BB, maybe Pat Partridge or Clive Thomas if either are still alive! Failing that Fester Addams (Pierluigi Collina).
Interestingly Clive Thomas has been talking to the BBC today. He's no shrinking violet. Quotes include "I was far better than modern refs" and "that tackle [the Balotelli one everyone has been crowing about] was a disgrace" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17668965
I've been watching games for well over thirty years, in all four leagues and I think the officials this season have been the worst I've ever seen(it certainly feels like it anyway). In amateur games, both teams get to score the ref and the ref's with consistently high scores get to do the most important games and the ref's with consistently low scores get dropped. As far as I know, only the fourth official scores ref's in league games and he's hardly impartial. I also never understood how a ref who consistently screwed up in the Premier League and was dropped for not being good enough, is still deemed good enough to officiate in a Championship game. If the officials want to be respected, they are at some point going to have to start clarifying their decisions after games, the current system doesn't suit anyone.
Our last two refs have been poor for sure, the worst kind of refs i.e the whistle happy ones who seem to enjoy giving as many free-kicks as possible and stopping the game from flowing. However, overall I think the standard this season has been ' okay '
thats a bit similar to Norways driving licence you are not allowed to pass until you have had 38 lessons! and they are still S***, you can see the similarities here
Off topic response to the driving point. [nsfw]The problem with driving isn't young people passing without knowing how to handle a car. Far from it, testing is more stringent than it has ever been, and while some of the theory is a waste of time a lot of it isn't. The problem is that once youngsters pass, they're home free, and a proportion of them drive accordingly. I don't think it will be long before new/previously disqualified drivers are required by law to have a tracker on their cars for the first couple of years after they pass/get back on the road.[/nsfw]
I'm with you there ... i don't get why the Championship have to have Prem rejects, if they're not good enough, surely they're not good enough for anyone!
The Sporting Life re Shaun Derry ".....Hughes' mood will not be improved by the FA's response, with Derry adding: "The e-mail we got back from the FA was one line telling me my appeal had not been successful. "That's as far as the e-mail went - there was no explanation as to why it was not overturned, or even any indication of why I got sent off in the first place. The whole scenario is quite bizarre really. It was the single highlight of my career to lead a Premier League side out at Old Trafford - perhaps the pinnacle of my career. So I was bitterly disappointed to say the least. It is a tough pill to swallow." Bunch of tossers the FA - so far up themselves that they must think giving explanations to be beneath them.
It appears the solution the FA have come up with is to appoint them to our game. I blame dan for starting this thread and jinxing us all. It's like when Atwell was dropped from the PL and I said it would bite some team in the arse when because of their experiance they were given a big derby or promotion/relegation battle game, and the buggers appointed him to us against Leeds. With regards the Derry red card for the phantom foul, did you see on the same day they reduced Modeste's 3 match ban for violent conduct to a 1 match ban for violent conduct due to "exceptional circumstances". No mention of what the exceptional circumstances were, just that despite holding that he was guilty of violent conduct they didn't think he should serve the full suspension.
Ricardo, don't talk to us about Atwell, the "ghost goal" for Reading at the Vic was one of his decisions, although his assistant Nigel Bannister was just as culpable.
I'd say the linesman was more to blame on that to be honest. Why did he think a Reading player was trying to keep the ball on the pitch if it was going in? If Atwell credits Bannister with the intelligence to realise that then it's reasonable for him to assume the flagging is for the bit where it was cleared off the line if he's been distracted by something else in the area and not seen the clearance.
