Surely the bloke is deemed good enough to referee a Premier League or he isn't. If you assess him good enough and he makes a rash of errors, why is it deemed appropriate that he must be tested on a non-Big 6 game? It just means it isn't a level playing field and the FA are directly favouring the Big 6. HB1 is correct. If he is deemed good enough then the match he is appointed to should be random.
Amazingly, the rookie ref for this game has accidentally leaked information prior to the game. Apparently, he’s already written his match report, which he inadvertently left in a Starbucks in Poole. in it, it reads, Holebas sent off in the 56th minute, penalty awarded to hairy muff in the 75th minute, glass of wine afterwards with nice guy Eddie, drive home with framed signed Callum Wilson shirt on back seat. Back reffing Port Vale on Saturday
I think it's about handling the pressure of a bigger stadium, more fans, more intense atmosphere. I can speak to 5 people in a team meeting at work. Put me on front of 20 people and I'd crumble. Everyone needs to build up to bigger situations. While I agree that it shouldn't matter, it does and it's human nature to be affected by bigger occasions unless you slowly build up to them.
Which makes sense. You wouldn't make the junior member of your team lead the biggest presentation. Although, to your point, even the most inexperienced ref should be able to work out 'Minimal contact with Salah/Hazard = penalty'.
Horace, congrats on your sparkling forum debut this year. Are you assuming that there are only 5 posters on here?
If you can handle 20,000 then you can handle 60,000. I don't buy into that. He's officiated at Newcastle in front of 52,000. The only reason this is done, is because the FA want to try out inexperienced referees in the games they deem less important. But which is the most important match to you? Is it Bournemouth v Watford or Man City v Liverpool? I know which one is more important to me personally. Games at the bottom of the table have massive significance to those clubs involved. The FA should not be behaving like this and I think it's diabolical that the promote this two-tier system.
I don't think it's about some link between them being new to the PL and making loads of errors. If that was the thought process they wouldn't be given the opportunity at all. Isn't it just common sense management and simple psychology to ease them in? They'll soon realise the jump up isn't so big if their first few games are in the less intimidating stadiums outside the glare of Sky/MOTD/newspaper journos and social media numpties. Then they'll be set to crack on as part of the general rotation. So long as that happens within a reasonable number of matches then who cares who gets them first up?
But...don't you see, you are inadvertently accepting that Watford are less important than other clubs in the league. That maybe the view of the fans, media and pundits, but that should not be the stance taken by the FA. When there is a member vote, Watford have a 1/20th say in the matter, the exact same as Manchester United or Chelsea. Our vote not weighted any differently to theirs and I think we should be treated the exact same as every member club of the Premier League.
Fair enough if they are always added to the rotation. But Hooper had a nightmare at Southampton v Watford. Will he be added to roster or will he quietly disappear? If the latter then Watford and Southampton have been used in a trial where Big 6 teams would not.
I'm late to the feeding frenzy on this but I suspect it reflects the lower level of pressure/scrutiny for non top 6 matches. If the rookies don't take Top 6 games, then presumably a lot of Bottom 14 teams are in the same position as us. Also, are the rookies are worse?
I suppose it depends why they think he had a bad game. If it's something like poor fitness or bottling it under pressure then yeah, I expect he'll be demoted at the end of the season. He's reffed in the PL twice since though (Wolves v Muff and Leicester v Cardiff) so not dropped immediately. In fairness, I don't see why they can't be given Chelsea v [smaller club] or [smaller club] v Man City or the like. If anything their chances of having a massive impact on a result in those matches is probably less. But I do think it's pretty self-evident why they're not given Man City v Liverpool straight out of the traps like HB1 says they should.
I’m not too fussed to be honest as many of them are at least as good as Moss, Taylor and the like. I do see HB’s point though in terms of the message it sends from FA. Mind you with the absurd bias in the Salah diving decision this is small beans!
Funnily enough it was Attwell who did so well as to spot Kane's vile trickery and book him for diving when the commentators assumed he had won a free kick on Saturday. Then again, seeing things that most others don't has always been a specialty of Mr Attwell...
I used Colin W as an alternative to Neil Warnock as it is a joke at HIM. You were parroting his line about trainee refs. I did not call you a wánker, but, fúck it, as you have completely reverted to type, I will now.
You called me a W***** and I called you on it. Get over it ffs. If you cannot take it, don't dish it out. I revert to type by defending myself against moronic jibes which I receive constantly from certain posters. You have form for this type of behaviour in the past. Once again I NEVER cast the first stone, but if someone wants to start something I usually end it. Happy New Year.
Judging by the standard of reffing I've seen in the many Granada matches I've watched I can only assume that you're either deaf-blind or have a serious substance abuse problem.
They're coming out of the woodwork tonight. At least you are a new one. I don't think I've been abused by you before and I quite like it.
My least favourite build up to a game all season due to this fake rivalry rubbish. I want to beat them as much as anybody else in this league and apart from the two games we play against them I couldn’t care less about them. Fancy us to win this one
All this fake they're-our-big-rivals stuff is getting a bit jaded, don't you think? Actually I rather like their style of play: A darn sight more entertaining than, say, Newcastle or Cardiff. I'm fully aware that he is backed by a dodgy Russian billionaire, but Howe hasn't been doing badly. I hope they stay up. They always these days seem to have the hex over us, but both Bournemouth and Watford are difficult to call, especially with the player-fatigue bit thrown in. Only prediction I will make: There will be goals.
Incidentally, with all this guff about referees going on and on here, I'm a bit surprised nobody has mentioned Ashley Young's 'tackle' against Muff on MOTD2: Surely, surely a straight red card. I know he bangs on about all this, but this looks like a good instance of what HB1 is claiming: It's only a red card if it's not a top 6 player. (Yes, I know they got a red later when Bailly pushed it too far.).
I’m confused. Your heart is on Muff winning 3-0? Does your head rule your heart or t’other way round? Does your partner/jellyfish know?
I'm OK with that. To me, it seems the longer they officiate in this league the more bias they become. Hopefully he'll be booking the diving scum all over the park.
Im really hoping Doucs or Caps bomb into the box and win a fake penalty running into someone's leg and then looking like they've been shot. If either Bobby P or Deulofeu turn up with some fuel in the tank, I'll start smelling blood and not just cos my dog's on heat.
But what if it's about the referee stepping up to the Premier leauge. To give them games with less exposure and aclimatising them to the leauge would make sense. I don't think it's an act of disrespect but just common sense. It's probably just the prosses.
