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.