League One Referees

Can we stop blaming referees for where we are?

 

Not just league 1.

PL and Championship as well.

No point going on about it like the sad Thornton on the Pulse.

Do something about it.

Saw Liverpool V Leicester the other day and Liverpool had a clear pen which wasn't given.

The standard of refs is poor put what can we do? Go down to the FA Headoffice and protest?

Suppose it's like boxing, just make sure it doesn't come down to a ref decision. Finish the game off.

Yesterday, Bradford City had chances! Only ourselves to blame for not winning.

 

Think the Pulse and Thornton are to blame for that mate.

Those that go to games understand it's not the refs fault.

 

Tough it's football.

Burnley clear pen, not given!

You're using the ref as an excuse.

Bradford City shouldn't be in this position. We only have ourselves to blame.

 

And it won’t be decided that way so don’t worry about it. If we go down it’s bevause we deserve it

 

Referees in championship, L1 and L2 are all rotated between the 3

 

It's just as bad in the PL as well mate.

 

Not sure the fact that referees make shocking decisions and the fact that we're having a shocking season are linked.

 

It happens every season.

 

VAR costs a lot of money and I am concerned it will ruin the atmosphere at PL games.

Sorry but PL refs miss massive decisions. I have given you two examples already.

 

Firstly, a team ends up where it deserves to be particularly over an extended period of time i.e. a season. We cannot blame the officials for where we currently are - though admittedly some apparently poor decisions haven’t helped. Doesn’t make it right but take yesterday’s game though - looks like we should have had a pen, but so should they by the looks of things.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to ensure refereeing standards are as high as possible, but you’ve alluded to the big problem - money.

EFL refs (at least in L1 and L2) are not professional, they get a few hundred quid per game and of course no guarantee they’ll get a game every week.

At our level they’re the only ‘amateurs’ on the field (though our players have been doing a pretty good job this season of playing to that level). All the technology and ‘professionalism’ goes to the top league where all the money is. As usual, we’re left as the also-rans.

There simply isn’t the money at our level, without - probably - significant subsidies from (ironically) the EPL, to implement any of it. The FA don’t provide the money for clubs to have goal line technology etc, it has to be bought by the clubs.

So what do you do - accept officials at our level will make occasional perceived mistakes and get on with it, or petition the EFL/EPL for money that will never come? Because to foot the bill alone for pro refs in L1 and L2, you’d be looking at doubling (at the very least) the current total outlay on officials to pay a worthwhile salary.

Bear in mind that whilst a handful of decisions we’ve seen have probably been clearly incorrect (with subsequent analysis), often it will be subjective and supporter/player knowledge of the laws can often leave a lot to be desired.

 

The vast majority of what Thornton claims is or was a clear penalty/foul/handball/offside is not borne out on TV replays. Quite often he's either proved wrong or it's an extremely close call, so close that with the video replay it's difficult to decide what the correct decision is. Occasionally he gets it right. Obviously some decisions are so blatantly wrong that it is difficult to understand how the official got it so wrong, that's pretty rare though. They make mistakes, split second decisions. Players make bad mistakes in games all the time. Don't know why anyone would expect the refs to be free of bad mistakes.

 

We can complain about our Refs but arguably Chelsea got a penalty instead of a free kick and that non-penalty decision for Burnley???   You could laugh if it wasn't so awful!!!

 

Well I would like some clarity on that process, published online. It was my understanding that those that got poor scores were downgraded to L1/2.

The EFL need to pay for tech support for their league, and I have no qualms in saying that. ALL money coming into all football is funded by the fans in one format or another. Yes individual clubs have billionaires and millionaires funding their individual clubs, but this is not shares throughout the leagues. BUT the SKY, NOW, BT, ITV, BBC and all other monies goes into the PL and EFL, FA. It is their rules running football, and it is their responsibility to make sure that refs are fully supported with all the tech that can assist, and stop living in the past!

 

@Jason McKeown please tell you mate Thornton to stop bashing the refs on the Pulse

It's highly embarrassing.

Bradford City are in the mess they're in because of Bradford City not the refs.

The whole world knows that refs need to improve.