogance would in my view fit the evidence. All professionals have to be accountable and are often suspended when there is an investigation. I think his performance on Saturday meets reasonable criteria to question whether his competence deserves further investigation. Imagine if RM gets the sack on the back of Saturday's result..
I'm not sure how you can accuse him of arrogance without hearing any audio? If Martin does get the sack it will come down to a lot more than one bad refereeing display. I hope Taylor will be dropped from the next round of fixtures. That's what tends to happen after a bad mistake. As for his competence, Taylor has a pretty good track record. As much as it stings, I don't think it's right to question his competence after one bad game compared to his record as a referee.
RM hasn't mentioned it at all as far as I can tell, most Managers would have been tearing it a good one, is he afraid of being suspended for criticising the Officials?.
