Interesting piece on footballunlimited.com about PL referees.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2001

Answers

Quite enlightening that Ciara. Can't see how they can keep players' reputaions out of it though. Do they work on the basis that all players are cheats and give only those even a referee can't ignore, or punish every dive regardless. Anything in between only makes them look inconsistent.

No mention of their feelings on electronic assistance. That's one advance I think the game's crying out for.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Very interesting piece. The most interesting bit for me was O'Dreary winding up Alan Smith before the game - only to publicly villify him afterwards for getting sent off. Tosser!

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

That bit about them talking about diving is particularly interesting. There were several bookings for diving at the weekend. I saw one in an FA Cup game where the player had been caught, tried to stay on his feet but stumbled and was booked for diving!

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

I wonder if facing a grilling in front of their peers is making the refs more paranoid and susceptible to daft decisions? I think it's a good idea that they are held accountable for their decisions and that it's used as a learning tool. It's not easy having your mistakes held up to peer scrutiny. Perhaps it will just take time to get used to it.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001