A Weekend To Remember

We are six games into the Barclays Premier League and to be quite honest on the refereeing front it has been a bad start. In my opinion there are have been far to many controversies to talk about. It has been one refereeing error after the other which has been totally ridiculous, the standards need to be raised and the referee's need to start getting things right. As we went into the most recent round of games I was wondering where and when controversy would strike and would we be hearing managers and fans once again moan about officials who got things wrong. Those of you that follow my regular article for the boys at Pitch Talk will know I have been very critical of the officials this season. I have been accused by many of being very negative towards the officials, well I am sorry but if the boys are not doing there stuff I will be all over it for the good lads at Pitch Talk. Last weekend I sat down and focused on all the games and the officials involved, I was pleasantly surprised to see two excellent refereeing performances by Neil Swarbrick and Jon Moss. It was great to see two guys putting in a shift and coming out of their games leaving no controversy behind them. I will lay out below a few incidents in their games that they handled so well and left no one in any doubt that they were on top form.

Neil Swarbrick took charge of the Swansea v Manchester City game and in my opinion he put in a top class performance, with possibly only one error to talk about after the game. Swansea can be a very awkward place to go and referee and if you get things wrong the fans have no problem in letting you know. From a footballing point of view you can never tell which Swansea side will turn up and if you had put that together with the start Manchester City have had then you had a recipe for a nice little game. Neil was on top form and very cool in handling any issues thrown at him. The big talking point to come out of the game was the awarding of a penalty to Manchester City which Sergio Aguero scored from to put the blues in the lead at two one. The incident leading up to the penalty was when Swansea defender Mike Van Der Hoorn completely flattened Kevin De Bruyne with an arm across the face. It was a clear penalty in my opinion and Neil was also correct to show a yellow card to the Swansea defender, in fact the player was very lucky he was not sent off for putting his hand on the referees shoulder after the awarding of a penalty. A lot of people pointed out after the game that the player should have seen red, but I totally disagree. Neil man managed the whole situation correctly, all the Swansea players were already up in arms over the penalty been awarded and in fairness to the referee, on this occasion it was right to just leave the shove alone, it would only have made things a lot worse. This in my opinion was an excellent use of common sense by a referee who was on top of his game and knew he was having a good day. It was great to see a referee use common sense as it is something that is sadly and slowly disappearing from our game. So well done Neil your performance was real old school.

Another referee in the spotlight was Jon Moss who took charge of the West Ham United v Southampton game. West Ham have had a disastrous start to the season and had lost three games on the trot. It was imperative that Jon did not have any problems in the game because as you know the managers love to blame referees on having cost their teams defeat to take the eye off their own tactical errors. Over the period of time I have been doing this article for the boys at Pitch Talk Jon has appeared a couple of times, mostly in a good way. His performance in this game was spot on and he got all his big decisions correct in my opinion. Jon on the day had three issues to deal with, I will take you through them now as I review his performance. One issue he had to deal was a penalty claim by West Ham after Saint's player Bertrand appeared to handle the ball from a Sofiane Feghouli shot. In my opinion Jon was correct to turn away claims for the penalty as I felt the ball struck the players hand and he was unable to do anything about it. Jon also had to turn down another penalty claim by West Ham when Zaza went down in the box. This in my opinion was clear cut cheating by the West Ham player and he totally deserved the yellow card he received. It is great to see referees producing yellow cards for players who try and cheat in some cases maybe a red should be used, but that discussion is for another day. Jon sailed through this game and in my opinion his best yellow card was when Payet sarcastically clapped at him after he had blown his whistle for yet another free kick. It was a good days work by Jon Moss a referee who was totally on his game in this match.

So there we have it another weekend over, but we are talking about good refereeing this week. This trend has to continue if we are to have a trouble free season. I have always been of the opinion that if you put the work in off the pitch the results will show on it. It is clear to me after these two guys performances over the weekend they are putting in the hours to get the job done. I will leave it there for this week and hopefully when I write another article for the boys at Pitch Talk I will be praising more excellent performances by the officials. Until then I do hope you enjoy your football and no refereeing decision gets your blood boiling. CIAO

Mike Reilly Take Charge

In most walks of life a good manager advises his staff on how to do things. The main reason that he is in that position is because of his experience and his know how, to run things smoothly. Well the manager of the referees in the English Premier League is Mike Reilly a former referee himself, but what I am finding very hard to work out is exactly what does this guy do. Later on in my column for the boys at Pitch Talk, I will do my usual and have a look at two refereeing incidents that caught my eye last weekend. The point I am trying to make is that I have two more incidents this week having had quite a few leading up to this and we are only four games into the Premier League season. It is obvious to me that the powers to be at the top of refereeing do not know how to coach or can not be bothered. First on Mike Reilly,s list for Monday should have been to have words with Roger East and Lee Mason who took charge of the Hull City v Arsenal and Everton v Middlesborough games over the weekend. Just a few words to try and iron out wrong decisions in my opinion that had happened over the weekend.

Roger East was at the centre of things in Hull when he sent off the home teams Jake Livermore. The referee,s decision to send off the player was just another error in a season that is going fast down the pan. In my opinion Livermore did not deliberately handle the ball and in no way did he stop a goal scoring chance. The ball struck his hand and there was no way he could have got it out of the way, not every handball in the penalty area has to lead to a spot kick. When the referee awarded the penalty I was astonished to see him produce a red card, how did he come up with that one I thought. If you get a chance to see the incident again, look very carefully at the positioning of the Hull City goalkeeper, he is directly behind Livermore and it looked to me that the ball was going straight into his arms. Looking at those facts leads me to believe that it could not have been a sending off for a goal scoring opportunity. I know there are times when a player does handle a ball and stops a goal scoring opportunity which rightly leads to a dismissal, but in this case the referee got it totally wrong in my opinion. Overall I thought Roger was poor on the day and when he had to get help from his assistant to award a penalty to Arsenal later in the game you really had to wonder was his mind totally focussed on his game. The incident happened right in front of the referee and it was hard to see how he needed help to get to the correct decision. Fair play to his assistant for been strong enough to give the decision, but really Roger should not have missed it.

Lee Mason was at the centre of controversy in the game between Everton and Middlesborough played at Goodison Park. His problems happened when he allowed Negredo,s goal to stand although it could be clearly seen that he had headed the Everton goalkeeper,s arm as the cross came in. I can not understand how the match official allowed the goal to stand, it was clearly a foul and it was a very easy decision to award a free kick rather than a goal. The Everton equalizer was also very questionable when Ashley Williams dived in to try and make contact with a cross, he clearly impeded the Middlesborough goalkeeper and it was very dangerous and Lee Mason should have awarded a free kick. It seemed to me that the referee tried to even things up after his first blunder. There is a saying out there that two wrongs do not make a right and in this situation in my opinion that is exactly what happened with the official. It was poor refereeing from a very experienced referee who simply should have known better.

Well another weekend over and more silly mistakes by the so called top officials in the Barclays Premier League. It is becoming very clear to me that the standard of refereeing in the top league in England is at an all time low, week in week out there is controversy. The referees and their mentors really need to get their heads together and try and sort out this mess. As I finish off this article for the boys at Pitch Talk I am sure next week I will have more controversy to discuss. Maybe the answer is to try and bring more new referees in, to try and freshen things up. Every week we are seeing the same match officials and it leaves it wide open for problems to mount one on top of the other. For example if we were only to see the same referee once a month it might help things. This would also act as a double edged sword, it would take the officials out of the limelight if they have caused an issue in their previous weekend,s game. It would also give the lads a break to recharge their batteries and have a look at their previous mistake. I can not see their bosses running with this idea so the controversy will continue and I will surely have more to write about again next weekend. On that note I will leave you alone to enjoy your football and I do hope I am not writing about a controversy involving your team next week. It is a very long season and we are barely underway, so let us all hope things calm down a bit. " Ciao "

Set Piece Hell

It was only the third weekend of the season that we witnessed  Saturday and Sunday's ago, but my god the officials are making a right mess of things. As we all know, this season there has been an instruction to all referees to clamp down on holding and pushing in the penalty area. The instruction had to be brought in as the way things were going was ridiculous. In some cases players were nearly swapping shirts by force when any set piece was been taken in or around the penalty area. But in my opinion what has unfolded in the opening games of the season has been bordering on the downright idiotic. Let us all not forget that the top referees had been given the new instruction well in advance of the new season but are dealing with it as if had just jumped out of their corn flakes box on the morning of the new season. There is only ten games every week in the Premier League and this week I have picked out issues in three of those games to have a look at. This in my opinion is a very high percentage and should not be happening. The referees who have fallen under the spotlight are Michael Oliver, Robert Madley and unbelievably Mike Dean for a second weekend in a row. Let me below have a look at the incidents and try and put some clarity on what is fast turning into a nightmare for the officials.

I have to start this week at White Hart Lane with Rob Madley. I am looking at an incident when Liverpool had a corner, which was taken by Henderson. The ball was clearly in play when Spurs defender Vertonghen took hold of Matip and brought him to the ground. It was a clear cut penalty, a one hundred percent stonewall penalty. How referee Madley did not give it was incredible. Then to put the tin hat on the whole thing, he decides to stop the play, talks to the players and restarts the game with a retaken corner. I am sorry but did not sit well with me at all, the players have been told about the new directive and the referee in this case bottled it. This in my opinion was the total wrong way to deal with this issue and I am sure Jan Vertonghen has a wry smile still on his face, because he knows he got away with it. The best way to teach the player about this new directive was to give a penalty and I can guarantee you the Spurs defender would not do the same in his next game. Bad refereeing by a guy who should be doing better in my opinion.

Incident number two takes me to Goodison Park and the performance of Michael Oliver. I suppose not so much the performance but the one and only talking point of a poor game. Michael’s overall performance was quite good on the day. The one decision that the official got horribly wrong was when he awarded Everton a penalty, for a foul I am still trying to work out what the referee thought he saw. It was another talking point about the new directive, but I cannot see how he justified awarding a penalty when Phil Bardsley and Ashley Williams tripped over each other on the taking of an Everton corner. In my opinion it was just two players coming together and one falling over, nothing else, nothing cynical, and nothing done to try and gain any advantage over his opponent. It was a game changing decision as Everton scored from the resulting penalty. Every referee knows that his decision making should not decide games and in this case Michael Oliver cost Stoke City any sort of result. Having looked at the incident on a couple of occasions since the weekend I still cannot see how it was given. I do hope as Michael looks back on this performance he will see the big mistake he made and will not even dream about giving a penalty for this sort of challenge or non-challenge as I saw it, for not just this season but the rest of his career.

As I am putting this blog together I am just noticing that the decisions are getting worse. The last incident I want to have a look at this week involves my old pal Mike Dean. Last Saturday in the Crystal Palace v Bournemouth game, this official took the new directive to an all-time low. Let us get this clear, the directive is designed to stop players hanging out of each other in the penalty area. I am not sure Mike has got a grip of this yet, no pun intended, but if he keeps giving penalties for the sort of challenge Charlie Daniels of Bournemouth put in on Christian Benteke then we may as well just pick up the goalposts and go home. This decision was the worst of the weekend by a country mile. As the two players challenged in the air for the ball, the showman that is Mike Dean decided it was a penalty. Ridiculous decision in my opinion, it was if the referee was looking to give a stupid penalty. One factor you have to add in to all this is that Mike had a poor weekend previous to this one and in all fairness he should have been stood down by his bosses. It would have protected Mike from any other major issues and also helped to calm down all the criticism of referees who are getting the big decisions wrong.

So there we have it once again, another weekend of the beautiful game is over but the controversy rumbles on. The introduction of this new directive is causing quite a few problems and in my opinion will not be sorted until referees get consistency in their decision making. The powers to be, need to get them all together and try an find a common interpretation of the new directive so we can move on in the new season and have a lot less controversy. Now that sounds very easy in theory, but do not expect to see it happening anytime soon. In a strange sort of way maybe the international break has come at the right time for all involved. I will leave it there for this week and hopefully next week I am not blogging for the boys at Pitch Talk about an incident involving your club. Enjoy your football till then, Ciao.

The Cheating is Back

Like most of the Pitch Talk family I was delighted to see football back on our screens last weekend. I know we didn't have to suffer to much this summer as we had the Euros to watch, but you can not beat the antics that go on in the club game. I have always written that the game has turned into a win at all costs sport, and it doesn't matter how teams and their players go about getting results. Those of you who read my regular blog for the boys at Pitch Talk will know that I dislike cheats with a passion.

Cheating is a cancer in our game and it hurts me to see it going on week in week out on the football fields around the U.K. and Ireland. I am of the opinion now that the authorities don't seem to or are unwilling to come down on this issue like a ton of bricks. They ran a Respect campaign that in my opinion was a waste of time and money, and the great men at the FA have decided this season to come down hard on players and managers who misbehave.

I have to admit I nearly fell off the with laughter when I heard that one. So whilst sitting watching a couple of games last week I was watching with great interest to see would there be any changes this season. Queens Park Rangers and Leeds were up first and then followed the big game in Scotland, Hearts and Celtic. I want to focus on two incidents in both games, which goes some way in my opinion to show that the cheating is still going on in our beautiful game.

I will start at Tynecastle where Hearts took on Celtic. It was a game that was won by Celtic but the cheating antics of Hearts player Jamie Walker made the headlines. Referee John Beaton awarded Hearts a penalty after Celtic,s defender Tierney was adjudged to have fouled Walker in the box. It was an awful decision in my opinion and Walker was guilty of diving. It was an outrageous act by a player to con the referee. I do not blame the referee on making the mistake to give a penalty, but I do blame the player for cheating, absolutely disgusting behaviour in my opinion.

After the game Celtic skipper Scott Brown was reported to have called Walker a cheat and it is very unusual to hear players talk about other fellow professionals in that manner. I was delighted to hear during the week that Scottish FA had handed Walker a two match ban for his antics. The decision to do this is long overdue and a brave call by the authorities.

This is were its gets a little bit worse in my opinion, as Heart of Midlothian actually had the cheek to appeal the ban, an absolute downright liberty in my opinion. By putting in their appeal they condoned Walker,s behaviour and we're hoping they could have got the two match ban overturned, in my opinion the FA should have increased his ban to three games once the appeal was lost to send out a signal that cheating is not acceptable in our game. Yes they got it right by giving Walker retrospective punishment but in my opinion they could have gone one step further and send a signal to every other player who might be thinking of taking a dive in the penalty area. Heart of Midlothian also need to take a serious look at themselves because they seemed quite happy to launch an appeal in favour of getting a cheat out of trouble.

If you take a look at the Queens Park Rangers v Leeds United game I spotted another form of cheating. I noticed that when corners were been taken the ball was outside the quadrant on most occasions when the home side took one. I am of the opinion that if referees notice this happening during the game they should penalise the taker by showing him a yellow card. This ploy by players is now a more regular feature in our game and needs to be stamped out.

It is nearly impossible for a referee to see that the ball is placed correctly, unless he takes a trip out to the taker and this can cause loss of position for the official. I would really like to see this form of cheating cut out and if the side taking the corner use three different players each time they take a corner and all three are guilty of using this tactic, the third player should be shown a red card. It would cut out this issue within a week and I for one would not have to watch as players try to cheat referees once again. The game really is rife now with the win at all cost brigade, even if it means cheating.

So there you have it, week one done and dusted and already we have controversy. I have no doubt we will have plenty more during the season and I will cover it as best I can for the boys at Pitch Talk. Let us all hope that next week I am not typing on a computer somewhere, explaining a decision involving your side.

Until next time enjoy your football. CIAO

Dave Meier aka @Meiercy

The 2016 European Championships Finals

The weekend just past saw the final of the European Championship Finals. It saw the coming together of France and Portugal. At the time of writing this article I have no idea who was going to win and by the time you read it the result will be known. But I am not writing this article about the final I want this to be a review of what happened in the month of June in France. In my opinion it has been a fantastic tournament with everything for the football loving nut. It has seen some superb performances by the lesser nations and some of the big boys crumbling. The other thing that I have noticed from this tournament has been the superb refereeing, it has been a competition that really has been controversy free and I have to take my hat to the top officials who have been involved. It also has been a superb tournament from a fans point of view. If you look back we really only had one weekend when there were hooligan problems which seemed to have been caused by Russian fans. God only knows what will happen when the World Cup comes around in Russia, but that's another days work, so I will park it for the moment. It has been a tournament for the underdog and that is why I feel the new format has worked. So what about the home nations including England, Wales, Northern and Republic of Ireland, how did they get on. Let me lay out below what my views are on how the finals developed for our sides in France.

If you look at the four teams that travelled to France from these islands, the only one on paper who had have any realistic chance of progressing would have been England. How wrong could we all have been. Wales put on a performance over the whole tournament that made every Welshman feel ten feet tall. Manager Chris Coleman has installed such a belief in his squad that they very nearly went and won the whole thing. They believed in themselves and nobody was better than them as they got through to the semi finals. In my opinion they only showed fear in both the games they lost. Playing the so called bigger fish caused them dear in the end but what a journey they gave their fans. Wales will go forward now with great belief and who knows where they will end up on their journey to Russia. From the Republic and Northern Ireland's perspective you have to say they punched well above their weight. They gave their fans the party of all parties as they moved through the tournament. What Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic showed us was a unity and togetherness like a club side. It was obvious from the outside looking in that they were enjoying themselves as a group. They may not have won the competition but all three teams came home with their heads held high. It also looks very promising for the future and all three will be in with a great chance of getting to the next World Cup if they can negotiate the group stage.

England was another story all together. They were a monumental let down to themselves and the loyal fans. In my opinion Roy Hodgson should have stepped down after England,s disastrous performance in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Although they qualified for the Euro,s with ease, I felt they were heading for a disastrous tournament, yet again. Going into the finals I am not sure Hodgson even knew his best starting eleven. The manager in my opinion was trying to build a team by getting everyone into it. Wayne Rooney is not a midfielder and if Roy wasn't going to play him up front,then he should have had him on the bench. The whole aura around the England set up was all totally wrong for me. It is as if the England team is made up of individuals that can not seem to gel as a team. It will be very interesting to see who the new England manager will be and what sort of progress he can achieve going forward. Something will need to be done to stop the fiasco of France 2016 ever happening again. England in my opinion are fast becoming a third world football team, which should never be allowed happen. The new man needs to come in and get a unity and team spirit into his players, he will need to be his own man, Hodgson in my opinion went a long with the press in many team selections. I feel Gareth Southgate is the man to take things forward for England, he is young and has great potential and I feel he will be his own man. The World Cup is up next and let us hope England travel with more than just hope and can improve immensely from this tournament.

Mark Clattenburg The Man in The Middle

Those of you who read my regular blog for the boys at PitchTalk will know only to well I am a big fan of Mark Clattenburg and the way he referees. I have watched his career unfold and he has just got better and better, the amount of mistakes he makes in a season can possibly be counted on one hand. This season his performances have been top quality and more importantly it has been on a regular basis. He was the official in charge of the recent Chelsea v Spurs game, when it has to be mentioned that the players were a disgrace on the night. He managed to get through that game by keeping a lid on things exploding as best he could. The amount of cards he showed that night were required and in my opinion all were well warranted. So at the end of what can only be described as an excellent season for the official he was awarded the FA Cup Final and then to put the cherry on the cake was the awarding of the Champions League Final to Mark. It was a huge vote of confidence in Mark by the FA and UEFA to give him both these games, it also showed, not only is he the best official in the UK but also Europe, something I have been saying all season in my blogs for the boys at Pitch Talk. So how did Mark get on over the two games ? If you read on I will pick out some issues that came to my attention in both matches, games that actually went to extra time and put a lot of pressure on all concerned.

The amount of people that watch the FA Cup Final around the world is unbelievable. Millions from across the planet tune into the showpiece for the FA. This can put pressure on all concerned and the referee has a huge part to play, just one mistake and the trophy can be decided. If I am to be totally honest, this years Cup Final was a poor game. It was a stop start type of game and had no real pattern. All the same it had to be refereed and overall I thought Mark did quite well, although in the post match analysis he did come in for some stick. Unfair stick in my opinion, the official had two big calls in the game and I know Crystal Palace manager thought he got them both wrong. His comments could not be further from the truth, Mark got both calls correct. A lot of people including Pardew thought the official should have allowed an advantage to Conor Wichkham after he was brought down by Chris Smalling. I thought in this instance Mark was correct to blow as it was early enough in the game and it was a great time to put his authority on the game and caution Smalling. If you look at it again, it is not even 100% that the Palace player would have scored as the United players had stopped after hearing the whistle. As I said earlier I was happy Mark blew for the free kick, playing advantage is not always the best thing to do and in this case the correct call was made. The other big shout in the game was also not given in the Eagles favour, something that might have made them think it was not to be their day. The incident I am looking at, is the moment when Zaha made a brilliant probing run into United,s box. A lot of the pundits thought it was a penalty, but in my opinion the referee got it correct. Wayne Rooney made no contact with the ball but also did not foul Zaha, it was a brilliant piece of defending by the England captain as he used his body to shield out a shot coming in from the Palace player. Overall Mark did very well in the Final in what as I mentioned earlier was a poor game. Disappointing game or not, it was decided by a wonder strike from Lingard which I don't think ten goalkeepers would have saved.

Having done an extremely good job at Wembley, Mark,s next challenge was the biggest of his career as he took control of the Champions League final in Milan. Not just any Final, but an all Spanish affair between Real and Atletico Madrid. This one would be tough to control as both sides were known to have a bit of a nasty streak within their squads. Atletico,s manager Simeone can be a nightmare on the line and two other problems were Pepe and Ramos. These two guys in my opinion are possibly the two biggest cheats in the modern game. In the final, the minute Mark blew for free kicks they were in his face looking for players to be cautioned and this is just not acceptable. After approximately twenty minutes Mark had enough and laid into the both of them and told them to shut it or he would take serious action. It worked perfectly for him and this made his game. Real,s goal was probably offside but it was so close to call, it actually took about three replays for me to see it clearly. Officials do not have the luxury of TV replays as we know so we will let the assistant off with that one on this occasion. The only issue I can say I was unhappy with Mark,s performance was his failure to send off Pepe for a challenge that caught Gabi on the thigh over the knee. If a red had been produced no one would have batted an eyelid. One thing that will stay with me forever from this game is the moment Mark made a disgusting stare at Pepe as he was rolling around the pitch after been caught accidentally by a an arm. Mark just stood over him looked down and I can only imagine he was saying to himself, get up you fool your making a show of yourself. A lesser experienced referee might have got caught out by Pepe,s antics, but not Mark  Clattenburg the best referee in Europe at the moment.

Both the domestic and european seasons have now come to an end we can look forward to the start of the 2016 European Championships. Mark Clattenburg has had a fabulous season and gets all the plaudits from me for a job well done. I was not the only one that thought Mark was top of the crop after the Champions League Final, his boss Mr.Collina waited in the tunnel to congratulate the official on his performance. The Italian even went as far as to say that it was the best refereeing performance he had seen in a long time. So as we all sit down to watch the upcoming Championship I will be interested to see who will get the final. Do not rule Mark as I am sure he will be in the shake up at the end and it will be well deserved. The next few weeks are going to be very interesting and as usual I will give my opinions to the guys at Pitch Talk. Best of luck to everyone who has teams taking part and let us all hope a refereeing blunder does not send your side out the exit door. Until next week CIAO !

Play Off Trouble

We all know as football fans that at this time of the season all the medals and trophies are won. It is also the time when the play off,s are played and the clubs who narrowly missed out on the automatic promotion get a second chance. These games can be very exciting and make for good viewing on TV. They can also have a lot of problems in them, as players know they need to win for to gain promotion. The play off games are refereed by the top performing guys of the season and the men who know how to handle pressure games. Over the weekend I sat down and watched with great interest as all the games kicked off. Sadly though even in the play offs I have to report on bad refereeing in my opinion. Two games that I focussed in on this week were the ones between Portsmouth and Plymouth and the championship play off between Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton, two games that left me with two huge talking points to write about for the boys at Pitch Talk one good one bad. Read on below and let the mystery unravel.

When I sat down to watch the 1st leg of the play off game between Portsmouth and Plymouth I have to be totally honest I did not know what to expect. What unfolded in front of my eyes was astonishing, one of the best games I have seen in a longtime. It had goals, great atmosphere and yes, controversy. The referee for the night was Mr. Oliver Langford and I can only presume that he is one of the better officials at lower levels than the Barclays Premier League. Well when the referee looked back on his performance overall he must have been disappointed in my opinion. The one explosive incident in the game was a clash between Jamille Matt of Plymouth and Pompey,s Michael Doyle. Matt could clearly been seen putting his head into Doyle and this action should have received a red card from the official. How he did not send off the Plymouth player is beyond belief. To make matters a lot worse was the reaction of the benches as Plymouth coach Paul Wooton and Portsmouth manager Paul Cook clashed, the inevitable then followed and Mr. Langford had to send both of them to the stand. I can not understand how the official missed the incident and to really put the tin hat on things, the Plymouth striker scored two goals. The incident that was missed, had a total knock on effect to the whole tie and in my opinion probably cost Portsmouth a place in the play off final. If the referee had not seen the clash it was down to one of the other officials to try and help him out, but ultimately it was Mr. Langford who made a bad call and the repercussions are been felt in Portsmouth now. It was bad refereeing in my opinion as it only takes a quick second to have a look back as players clear a ball and if there is any afters, a good referee will nail it so fast.

Let me move on now to have a look at the Championship play off first leg game between Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton which was played last Friday night. I was asked by a lot of the Pitch Talk family to have a look at the disallowed Wednesday goal and give my opinion. In fact a Pitch Talk family member Brad Hicks asked especially for my opinion on it. The match official appointed to this game was our old friend Andre Mariner, a referee who has fallen under the microscope earlier in the season. As we all know, Andre is a FIFA official and one of the elite referees in the UK. He is the type of official who I expected to get such a high profile game and overall I thought he had a super match on the night, he let the game flow and this helped to create a superb game. The one big talking point in the game was the awarding of a free kick for offside when Sheffield Wednesday,s Forestieri was judged to have been in an offside position before he went on to score. Now I want to make it clear from the start that in my opinion it was a brilliant decision by the officials. Both Andre and his assistant Darren Cann called it correct and if I am totally honest I reckon it was one of the best decisions this season. I know it caused all sorts of confusion but the communication between the two officials was excellent in getting the call correct. I have always promoted communication between match officials and this case it worked a treat. So well done to the officials, that is not something I have been able to say this season.

Before I go this week I just want to congratulate Mark Clattenburg on his appointments to the FA and Champions League Finals. As you all know, I think Mark is the best referee in the British Isles and he deserves these games as a reward for his season, do not rule him out for the European Championship final either. So there we have it, another football season has more or less come to a close, but do not worry I will be still doing my stuff for the boys at Pitch Talk as the finals get under way and I am sure there will be plenty to write about. So until next week enjoy your football and if you are lucky enough to have a team in a final, enjoy. CIAO

A Season of Shocks

The 2015-16 football season has given us everything and so much more. We have witnessed the sensational campaign that saw Leicester City crowned Barclays Premier League champions. We have seen the downfall of the once self acclaimed special one, Jose Mourinhos exit from Chelsea was swift after he had huge problems trying to get his side rolling again this season, we even heard rumours of him losing the dressing room. But one thing that has not surprised all of the fans that read my regular column for the boys at Pitch Talk, has been the amount of refereeing controversies that have been made during the season. Last weekend was no different with again referees been thrown into the spotlight. Well I say referees but in truth this week I want to discuss an issue involving Mike Jones and Mesut Ozil and how I feel Michael Oliver had an horrific game whilst officiating at Old Trafford for the Manchester United v Leicester City game. Read on below and I will give my opinion on the issues that stood out for me this week.

Once upon a time there use to be a respect campaign running throughout the game, it is something that in my opinion has been stuck in a bin somewhere and forgotten about. Respect has to be earned and in most cases is. But what I witnessed at the Emirates on Saturday night was disgusting as Mesut Ozil showed referee Mike Jones no respect at all, in fact in my opinion his behaviour towards the official was nothing more than disgraceful. As Mike Jones deemed a high challenge by the Arsenal player deserved a yellow card, what was to happen next was unacceptable. As the referee tried to show Mesut a yellow card the player just kept walking away, no matter how many times the referee blew the whistle to get his attention so as to bring him back for the card. The whole incident became farcical when Mike Jones had to run after the player to actually show him the card. In my opinion the referee failed himself and his colleagues by having to go after the player. Once Ozil did not comeback he was showing dissent and should have received a second yellow for his antics.

It is the only way to deal with this sort of nonsense by players. If issues like these are not addressed, we will have all sorts of mayhem. One surprising aspect on all of this for me was the fact that it got very little mention from the media. I feel Mike Jones needed to be a lot stronger and should have dealt with the dissent shown by Ozil by producing the second yellow. As I said from the outset on this issue, the respect campaign is in the bin.

Following on from Saturday's shenanigans, we all sat down and watched the so called Super Sunday. Old Trafford was the venue and Leicester were the visitors. For such a high profile game, the powers to be appointed Michael Oliver to take charge and I have to admit I thought it was a good appointment. Well how wrong could I have been, Michael had an awful game. He missed an incident that involved Huth and Fellaini which the FA have now stepped in to deal with. Referees should always know the players who can give them trouble and never take your eye off them. If Michael had have been focussed in on the incident he should have two red cards. Another player who got away with murder was Wayne Rooney, he should have seen a second yellow for a pull back on a Leicester player on the edge of the United box. It was a clear pulling down of a player and Rooney was a very very lucky boy as he was already on a yellow from a previous incident. I do not care what anyone says to me about another issue in the game as I feel the referee made a mess of Leicester,s equaliser. Huth was clearly holding down Smalling when the ball was delivered into the box and the referee should have awarded a free kick out. I am going through a list here that is growing by the minute. Leicester should have been awarded a penalty when Mihraz was taken down by United defender Rojo, these are incidents that you would think a FIFA referee would be all over. Unfortunately on the day Michael left his good performance in the dressing room. I will put the final incident in now and it it is unbelievable that Manchester United were not awarded a penalty when Danny Drinkwater took down Depay in the box. Although it was a good yellow card the referee failed to back it up by giving the penalty. The performance by Michael overall was very very poor and I would like to think that he sat down on Sunday night and reflected on a job badly done. The reason the FIFA men get the big games is because they are expected to put them away without controversy, in this case it simply did not happen.

So there we go, another weekend over and one which had its share of controversy. We have not got to many games left to watch now and it will be empty weekends ahead for those of us who love the beautiful game. But as we look a little further down the road, we have the 2016 European Championships coming up. It will be a tournament I shall be keeping a close eye on for the boys at Pitch Talk and if the referees get it wrong I will tell you how, first. Mind you this tournament will involve the top referees from around Europe and I expect very few problems. Until next week, enjoy your football and I do hope I am not talking about a bad decision involving your team over the coming seven days, until then guys CIAO.

Am I Mystic Meg?

For those of you who read my regular blogs for the guys at Pitch Talk, you will know that I have been saying it all season that the referees will have a big say in who and who does not win the league. Over the past few months the men in the middle have been making mistake after mistake with their decision making. It is something that should not be happening as the refereeing standards should be so much better than what we have witnessed. There are only a few games to go now in most leagues around the world and errors are still been made. What is more worrying for me is the fact that these bad decisions are not just in one league or even one country, but right across all leagues throughout the world. Maybe it is the fact that the games from around the world are readily available to watch no matter where you are on this planet. It is a system now that highlights all the problems involving getting a decision correct. Refereeing has always been a hard job to do but with the coverage the games get now it has nearly become the impossible job. Having written all that, this week my microscope falls on two officials who had a tough weekend as they blew the whistle. Jon Moss and Craig Thompson came in for a lot of stick over the weekend after their performances on the field in Leicester and Glasgow. Let me unravel a few issues below that happened to the guys.

Leicester City have been the sensation of the decade this season. Every neutral and so called pundit want them to win the league and any referee who makes any sort of an error whilst officiating the Foxes will be hammered. Jon Moss was the man in the middle for their latest clash which last weekend was against another team having a super season, West Ham United. Jon had three huge calls in the game and got two of them spot on, unfortunately the one he got wrong could have a huge impact on the final outcome of this seasons Barclays Premier League. The Jamie Vardy sending off was in my opinion 100% correct, in fact it was downright cheating. The regular readers of my articles for the boys at Pitch Talk will remember I have highlighted Vardy’s antics before. This time he has been caught out and hopefully the book will be thrown at him, his reaction to his sending off was outrageous. Let us be honest Jamie, you were caught out now take your punishment. If you look at the West Ham penalty it is very easy to see why the referee gave it.  Before the corner had been taken the referee had reason to pull out a few players and warned them about holding. It obviously fell on deaf ears and it was a good and brave decision to give the away team a spot kick. So having got two good decisions under his belt the referee went and blew it in the final moments of the game. All he had to do was see out the game and the plaudits would have come his way. Instead he decides to give a penalty for a challenge by Andy Carroll. In my opinion it was just a coming together of players and never a penalty. In the big scheme of things if referees are going to blow for incidents like this every week, we may just turn off our televisions. So Jon in my opinion has now left his mark on this seasons Barclays Premier League with such a huge call. Mind you it is just another black mark against the officials who have screwed up.

We have waited quite a while for an Old Firm Derby and finally we got one last week in the Scottish Cup semifinal. For such a huge game, who better to referee it than arguably the best official in Scotland, Craig Thompson? It was always going to be a tough game for Craig and I cannot believe how he made a mess of it by the simple awarding of a throw in. When a referee and his team get together they need to be in tune with each other all the time. The more experienced guys learn this over the years. So when referee Thompson over ruled his assistant on the simplest of decisions like awarding a throw in, I knew we were in for problems. It not only showed me that Craig had no trust in his assistant Alan Mulvanny but was quite prepared to leave him out to dry. The incident led to a second Rangers goal and effectively knocked Celtic out of the cup. I know that Rangers only went two one up after the goal but who was to say that they could have got a second once, Celtic got their,s. As we all know now Rangers went on to win the tie and progress to the final and good luck to them. But in my opinion it was an awful decision and for the life of me I cannot understand what came into Craig,s head. One explanation been thrown out by a lot of my refereeing colleagues around the world this week is possibly he was fatigued. I cannot agree with that opinion at all, in fact if this was the case he should have totally left the decision to his assistant. The knock on effect has left Celtic with no possibility of a double and today manager Ronny Deila has decided to step down at the end of the season a decision I am not sure he would have taken if his Celtic team had done the double. The fallout from a bad decision by Craig Thompson has led to more than just not appearing in a cup final, but far further than that. It was a poor decision by a referee who after all is a FIFA man, in my eyes this is not acceptable.

So there you go, another very bad weekend for refereeing decisions. I am scratching my brain to remember when I did not have a weekend were nothing has gone wrong. Having said all that, we have a few exciting weekends ahead and I expect the top referees to be getting things correct. So until my next blog for the boys at Pitch Talk enjoy your football and I do hope your team does not fall the victim of a bad decision. CIAO 

The Heat Is On

We have entered the month of April and this is were things really heat up, in the chase for trophies and the valuable points to avoid relegation. It is at this time of the season that refereeing decisions come under the spotlight with great scrutiny. If the officials get it wrong at this stage of the season it can be curtains for some clubs. The managers are only looking for excuses to point the finger at a bad refereeing decision. How many times have we heard coaches complain about a missed hand ball a missed tackle by a referee or even the referee missing a clear cut red card. It has been going on for more years than I care to remember. These managers are just looking for someone to point a finger at as it all goes wrong. I always find it funny when managers blame referees for a dodgy decision that may have cost his team the points, well I think these guys should concentrate more on their own tactical judgement than a profession of which they know nothing about, refereeing. So whilst watching my feast of football on TV last weekend what caught my eye, yes you have guessed it a manager moaning and funnily enough a player not moaning enough as to get his team a penalty. Read on below and let us unravel the issues as I saw them. One of my observations will make you chuckle, as a manager points a finger at the wrong person.

As all the readers of my blog for the boys at Pitch Talk will know, I am a big Leeds United fan. I have had the full list of ups and downs following this great club. It is a club with passionate fans and over the years passionate players. I sat down on Saturday lunchtime to watch my beloved club take on Burnley at Turf Moor. What I witnessed was a disappointing performance that lacked the passion from Leeds to go and get a result. It was the performance from a team that had decided it was time for the holidays. This was never so evident as when United had a clear penalty not given by referee Lee Mason, it was not so much that the referee did not give it, but it was more the fact that when Antenucci was pushed by Burnley defender Mee, not one Leeds player even appealed for the spot kick. It was an attitude of lay down and die by the away club. At the time of the incident I was unsure myself as to whether or not it was a spot kick, but a good friend of mine from Galway Gerry McDermott sent me the footage on Saturday evening and I was completely convinced it was indeed a penalty. Now you all know me and I do not agree with players surrounding referees and harassing them into making decisions but I could not believe that no one looked for the foul. The TV pundits tend to call this sort of challenge by a defender as just easing out his opponent. Nonsense it is a clear foul and on Saturday my club suffered from a bad decision by referee Lee Mason, an official who has a wealth of premier league experience. Mind you he was let off by no appeal from a Leeds team lacking any passion to want to have it awarded.

One thing which is certain is that football and the managers involved in the game never fail to amaze me and last weekend was no exception. The excuses these guys spout out week after week are a total and utter joke now at this stage. Last Sunday, Louis Van Gaal took the excuse game to an all new level. His United side were absolutely blitzed by a brilliant Spurs team in my opinion. But it was off the field that all the drama developed before the game as Manchester United turned up late. The lateness was blamed on London traffic, lucky they did not play on Saturday or they may have never got to White Hart Lane, when United did turn up they were instructed to warm up and were given an amount of time to do so, this is where the plot thickens. The United management team were up in arms blaming the referee for disrupting there pre match routine by not allowing them more time to warm up. Again after a defeat a manager coming out to the media and complaining about refereeing decisions, although this time it was not the on field decisions that had got the manager annoyed. Well let me put Mr. Van Gaal straight on this, you screwed up, you as the manager should have made sure to be in the ground on time. If you are looking for someone to blame throw the book at the bus driver who failed to check the travelling time for your journey. Like your players on the pitch, he was responsible for a defeat that ultimately has now cost you any chance of getting that fourth champions league spot.

So there we have it once again, another weekend of roller coaster decisions going wrong. We are fast running out of games and I am sure we will see plenty more. We have to hope that one of these bad footballing decisions is not going to cost your team valuable points. Until next week enjoy your football and I do hope things can only get better. Ciao.

The Show Goes On

A lot has happened since my last blog for the boys at Pitch Talk. It has been an extraordinary couple of weeks on this little planet we call EARTH. We have had the terrorist attack in Belgium which cost an awful lot of people their life's. It is worrying that men, women and children can not go about their daily routine now, without the risk of what could happen anywhere. After such atrocities, it is vitally important that people show these so called terrorists that you will never succeed. Now your probably wondering why I am even discussing these people, but UEFA are apparently proposing to play some games in the Euro 2016 Finals behind closed doors, if a threat to a particular game is mentioned. This should not happen in my opinion as it is a defeatist attitude and it only let's the bad boys win. We also have had some cracking games at international level since my last blog and of course it goes without saying some awful refereeing decisions. Instead of my usual look at events in the Barclays Premier League, I have decided this week to spread my net a little wider, I am going to have a look at sensible refereeing in Dublin and a German referee who had a tough game in Barcelona.

When it comes to derby games in SSE Airtricity League, they arguably do not come much bigger than Shamrock Rovers v Saint Patricks Athletic. Last week the two met and the atmosphere was red hot in the Tallaght Stadium, the home of Rovers. In charge for the battle was Tomas Connolly who is an excellent referee in my opinion. His consistency is top drawer and puts in excellent displays on a weekly basis. In this game Tomas showed something I have not seen from a referee in a very long time. I can hear everyone laugh now at the thought that a referee showed common sense, but that is exactly what he did. Having awarded a penalty for the home side, Tomas was quick to realize he may have called it wrong, in fact he had called it wrong it was never a penalty, so instead of making a complete mess of things and allow his decision to stand, he communicated with his his assistant, yes communicated with his assistant, something you do not see in the Barclays Premier League. Tomas had landed himself in a spot of bother but by keeping himself in control, his assistant and himself got to the right answer to the question in the end. In my opinion this was a a brilliant piece of refereeing and a demonstration of how communication between the officials is so important.

It is not very often you can sit down and enjoy a game of football were everything falls into place. Well on Tuesday night that is exactly what happened when I tuned into the Barcelona v Atletico Madrid game in the Champions League, two of the top clubs in Europe. It was also a night were I got a chance to have a look at referee Felix Brych from Germany. I was not to be disappointed as both teams put on a cracker. Barcelona the attacking side of the game and Madrid with their defensive policy. In a Nou Camp stadium that was filled to the rafters I thought it was a brilliant match, add to that, the performance of a referee who was on top of his game and we had footballing excellence. Felix was so impressive in a white hot atmosphere. When the game was threatening to boil over after he sent off Torres, the German showed total control. A referee who keeps composed, whilst everyone around him is looking to cause problems is a top class official in my opinion. This referee let no one sway any of his decisions, this in fact is far more important than the actual decisions themselves. Because if you let the players get to you, all sorts of things can go wrong. He was not fooled by anyone and this helped the game develop into the showpiece it turned out to be. Let us all be honest about the main issue of the game, Torres deserved to be sent off no matter what anybody says. He was given two yellow cards for two stupid tackles. The boys at Pitch Talk will understand what I mean with that statement, as you would have to be totally stupid to get sent off for what Torres did. When the game finished I actually thought that this performance could put the German in with a chance of officiating over this years final. It will take some refereeing performance to beat the one we all saw the other night.

So there you have it, no comments on the Barclays Premier League this week. It was good to have a chance to look at some other leagues and officials. I have no doubt we will be back discussing the Barclay,s Premier League next week. I can only hope we are not discussing an issue involving your team and a match official. Until then have a great week and enjoy your football. Ciao

The Truth Hurts

Those of you who read my regular blog for the boys at Pitch Talk will know my usual style and content. I have spent all of this season looking at the controversial issues involving refereeing decisions. The amount of controversies has gone beyond the point of a joke and as we head into the final weeks of the season I am sure we will see loads more to have a look at. But this week I want to have a look at two players who have come under the microscope and have faced a lot of criticism from all areas of the media. What I find incredible is, that it has taken until March for all the so called experts to finally see what has been going on with these two guys now for quite a while. I even read this week that one former top referee had called one of the two a thug. So who are we talking about when I say two players, well please can Mr.Diego Costa and Manchester United's Manuel Fellaini please step forward. These two guys have been the subject of many a conversation over the past week, so let me below give you my opinion on what these guys are all about.

When Diego Costa came into the Barclays Premier League the pundits were falling over themselves to praise him and his up and at them style. What has developed over his short spell in the league has been a distasteful attitude by the player towards his fellow professionals and match officials. Diego spends most of his appearances going around the pitch winding up his opponents to the point of explosion. As a referee this is the type of player we can do without in my opinion. The game itself is hard enough to referee and with his input it can become nearly impossible. I wrote earlier in the season that I thought he was an incident waiting to happen every time his name goes on the team sheet and I have been proven correct. His antics last week in the cup game between Everton and Chelsea was just unforgivable, although if he had sunk his teeth into his opponents neck moments before he was sent off he could have been in so much more hot water. But in my opinion the thought was there but he decided against carrying out such an action. As a Chelsea fan it must make your blood boil every time he steps out of line, I can agree he will get you goals but his antics outweigh any positive from that argument I am afraid. His club managers keep naming him when he is available but they pay the price if the player with his demons turns up. In my opinion the guy is trouble and now it seems that the Spanish manager has seen enough as well and left Diego out of his squad for the upcoming international friendlies next week. One other aspect that is very often missed in conversations about problem players is the effect it can have on the boys and girls around the world who watch everything their heroes do, only to recreate their every move on the playing fields of the local park.

Manchester United and Belgian international Fellaini is a total different story in my opinion. He was accused this week of been a thug by former referee Howard Webb. I actually think he is a very clever player and takes things very close to the line but very rarely is sent off. He often looks very awkward when competing for a ball and tends to use his arms and elbows a lot. I have no problem with that, but it is when he puts his arm across an opponents face that I take issue. I have seen him in many a game get away with it on a regular basis, but this is the clever bit in my opinion, the player knows only to well unless he deliberately smashes his opponent in the face the worst he will get is a yellow card for continuous fouling. I feel that this season there has been many a time when referees should have shown him a straight red and not let him get away with it, you do not have to necessarily use your arms all the time when challenging for the ball. If you have followed his career, you will notice that once he picks up a yellow card for the over use of the arm whilst challenging for the ball he very rarely challenges again in the same manner, so why does he have to do it from the start of a game. This in my opinion is where he is very clever, I would not call him a thug, just clever. Referees need to seriously look at this and deal with him accordingly.

So there you have it, incidents a plenty this week but I just had to comment on these two players as everyone else has had their say. I am sure next week I will have loads to discuss for the boys at Pitch Talk and I will only be happy to bring you my views. So until next week, enjoy your football and let us hope we are not discussing a bad refereeing decision in a game involving your club. Bye for now.

I Don't Believe It

Their is no doubt in my mind that this season has been one to embrace and enjoy. From the moment the first whistle blew back in August it has been a roller coaster of fun and games. If you follow my blogs on a regular basis for the boys at Pitch Talk you will know we certainly have had our fair share of controversy on a weekly basis. I am not sure if we have had a weekend when I wasn't reporting on some refereeing error. Well do not fall out of your chair this weekend as I am going to heap praise on two referees from different ends of the scale. I know most people will be shocked to hear I am going to look at the positives this week, but in all fairness I feel referees Michael Oliver and Trevor Kettle need to get a mention for their performances over the weekend. Read on below, to hear my views.

When I received my media release from the FA during the week, I was astonished to see that the biggest game of the weekend, Tottenham Hotspurs against Arsenal was to be refereed by Michael Oliver. A game that was been billed as the biggest North London Derby ever. I was very surprised that neither Mark Clattenburg or Martin Atkinson were the men in charge. I need not have worried as Michael Oliver had one of those games that do not come along to often for a referee. Michael went through ninety minutes trouble free and his was a very polished performance which helped the game as well. The red card for Coquelin was 100% correct, in my opinion the Arsenal player was absolutely stupid to dive in on Harry Kane as he was already on a yellow card. It was a tackle that was always going to lead to a yellow card and the referee had no option. So Michael had a good weekend and his display was top drawer in my opinion. The match overall was brilliant and lived up to all the pre match hype, I was definitely impressed that we had not got a bad refereeing decision to talk about that had cost either side. My reservations that Michael was in charge were unproven and because of that, I am a happy bunny this week.

Earlier in this article I mentioned a referee called Trevor Kettle, now I can hear everyone ask, who is Trevor Kettle ?. Well this guy set twitter alight on Saturday night and Sunday morning for a decision he made in the Accrington Stanley and AFC Wimbledon game. His decision to blow for half time just as Accrington,s Billy Kee hammered the ball into the net sent the twitter machine into overdrive. Many people were venting their anger towards the referee and calling him all sorts. At one stage former Premiership referee Jeff Winter became involved as he was asked questions about the incident by a lot of supporters. I myself gave my opinion and became a target for a bit of stick. So as you can imagine I feel the need to clear this issue up once and for all in this column. In my opinion the referee blew for half time, as time was up. By the letter of the law he was correct and I feel he was unlucky that the ball ended up in the back of the net. One thing referees do not carry with them is a crystal ball so how could he have seen, what lay ahead. If he had blown when the ball was in the centre of the pitch no one would have batted an eye. I feel Trevor was unlucky with what happened but in no way should this impact on the rest of his season. As I said from the outset, by the letter of the law his decision was correct.

So there you have it, another week over, another week nearer the end of the season. This week has been one to praise the referees and their assistants, but the way things have gone this season I have no doubt we will be back to more errors next weekend. In fact as I finish this blog I know a storm is brewing in the Crystal Palace v Liverpool game, but I will leave that for another day to discuss. Until next week enjoy your football and let us all hope I am not on here discussing a refereeing error that has cost your team. The pressure on everybody now is to get things right so let us hope the officials are on top form. Bye for now.

The Politics of Football

This past weekend has seen a general election in the Republic of Ireland and a lot of my time has been taken up keeping an eye on the outcome. As it turns out, votes have been cast all over the country and the results have been an eye opener. In political terms it has been the equivalent of a an earthquake. What sort of a government this country will end up with for the next few years is anybody,s guess at the moment. To be perfectly honest it is a bit of a mess, as is the performances of a lot of referees on a weekly basis this season. Getting things wrong is because of bad decision making, something referees and politicians have been doing now for quite a while. In between the counting of the votes I managed to run my eye over the performances of Jon Moss and Martin Atkinson for the boys at Pitch Talk. I once again had plenty to see, and in fairness I was fairly annoyed once again how the boys in the middle with the whistle are getting the big calls wrong.

Jon Moss was in charge of the West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace game which was always going to be a tricky encounter for the officials. It was penned as one of those games that had not got much depending on the outcome. These are the type of game that a referee can get into so much trouble . From the outset let me just make a point that I do like Jon Moss as a referee and he tends normally to call most things correct. This weekend was a bad one for Jon as I thought his handling of the game was well below the level that I have seen him refereeing before. It was a culmination of a lot of the small fouls that he missed which led to his biggest error in the game. No matter what way you look at it, if a player pushes his opponent in the penalty area when the ball is in play, the referee should award a spot kick. So in the fifty second minute of the game when West Bromwich Albion defender Gareth McAuley barged into the back of Scott Dann the decision should have been the awarding of a penalty kick. To the utter amazement of quite a few people, the referee waved play on. A terrible decision in my opinion. The referee explained after the game that he had been distracted by another West Bromwich player and missed the incident. That is a cop out and a disappointing response from the official. One other thing that I noticed during the game was the referees willingness to apply the advantage rule, I felt he over used it in this game. Jon will no doubt review his game over the next couple of days and will be disappointed with his performance.

Those of you who read my regular column for the boys at Pitch Talk will know I admire Martin Atkinson as a referee. Unfortunately Martin is now starting to have a few suspect decisions and in my opinion he could do with a bit of a rest. On Saturday he took charge of the Southampton v Chelsea game. It was a pretty much a game I expected the well respected official to totally be in control of and in fairness he pretty much got most things right. But in my opinion he got the decision to allow Chelsea,s equaliser to stand, totally wrong. In the build up to the goal he allowed a clash between Chelsea,s Kenedy and the Saints player Soares to go unpunished. As the pair clashed the Chelsea player was clearly seen to kick out at his opponent. Martin played an advantage, but instead in my opinion he should have stopped the game and red carded the Chelsea player and award Southampton a free kick. I was astonished he did not give it, Martin even got a flag from his assistant to indicate there was a problem. So although the official had not got a bad game, his decision not to produce a red card for this incident was a big downer in my eyes.

Well there we have it, another election is over in Ireland and another weekend of Association Football is far behind us. But as we look to the future, can we see on the horizon a weekend when the referees have a good time. Ah well, it gives me the ammunition to put these articles together for the boys at Pitch Talk,so long may the errors keep coming. Until next week, enjoy your football and let us all hope that referees do not ruin your weekend. CIAO.

FA CUP WEEKEND DECISIONS

The weekend that has just passed was all about the 5th Round of this years FA Cup. A competition that the FA over the years have tried to destroy, with its changing of the format. I have even been reading this week in the media, that the powers to be, are now looking to switch the games to midweek and have no replays. I am not so sure about this decision and once again it has all the hallmarks of the big Premier League clubs involvement. Do the FA not realise, how this competition is viewed around the world by your genuine football fan, and not your prawn sandwich brigade as Roy Keane once famously called them. It gives the fans of the smaller clubs an opportunity to have a few great days out if they get a cup run going. The new proposals could ruin all that, as your average fan may not be able to attend an away fixture in midweek due to time and work constraints. If anybody from the FA gets to read this article, please think long and hard before making a decision to change the games to midweek. I am not really bothered if there are no replays, but moving to midweek would be a major blow to the fans and the competition in my opinion needs the support of the fans.

Having said all of that, where did I focus my attention this weekend for the boys at Pitch Talk. I decided to have a look at how Mike Dean handled the Arsenal v Hull City game at the Emirates. It was an interesting appointment, as the followers of this regular blog will know, I had huge problems with Mike,s handling of his last Arsenal game when they played Chelsea. It was the day that Gabriel and Costa clashed in the game played at Stamford Bridge and the Arsenal defender was sent off. I was not very happy with Mike,s handling of that incident earlier in the season and was very interested to see what approach he would take to handle the game at the weekend. I can only say in a word what I thought of his performance this weekend " Awful ". The game itself was not a tough game to handle and only had two big talking points, which I am afraid to say Mike got terribly wrong and yes they were decisions that could have seen a different outcome than a nil all draw. How Mike did not give Arsenal a penalty when Alex Bruce clearly handled Mohamed Elneny,s shot in the first half, is not even debatable. Bruce clearly moved his arm in the direction of the ball and that to me is a cast iron reason to give a penalty. Mike been Mike,he just waved play on, sometimes he shows a bit of arrogance when officiating, which is something I hate in a referee. One other incident from the game I can not let pass without comment is the fact that Mike failed to send off Arsenal defender Koscielny for a second bookable offence when he dived in and brought Hull City,s David Meyler down. It was a yellow card all day long and Mr. Dean should have produced it, instead he decided to talk to the Arsenal defender, bad refereeing in my opinion. Everybody in the ground knew the player had been booked earlier in the game and should have seen red, but I am wondering after all the fall out from his last time refereeing Arsenal did he decide to just bottle it, so as not to cause himself further issues as the season is coming to a close, surely not.

I can not finish up this week without mentioning the coin throwing incident at Reading involving West Bromwich player Chris Brunt. This in my opinion was a disgusting action by a West Bromwich fan towards one of his own players. It has no place in the game and I know the lads at Pitch Talk will back my views and condemn the action of that particular fan, as these guys are real fans. In all my days following football I have never come across anything like it. No matter how bad a teams performance is, there is no place in football for that sort of behaviour. I hope the authorities find this guy and ban him from ever going to a game again. So as I write, every week before I sign off, I do hope you enjoy your football in the coming week and I can only keep my fingers crossed that a referee does not upset you, with a bad decision. But be assured if any errors happen I will be all over it for the boys at Pitch Talk, until next week CIAO.

Valentine Day Referees Disaster

It was a Sunday when everyone should have felt the love. The Barclays Premier League fixture list had pitted the top four against each other in what a certain TV station was calling its usual Super Sunday. But this my friends was no ordinary Super Sunday, this had all the ingredients of an extra Special Sunday in my opinion. Not alone had we got the top four clubs in the country meeting but the games were to be refereed by the top two officials in my opinion as well. I have always pointed out for the boys at Pitch Talk in my regular blog, that top games should get top referees. In the case of these two huge games, the match appointments were spot on. Martin Atkinson was given the Arsenal v Leicester game and Mark Clattenburg was to take charge of the Manchester City v Tottenham clash. I have been pointing out for weeks now, that the last thing we needed in this season of some poor refereeing decisions, was for a referee to make a mistake that would hand someone the title. So on Sunday I sat back and relaxed as I knew Martin and Mark would put both of these games to bed without any issues. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear how wrong could I have been. Both of my favourite officials had big calls to make and I am not convinced they got them right. Read on below to see were I thought it went a bit off track for me.

In the game at the Emirates their were three main talking points. The cases of two penalties and one red card. Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, was reported to be fuming with the referees handling of the game. His main gripe was the red card shown to his defender Danny Simpson. Well I am sorry Mr.Ranieri, but the referee called this one perfect in my opinion. Simpson was already on a caution from earlier in the game when he decided to pull back Arsenal,s Olivier Giroud in the second half. In my opinion the action of Simpson deserved a yellow card, because it was a tactic employed by Leicester once they had gone one nil up. Their sole mission on Sunday was to not let Arsenal back into the game and it was stop the Gunners at all costs, Martin Atkinson got this decision correct, but that was the only good point of Martin,s game. The other incidents in the game that have me critical of the referee is two big penalty calls. The penalty that Leicester got in the first half was at very least questionable. Jamie Vardy might have come from the lower leagues to the top of the goal scoring charts this season, but he has in a very short space of time learned the art of winning penalties for his side. Now for those of you who read my regular blog for the boys at Pitch Talk, you will all know I hate players who cheat to gain penalties. On Sunday when Vardy attacked at the corner of the area it was to his pleasure that Monreal stuck out a leg to challenge. The Leicester player threw his leg out towards the Arsenal defender and, well you know the rest. He conned the referee in my opinion and unfortunately Martin Atkinson fell for it. A lot of people have been discussing recently what can be deemed hand ball, especially in the penalty area. Well on Sunday at the Emirates, Leicester City,s player Kante should have been penalised by the awarding of a penalty kick against his team for deliberate hand ball. No if,s but,s or maybe,s, he clearly made a movement with his hand towards the ball and contact was made. I could not believe that the referee or his assistant did not see it. This is the criteria for giving a handball and I fail to understand how a penalty was not given. I am sure for those of you who would like to see it, I would imagine it is on some network somewhere to view. It was the clearest of penalties and was just another error by the referee on a day when I expected very little.

Martin Clattenburg took control of the City v Spurs game and although he did not have as much to do deal with as his colleague in the Emirates, he made, what was in my opinion a game changing decision by awarding a penalty to Tottenham. A Danny Rose attempted cross was blocked by Sterling and to my utter disbelief the referee awarded a penalty, as he deemed that Sterling had handled the ball. It was a very poor call by Mark and I am sure when he looked at it later in the privacy of the dressing room he would have been honest with himself and recognised his error. The ball clearly struck Sterling on the ribs then deflected onto his hand, this in my opinion could never be seen as a penalty. It was a game changer, as it gave Spurs the opportunity to take the lead from the resulting penalty. It was only one mistake in a huge game but not acceptable in my view. Only last week I was praising Mark,s refereeing and backing him to go and have a good tournament in France this summer. I have no doubt he will but this is one error he could have done without.

So there you have it, another weekend over in the Barclay,s Premier League. It has been a very disappointing one for me, as my two favourite referees had bad weekends. I believe it will be a long time before the two lads have bad performances again. Top referees are top referees, because they make the least errors on a regular basis, that is what makes them tops. As we face into the final run in now, over the next couple of weeks, I really do hope I am not reporting for the boys at Pitch Talk about more errors from the officials. Until next week I do hope you enjoy your football and the referee does not cause your team to be going home without points they should have been. Ciao !

One out of Two is not Bad

A week hasn't gone by this season that we have not had our fair share of controversy in the Barclays Premier League, FA Cup and the Capital One Cup. It has been an incredible journey along the rocky road of match officials making mistakes on a weekly basis. For those of you who read my regular column for the boys at Pitch Talk you will know exactly what I am talking about. In my last blog I spoke about the point of the season we are at now, with titles and cups up for grabs and I hoped that refereeing errors would not result in clubs losing games. I had only finished the blog, low and behold, we have huge controversy in the second leg of the Carling Cup game between Manchester City and Everton. The match officials got it so wrong it was depressing to watch, once again bad judgement costing clubs big time. I am talking about the ball out of play of course when City scored, read on below to see what I thought of the whole shambles. One other issue I want to look at this week, is how Michael Oliver performed in the FA Cup tie between Colchester United and Tottenham Hotspur and as you pick yourself up off the ground I actually thought he had an excellent game, made much more difficult when he had an awful injury to deal within the first two minutes.

As the fallout continues from what can only be called an horrendous officiating decision at the Ethiad last week, let me shed some light on who the blame should be pointed at. In my opinion the assistant referee Scott Ledger has to take full responsibility for not seeing the ball go out of play. As an assistant, the two basic requirements to assist the referee is to catch any offside and indicate when the ball has gone out of play. It requires full attention to the game at all times and I feel Scott took his eye of the game for a split second the other evening. In that moment when he went to sleep, the play go to far away from him and he was unable to catch up, as we all know the lad Sterling is a flyer. But one thing people seem to be missing on this issue, is the fact in my opinion, although he was a good seven yards behind the ball, he was probably at the best angle to see the ball had left the field of play and therefore should have put his flag up. Everton manager Roberto Martinez was right to be annoyed and the decision had a huge impact on the result of the game. Bad officiating should never have an influence over the outcome of a game, but in this case it certainly did. The day after the game, I heard on local radio people calling for video evidence to be introduced in our beautiful game, well I totally disagree, if the assistant referee had just been focussed and done his job we would not have had a problem. Not only did Scott let himself down, but he dropped Martin Atkinson right into brown stuff as they say. I do hope he has been on the phone apologising to his team mate this week.

Those of you who follow my regular blog for the boys at Pitch Talk know only to well, that when a referee makes a blunder in a match I am all over it and like to give my opinion. This has to be a two way street as far as I am concerned and I have to give praise where praise is due. So let me just say that in my opinion the performance by Michael Oliver on Saturday at Colchester was top quality. His performance was top notch from the moment he blew for a clash of heads between Colchester defenders Alex Wynter and Tom Eastman. The referee was alert to get immediate attention for both players as he knew how bad the situation was. It happened so early in the game that it could have affected everyone involved in the game. When injuries occur in a game it is very often that the referee is the first on the scene, sometimes the injuries can be bad, like leg breaks and situations that have a lot of blood around. It is the referees job to keep everyone calm and what sometimes is missed in these situations is the fact the referee needs to keep himself controlled and calm. Michael was the ultimate professional and although he had witnessed at close hand the injury to Wynter, he did not let it have any impact on his game, he kept his focus and concentration to deliver a polished performance. I have seen some officials struggle after dealing with a bad injury and I am glad it was not the case on this occasion.

Well there you have it, another week over in the big world of football and still more issues to address. I am sure as the final run in now starts to the end of the season we will be discussing plenty more over the coming weeks. I just hope we are not discussing refereeing decisions that have cost your team vital points. But do not be in any doubt if the boys with the whistle make mistakes over the coming weeks, I will let the whole of the Pitch Talk family have my views on everything refereeing. Until next week, " Ciao "

Two Red Cards Missed

It is hard to believe at this point of the season that referees are still getting the big decisions wrong. As I sat down for my feast of football over the weekend I knew there would be mistakes, but exactly where would these mistakes happen and who would be the referees involved. As sure as night follows day, we have had so much controversy this season in the Barclays Premier League and also in fact in the lower leagues as well at times. Two big games this weekend were Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur and the big clash at Upton Park between West Ham and Manchester City. The two men in charge of both games were Craig Pawson and in my opinion one of the top two officials in the country Martin Atkinson. To be brutally honest I was surprised that Martin made an error in the Palace game, but it just goes to show that everyone is having a tough time of it this season.

Most of you who read my regular column for the boys at Pitch Talk, will know I rate Martin Atkinson as one of the top two officials in the country. I have seen Martin referee on many occasion and have pointed out his excellent performances on a regular basis. He had a tricky London derby to take charge over of at Selhurst Park where the hosts welcomed an inform Tottenham side. Martin was his usual excellent self and in my opinion was calling all the big decisions correct. I was so disappointed when he missed an elbow from Crystal Palace player Conor Wickham into the face of Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen. It was in my opinion a cowardly act by Wickham and Martin should not have missed it. We are told as referees to be extra vigilante on set pieces in and around the penalty area, as this is where the mayhem often happens. Martin was clearly not tuned in to the possibility of any issue happening and this is how he obviously missed it. I will be amazed if the FA do not take action against the Palace player over the next couple of days and I feel a ban could be on the way. I can imagine what will be going through Martin Atkinson,s head over the next couple of days as he deals with the fallout from his error, but as I said earlier, in my opinion Martin is one of the top two officials in the country and he will return to his excellent best next week.

Craig Pawson was the man in charge of the Saturday evening kick off at Upton Park between West Ham and Manchester City, which turned out to be a super match. Now as you know Craig has featured in my column for the boys at Pitch Talk before this season and his decision not to send off City’s defender Demechilis was the big talking point of the game. In my opinion the City defender should have been sent off for a challenge on West Ham,s Antonio. A lot of the so called pundits on TV, pointed out over the weekend that in fact his challenge had stopped a clear goal scoring opportunity. In my opinion I actually thought he should have sent off Demechilis for a bad foul on his opponent. He was out of control, off the ground and clearly was out to stop his man, he made no attempt whatsoever to play the ball and his only intention was to bring down the attacker. Referee Pawson deemed it a yellow card but the only outcome should have been red. Craig is new to the FIFA Referees list and he needs to make a better impact than what a few of his performances have done this season. I wonder will his bosses give him a weekend off this week, but I doubt it, as they do not seem to be adapting that policy as the season goes on.

Like a marathon race we are coming into the vital part of the performance now, and over the next couple of weeks titles will be decided. The way this season has been going for the officials I really do hope, that some official somewhere is not going to make a mistake and it will decide who the winners will be. So as I sign off this week I hope I am not writing about your club been in the middle of a refereeing controversy. Until next week, enjoy your football and may all the luck in the world go with your club. " See Ya "

It's Getting Worse

Last Friday night I sat down and had a look at the fixtures all around the British Isles and trust me their were games a plenty. My reason for searching the fixture lists was purely to plan out a weekend of football for me to watch on TV. I was also keen to see who was going to officiate in these games, as you know I always like to run the rule over the men in black for the boys at Pitch Talk. Where would mistakes me made ? , Who would mess it up ? , Who would be driving managers bonkers with their decisions ? , Well I need not have worried because this weekend was one of major mistakes and controversies. It is now an ongoing situation, as week in week out errors are been made. So this week let me have a look at two referees who were in charge of the Chelsea and Everton game and the clash between Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United. The men in charge of those two games were non other than our old friends Mike Jones and Anthony Taylor, two referees who have been scrutinised for the boys at PitchTalk by me on more than one occasion this season.

So let me start at Stamford Bridge which was a fabulous game. It was end to end and a real shock was on the cards right up to the dying seconds. In actual fact Mike Jones played a big part in how this game went as overall he let things go which allowed the game to develop. But alas Mike made a huge blunder in injury time which allowed Chelsea to grab a three, three draw. I always feel when Mike is refereeing that controversy will never be to far away and I was not let down in this game. I know that Everton were complaining afterwards about the amount of injury time the referee allowed, but he was spot on. When Everton scored their third goal, the time that was taken to celebrate the goal was at least a minute twenty seconds. So in my opinion Mike was correct, to add it on to his original injury time which the fourth official had put up on the board. But that is where all his good work ended. Their is no doubt John Terry was offside when he put the ball in the net and it was terrible refereeing by the official to allow the goal to stand. The assistant referee was unsighted as to who the ball last came off in my opinion, so I point no blame at him. Mike was right in the thick of the action and he should have seen it was a Chelsea player who had nodded it onto John. It was a very lazy piece of refereeing from Mike Jones, as he did not see the assistant put up the flag he just blew for a goal thinking his colleague was correct. These officials are in touch on the microphones for the whole game and if Mike had just had a quick word, they could have sorted it out between them in a couple of seconds. The whole incident left Everton manager Martinez fuming and he had every reason to be. It was a total lack of communication between the officials and a lesson of lazy refereeing by Mike Jones. Simply not good enough in my opinion.

Secondly this week let me have a look at Anthony Taylor,s performance in the Yorkshire derby between Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United. Now before I start on his performance let me just let you all know I am and always have been a Leeds United fan. Anthony as we know is a FIFA official and you can not go any higher as a referee. But what was to unfold as a substitution was been made on Saturday was beyond a joke in my opinion. When a substitution is going to be made the referee is in total control of the situation. He should not restart the game until he is totally satisfied the substitution has been carried out to the full instruction of the law. In this situation on Saturday the referee allowed the game to restart without the substitution been complete, leading to Leeds scoring a goal. It again in my opinion was totally lazy refereeing as he was not in tune with the fourth official. If this incident was to happen in a European game, Mr.Taylor would be out of Europe for quite a while and possibly in danger of losing his FIFA badge. These sort of situations are basic refereeing and we do not expect our top guys to get it wrong. Having said all that, I did not feel that disallowing the goal cost Leeds the game as I feel Sheffield Wednesday were the better team on the day. Maybe if Steve Evans was honest with himself, deep down he would feel the same. But with such a mistake it gives managers excuses to point the finger at the referee instead of his own players for missing golden opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net.

So as I leave you this week it is disappointing to say the least that the top referees are still making huge blunders on a weekly basis. This week my team were involved in a refereeing blunder, I just hope next week it is not yours. Until then have a great week and enjoy your football. Ciao.

FA Cup Weekend

The weekend that has just gone is the best of the whole football season in my opinion. It is the few days when we all either go and see live or watch on our television screens what unfolds in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. It is at this stage of the competition when the lower league clubs get a chance to have a battle with the boys from the Barclays Premier League. It is also a time when referees meet up with a new challenges as they take charge of games involving some players they may not know. These games can sometimes destroy a good referee as he tries to handle the games without any controversy. As per usual the weekend did not fail to have plenty of talking points and the two referees that have to seriously look at their performances are Bobby Madley and Ian Williamson.

Their is no doubt the top game of the weekend was the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, two teams who are flying in the Barclays Premier League. Two sides that would have to be fancied for a cup run. Unfortunately only one could go through to the fourth round and the man picked to control the high profile game of the weekend was non other than my old friend Bobby Madley, who has fallen under my microscope for the boys at PitchTalk before. If you look at his game overall it was fairly well controlled until he decided to hit the self destruct button and award a penalty to Spurs, as penalties go it was a terrible decision. As Danny Rose attempted to enter the Leicester penalty area in the dying moments he was challenged by Nathan Dyer, as he used a blocking movement to prevent the Spurs player advancing, the ball struck his hand. In no way in my opinion did he deliberately handled the ball. If you manage to have a look at it again on some network just watch to see how the Leicester player was not even looking in the direction of the ball. When the referee blew for the penalty I was totally astonished. It is at times like this you want to roar at the TV " ah man what are you doing ". The fallout from the game has been huge and I would like to think the referees bosses will have a look at the decision and advise Bobby as to where he went wrong. I wonder will they take the step of giving him a weekend off to let his mind focus on the error. The one thing that has to be considered as well is that Bobby Madley is a FIFA referee and these sorts of mistakes should not happen in my opinion.

Like most people who follow our beautiful game I like to see the underdog have a good day and get a bit of a run in the FA Cup. This years underdog for me is Eastleigh and they had a big game against Championship side Bolton. All the ingredients were in place for a cup shock, Bolton a team under severe pressure and in bad form and the non league team with their up and at them attitude and then throw in a bog of a pitch and it had, shock written all over it. If I am to be perfectly honest in my opinion of how the referee did in this one, I have to say Ian Williamson performed very well and allowed the game to flow, considering the conditions. He let tackles go and it created a great end to end match, one I was lucky to see on live TV. But the major blunder he let develop in the second half when a spectator ran onto the pitch and chase the play all the way into the Bolton area is beyond belief. Although, it is at the referees discretion to stop the game if he deems he needs to.

This lunatic of a fan had no business been on the pitch and the moment he appeared the referee should have stopped the game. I can not believe the referee did not see him as he was wearing a hoodie and unless I am mistaken nobody has this style of kit. Ian was a very very lucky man that when the ball had ended up in the penalty area it did not get put in the back of the net by this guy. As a referee learning the rules of association football we are all thought about an outside agent, as this guy was on Saturday. Once an outside agent comes on the pitch, the referee has the discretion to stop the game and have the person removed from the playing area, or in my opinion removed from the stadium, the game would then resume with a drop ball. The referees actions on Saturday could have caused mayhem and as I said earlier Ian was a very lucky man but I do feel his assessor would have ripped into him after the game. Discretion on this occasion was taken a little bit far in my opinion.

So once again we had plenty to discuss after our weekend of the beautiful game and I am sure I will be doing the same next week. Until then enjoy your football and I do hope I am not blogging about a mistake by a referee in a game your team is involved in. Until then " Good Luck " .