Let me start at the Manchester United v Sunderland game in the so called Theatre of Dreams. Well let me tell you after what Roger did he will be having nightmares for months about it. When I am looking at games and judging a referee I always look at the degree of difficulty the game had to offer the official. This game in my opinion was a piece of cake for Mr East to referee as he called his fouls early on and was in cruise control as the game went on. He got control of the game early on and in fairness could have got his armchair out and sat in the middle of the pitch and blew his whistle. So you can imagine my astonishment, when in the 65th minute his game imploded. Roger blew for a penalty which in my opinion was totally correct, as John O Shea had hauled down Falcao to the ground. No question, penalty! But to then produce a red card and show it to Wes Brown beggared belief. How had he got it so wrong ? What had he seen ?Where was the help from his assistant ? The answer to these three questions, only Roger can answer.
I have always said that players reaction tells you a lot as a referee and he should have known something was up, when John O Shea admitted to him he was the player. It was an horrendous decision and I for one would not have liked to have been in the officials dressing room at the end of the game. What had been going so well for Roger had now blown totally up in his face. Mistakes happen and this is part of the great game we love, so we just have to get on with things.So when I heard late on Saturday evening that there had been a statement released by the refereeing authorities trying to justify the decision I felt a total balls up was now been made of this mistake. It was if the referee was trying to wriggle out of the issue. Let us be honest Roger East got it wrong,I know,you know, even the dogs on the street know and to try and make excuses was pitiful. I expect Roger to have at least a week off next if not two weeks off.It also opens up an issue were the media are asking for referees to come out and explain there decisions after the games.When the statement came out it was ridiculed by the Match of The Day panel and other media outlets, so as I have always thought,that referees talking to the media is a non runner, it just ends up in a bit of I said,you said.
The focus for my second issue this week falls firmly at the door of Mr Neil Swarbrick. It is always important as a referee to make sure that managers have nothing to moan about,because managers often use blaming the officials on certain things, takes the eye off bad management decisions in the game. So in my opinion Neil got it horribly wrong on Saturday and gave Stoke manager Mark Hughes a platform to moan about a challenge which was put in on his player Stephen Ireland,that had the Irish lad needing stitches in a wound. The mistake by Mr Swarbrick was not the tackle on Ireland, more so the tackle Ireland had put in on a Hull player earlier in the game. In my opinion Stephen should have been sent off for an over the ball tackle on one of his opponents. If the referee had been tuned in and done his job properly, Mark Hughes would not have been moaning about the referee after the game as he probably would have had more pressing things on his mind. But as usual the referee gets the blame instead of a player who had to go off because of injury. As we know players can sometimes look for retribution for bad challenges on their team mates and in this case retribution was well and truly dealt out. So I hope when Mark Hughes has a look at a DVD of the game he see's exactly what Ireland did. I also hope Mr Swarbrick has a good look and realises that Stephen Ireland,s challenge on his opponent was worthy of a straight red card. If this had happened Mark Hughes would not have been given his platform to moan,by the referee.
So as I finish off this week, I do hope the whistling boys do get it right next week and stop this roll of horrific decision making.It is not hard to do really, just concentrate stay in the zone and your game will go well. Not to much to ask, but I just know that this time next week I will be discussing more bad decisions made by the so called elite of refereeing. I will sign off as I usually do and wish you and your team all the best for the coming week and if you are heading to a game do enjoy yourself. Until next time,Cheers.
I have always said that players reaction tells you a lot as a referee and he should have known something was up, when John O Shea admitted to him he was the player. It was an horrendous decision and I for one would not have liked to have been in the officials dressing room at the end of the game. What had been going so well for Roger had now blown totally up in his face. Mistakes happen and this is part of the great game we love, so we just have to get on with things.So when I heard late on Saturday evening that there had been a statement released by the refereeing authorities trying to justify the decision I felt a total balls up was now been made of this mistake. It was if the referee was trying to wriggle out of the issue. Let us be honest Roger East got it wrong,I know,you know, even the dogs on the street know and to try and make excuses was pitiful. I expect Roger to have at least a week off next if not two weeks off.It also opens up an issue were the media are asking for referees to come out and explain there decisions after the games.When the statement came out it was ridiculed by the Match of The Day panel and other media outlets, so as I have always thought,that referees talking to the media is a non runner, it just ends up in a bit of I said,you said.
The focus for my second issue this week falls firmly at the door of Mr Neil Swarbrick. It is always important as a referee to make sure that managers have nothing to moan about,because managers often use blaming the officials on certain things, takes the eye off bad management decisions in the game. So in my opinion Neil got it horribly wrong on Saturday and gave Stoke manager Mark Hughes a platform to moan about a challenge which was put in on his player Stephen Ireland,that had the Irish lad needing stitches in a wound. The mistake by Mr Swarbrick was not the tackle on Ireland, more so the tackle Ireland had put in on a Hull player earlier in the game. In my opinion Stephen should have been sent off for an over the ball tackle on one of his opponents. If the referee had been tuned in and done his job properly, Mark Hughes would not have been moaning about the referee after the game as he probably would have had more pressing things on his mind. But as usual the referee gets the blame instead of a player who had to go off because of injury. As we know players can sometimes look for retribution for bad challenges on their team mates and in this case retribution was well and truly dealt out. So I hope when Mark Hughes has a look at a DVD of the game he see's exactly what Ireland did. I also hope Mr Swarbrick has a good look and realises that Stephen Ireland,s challenge on his opponent was worthy of a straight red card. If this had happened Mark Hughes would not have been given his platform to moan,by the referee.
So as I finish off this week, I do hope the whistling boys do get it right next week and stop this roll of horrific decision making.It is not hard to do really, just concentrate stay in the zone and your game will go well. Not to much to ask, but I just know that this time next week I will be discussing more bad decisions made by the so called elite of refereeing. I will sign off as I usually do and wish you and your team all the best for the coming week and if you are heading to a game do enjoy yourself. Until next time,Cheers.
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