Keep off the Phone Mr.Riley

This week I want to return to an issue that got a lot of fans hot and bothered over a refereeing decision made at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago.Yes I am talking about the Ramirez penalty against West Bromwich Albion, or should I say the non penalty. Let me below, as everyone knows Chelsea player Ramirez went into the penalty area late in the game and collided with Steven Reid. Andre Marriner the referee paused, thought about, then pointed to the spot. Oh Andre how wrong were you to give a penalty.My initial reaction was no penalty,and over the past week or so I have been proven to be right. As I saw it Ramirez was going to ground before Reid went near him. In actual fact if the referee had called it right, he should have awarded a goal kick and booked Ramirez.

Now let us not all get into a debate as to whether it was or was not a penalty, but let us look at the fallout from the decision. Cute as cute can be Mourinho, claimed it was a clear penalty. Come off it Jose, who you trying to fool. What was your angle, lining up a cosy relationship with Mr.Marriner. Steve Clarke was more straight forward when he said it was never a penalty, with which I have to agree.

Now as we know referees do not talk to the media so nobody is able to quiz the referee about his decision. But not in this case, Enter the one and only Mr Mike Riley and his phone. According to reports coming out of West Bromwich he rang Steve Clarke and apologised for the decision made by his,yes his official. Surely this phone call made in good faith and I would hope in confidentiality, would go someway to appease the midlands club and draw a line under the issue. You must be joking, they could not get it out quick enough to the media, they had been contacted. I would imagine Mr.Riley must have been fuming over the midlands club running to the media. We all know these phone calls to clubs are made week in week out, so I have to say I am very disappointed that it was conveniently leaked to the press. Then low and behold step forward on Saturday morning,the self promoting Mr Mourinho hoping in the future to get a phone call every time his Chelsea team do not get a free kick.or dare I say it a penalty. The lesson to be learned out of all of this is, stay off the phone to managers and players, as the win at any chance they can, attitude will come flying to the surface. So low and behold after all the issues surrounding this weekends games, at least six managers will be waiting on a phone call. I actually thought Gus Poyet,s comments on TV on Saturday night were disgraceful,hinting that only British managers might be getting a call. My advice to Mr Riley would be to stay off your phone this week,as these managers are world class at using stuff like this to there own benefit. Until the next time, do not use that phone.

Players Reactions Tell a Story

Last weekend in the Barclay's premier league there were a few decisions made by referees, that if the referee's in question were to watch the players reactions then they could have got themselves out of a whole lot of trouble. In the next couple of paragraphs i'm going to cover the decisions made in the game at Stamford Bridge featuring Chelsea v West Bromwich game and also the game at the liberty stadium played between Swansea and Stoke. 

The game at Stamford Bridge was refereed by 2013 FA Cup final referee Andre Marriner and to say he made a huge error in awarding a penalty late in the game, is an understatement. Ramirez could clearly be seen going to ground before any challenge was made by the Albion player. When actual contact happened he was almost half way down to the ground. As Andre blew for the penalty the reaction from the West Brom players should have set off alarm bells in his head. My immediate reaction when I saw it was that was never a penalty. Maybe Andre should have gone to his assistant to have a briefing just to gain 100% clarification that he had made the right call. Because the reaction of the West Brom players should have told him he got it wrong. 

Meanwhile down at the Liberty Stadium in what was a super game between Swansea and Stoke we saw more controversy. As the game was entering into its last few moments and seemingly a Swansea win, referee Robert Madley gave Stoke a penalty which Stoke duly scored. The amazing thing was Mr.Madley seemed to be the only person in the ground that actually saw a foul. A hand ball by Wayne Routledge was the call by the official. Now in this instance players reactions should have given the referee an idea he had got it horribly wrong. The only player claiming anything was Peter Crouch, and he was looking for a corner. As I watched this decision on TV on Sunday night straight away I felt the referee had made a huge error. In a nutshell he was whistle happy and landed himself right in the middle of the "Brown Stuff",a place no referee ever wants to go.

To say the least those two decision left a bad stain on what was a good day of football. Referee's really do need to start using a bit f common sense and their assistance in order to make these tough calls, both penalties could have been prevented.

That Bundesliga Ghost Goal

As I sat and watched the German Bundesliga on Friday night I could not believe my eyes, when I witnessed what everyone is now calling the Ghost Goal. To say the match officials made a major blunder is an understatement. The game I am talking about is Bayer Leverkusen v  Hoffenheim and the incident was the scoring of the winning goal. Read on and I will describe, and let you know what I think went wrong.

Leverkusen was awarded a corner and as the ball floated in across goal, Keissling rose and headed the ball wide. Now somehow the ball ended up in the back of net, que mayhem. The referee Felix Brych pointed to the half way line indicating a goal had been scored. Unbelievable, considering the player who had headed the ball wide was seen to be holding his head after missing. Now I know a mistake had been made but i’m going to try and outline in my opinion where the problems all started for the match officials.

When officials arrive on the ‘field of play’ before the game they inspect the pitch from one end to the other.  They check all markings, nets and corner flags etc. Now I know from experience they would have done this before the game but I think I know where the mistake could have been made. When inspecting the 'field of play', the refs would have looked at all parts of the net as well, they would have checked that they are pinned to the ground and hooked to the crossbar. But not just that, we were always told when I was on the FIFA panel, you should check the whole net from crossbar to post to ground. We were also instructed to check the nets again just before the start of the second half and to be aware if players had fallen into the net during the first half just in case of any damage that may have occurred.

So all of this is basic checks that need to be done and obviously were not carried out to the full extent of which I would have had to have done when I was involved in our beautiful game. As I always say to people “the referee’s team is my team on the pitch” and over the weekend I can only imagine how the four officials must have felt. But if you’re reading this, and you are aspiring to go to the top level in refereeing, it is not always the on the pitch decisions that can destroy a career, it is the whole package. So be completely happy that you have checked everything and leave nothing to chance. It is easier in the long run.

The outcome of all this will not become clearer until during the week I would imagine, but as I am writing I am hearing Hoffenheim have lodged a complaint with the German FA and are looking for the game to be replayed. This will have a knock on effect for the whole season on both the clubs fixture lists. I’d like to reiterate what I said earlier as a match official do the simple things right and you won’t have a problem, fail to do so and you can just que the mayhem. I have always felt the most important thing in a referee or an assistant referee’s armoury as he goes to do his game is preparation.

The Trap Years

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September the 11th is a date that sticks in the mind of most people. On that date in 2001 the twin towers were brought to the ground as we all know. Well on Wednesday the tower that was Giovanni Trapattoni crumbled as he lost his job as Republic of Ireland manager after a dismal 2014 World Cup campaign.

Trap had been in charge for five years and throughout his time at the helm he never flinched a question or struggled to drop players that were not in his plans. Darren Gibson, Anthony Stokes, Stephen Ireland and Andy Reid all felt the wrath of Trap as he refused to pick them after various issues. One thing for sure in the Trap era was it is my way or the highway. What we have to remember is that Trap came into the job after the shocking display by Ireland under Stephen Staunton. His first job was to steady the ship and try and get back to winning ways. His tactics were very much Italian based and his philosophy was when we set out our team to play, the bottom line is we start off with the words ringing in the players ears we must not lose. His approach did not appeal to quite a few in the media but he was getting the team going and the fans were extremely happy. The night in Paris when Ireland were cheated by a smart Frenchman handling the ball and a poor referee not seeing it, was one of the best ever performances by an Irish team in many a year. Although Ireland did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup we were getting closer under the wily old Italian. Sure enough the next step was to qualify for the 2012 Euros. Ireland had a great campaign and got through by thumping Estonia in a two legged play off. Trap had done his job and Ireland were back in the elite section of European football. The country had come through huge financial problems and at long last the summer of 2012 was going to be party time in Poland/Ukraine. The Italian master could do no wrong and the fans were behind him and the squad. We travelled to the Euros with such good feeling for the campaign ahead. Unfortunately we came up against three class teams in the form of Spain, Italy and Croatia. The belief that Ireland travelled with was quickly blown apart after three bad defeats. The argument been put up was the fact that two of our group opponents went to the final in what turned out to be a bridge to far for Ireland.

On his return from the Euro’s the Italian came under increasing pressure to step down, but decided to stay on and take the campaign for Brazil 2014 on. Cracks were appearing and the media were now watching his every move both with tactics and team selection. Then the defeat at home to Germany losing six one rocked Irish football. The Germans came and slaughtered the boys in green, in Irelands own back garden. The FAI called an emergency meeting the next day and it was widely believed the Italian’s time was up. To other amazement he survived to continue on in his position. The word from the room was basically that if Ireland failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup he would be gone. The crunch games in the group were always going to be the Sweden and Austria games home and away. A brilliant draw in Sweden kept the dream alive, but then was followed up by a draw at home to Austria, the Austrians equalising in the last couple of minutes. A real blow to Trap and the team. The media were now smelling blood and Traps days were numbered. In the last ten days defeats at home to Sweden and away to Austria ended Ireland’s hopes of qualification. In the early hours of Wednesday morning Giovanni and the FAI had a meeting and the Italian was Irish manager no more.

As we look back over his five year tenure, the question has to be asked was he a success or failure?In my opinion with the players he had to call on, the Italian master did a superb job and can leave with his head held high. Thanks for the memories Trap. Best of luck for the future.