Not Good Enough Ref!!

I'm the Fucking Daddy round here!!

In a week full of exciting games, shock results goals and managerial casualties, it is a bit of a shame that I reluctantly have to choose the topic of refereeing as the main body of this latest post.  Now don't get me wrong I realise that reffing aint an easy job, but when the man in the middle and his 2 assistants disagrees with everybody else in the whole wide world about a major decision then there is seriously something wrong.

I am talking of course about the two incidents in the Leicester City v Man Utd game on Sunday afternoon.

Referee Mark Clattenburg's decision that Jamie Vardy's challenge on Man Utd's Rafael was not a foul even though it was made with such force that it almost sent the Red Devil's defender careering into the advertising hoardings and then his next decision to give Leicester a penalty when the two clashed again in the box a few seconds later has to be seen as one of the worst pieces of refereeing I have seen at any level.

Now I am not a Manchester United fan and I don't care if the get beaten or whether they smash someone 10-0 I am a football fan and I like to see football played the right way, and that includes when a game is spoiled by a bad decision.  Granted it meant that the Foxes came back from 3-1 down against their much richer rivals to win 5-3 but that may have happened anyway.  On the other foot what if Man Utd had been given the free kick they should have had, what if they had taken the free kick and gone up the other end and scored and gone 4-1 up.  The truth is although its great for the neutral, it is still a poor decision that has probably cost Louis Van Gaal the match.

As a fan I have lost count at the amount of times I have left the ground not talking about the goals that were scored or moaning about a teams performance, but how poor the officials were.  I mean I watch a lot of league 2 football and I probably see about 3 good refereeing performances a season, but even at that level a decision like Clattenburg's "who incidentally is supposed to be one of our better referee's" are never made.  The thing is you can't even say it was a mistake, or he didn't see it, he just got it so wrong.

What happens next?  Nothing, I have been really surprised how it as been brushed under the carpet, I mean if I was Van Gaal I would have gone bonkers but he didn't blame the ref he just got on with it.

The thing is there will be no punishment for Clattnburg and he will continue next week reffing another big match, but if a player makes a mistake and gets it wrong, for example makes two mistimed tackles or kicks the ball away or takes his shirt off or something he picks up 2 bookings and gets a suspension, but a refereeing decision can cost a team a game and they get nothing.

It seems that referee's are above everything in football, yeah its a hard job so they say but is it, really, the thing is it is not so much them getting it wrong its the fact you never hear them come out and admit to it, If Clattenburg came out and said look, sorry fellas I fucked up, he would get more respect than some stupid global love the ref campaign that was put into place a few years ago.  Ref's aren't respected end of, well at least by the fans their not and who can blame them they spend their money travelling around the country standing/sitting in the cold and the rain only for some inhuman humorless twat to ruin the day with some incompetent decision which has cost the supporters much more than the team and the players.

It is infuriating, but what can be done?  Nothing, that's what.  I know lets help the ref by getting more assistants to help him.  Soon there will be more assistants then players standing around NOT making decisions.  I mean its bad enough that the lino don't make a decision in a game when an incident happens right in front of them, this of course is mostly the case in the lower leagues not so much in the Premiership as it appears from a fans perspective that linesman in League 1 and 2 are told by the ref "you just concentrate on offsides and throws, I will deal with all the major decisions".  In some cases I hope that is the case because some of these flag wavers have enough trouble knowing which way to give a throw.  Hopefully it won't come to a stage where there are more officials introduced like in Europe where you have men running around and crouching about by the goal with their magic sticks, I mean what the fuck??   In a few years time when the incompetence of the officials has a bearing on the amount of money the Premier league makes then maybe we will see changes, but until then the fans will have to put up with it.

Ok Jimmy just throw ins and offsides,.  This is my show!!

Don't get me wrong I don't think every Ref and Linesman, oh sorry "assistant referee" are shit, credit were credit is due I have never seen Sian Massey get an offside decision wrong and the two officials who used to work with Howard Webb were pretty good as well, but unfortunately for every Howard Webb there is another 8 Stuart Atwell's or in the lower leagues a Gavin Ward or a Darren Deadman.

Oh well I hope you enjoy your football this week and I hope it doesn't  get spoiled by the man in the middle or the men on the touchline.


In other news.


Arsenal beat Villa this week with 3 goals in 3 first half minutes, Ozil and Welbeck answering their critics with two of the goals.
Alan Pardew looked as if his head was on the chopping block as Newcastle went 2 down at home to Hull with only 20 or so minutes remaining, luckily for the Toon boss a double from Cisse earned the Geordie Boys a point.  West Ham surprised Liverpool with a 3-1 win, and although Brendan Rodgers bemoaned his defensive deficiencies the Happy Hammers were the better team and totally deserved the points in this one.
Spurs got turned over by the Baggies and Palace stunned Everton.

In the Championship Felix "Penfold" Magath finally put all Fulham fans out of the misery and  lost his job.  Leeds spanked Huddersfield 3-0 in a Yorkshire derby and Middlesborough tonked Brentford 4-0.

A surprise loss for Peterborough at Yeovil meant they dropped to 3rd in league 1, whilst a 3-3 draw between Fleetwood and Bristol City gave the The Robins a 5 point lead at the top of the table.  Crewe stay rooted to the bottom after a 6-1 drubbing from MK Dons, who rose to second place.

Bury went top of  league 2 with a 3-1 win of second placed Burton and in a 9 goal thriller at Northampton The Cobblers lost 5-4 to Accrington, Carlisle lost narrowly 3-2 against Mansfield and are bottom.




Goal of the week:  Angel De Maria's left footed chip for man United against Leicester to put the Red Devils 2-0 up.