No sympathy for Anthony Taylor

[Woolly Mammoth]

Problem I have is refs constantly giving what their eyes didn't see! Taylor is one of the worst, but I detect a "I'm one of the elite refs so I can do anything" superiority in his style over the years. During Howard Webb's reffing days it was said , a ref can be seen looking straight at an infringement but one cannot prove he saw it, like when Kavanagh saw Luke Shaw push Mitrovic in the back in that FA Cup match.

I remember when he was simply the one referee who would upset fans and his opposition for the day more extremely than any other referee. That advanced him up the ranks as the teams he helped were the ones Sky & the FA wanted to help. As Mammoth called it corruption.

As to Mammoth, one accepts it was a banter beyond reproach and one is pleased the 5 red cards have been rescinded as I would not like to feel as persecuted as Mitrovic is. I do wonder sometimes, if Woolly Mammoth in reality is a bald-headed clean shaven 5' 2" halfling is his stockinged feet!

You wish Mr Bateman you wish, it's 5' 3" actually and if it pleases you to imagine that then by all means.
Also i am getting worried about your mental state admitting to imagining me in stockings, whatever next.
As for The referee Mr Taylor may i suggest you give the man a break, because if you wish to castigate anyone regarding that Final he recently officiated.
Try turning your frustrations on Mourinho as he is the real villain of the peace.

[Rufus Brevetts Tracksuit]

As much as Taylor irritates me as chief of the group of pompous "Look at me, look at how important I am" referees who seem to think the game is all about them, Moronio is one of the most despicable individuals football has inflicted on us over the last twenty years. He's an absolute disgrace of a human being.

He needs a lengthy ban, and Roma need suspending from European football for a few years

[toshes mate]

Nick Bateman has every right to express his opinion like all of us. Those who disagree have a right to express that disagreement too. 

We are all a part of the reason why football is in a mess since we are a part of the game's investment and our freedom to record our feelings is what makes life what it is and can last long after we have passed along. 

Does Anthony Taylor cheat at least som of the time because he is not acting as a professonal but making personal assumptions, allowances, or adjustments in his head for whatever reason. How would anyone know? Sport is full of cheats and the professional game is full of professional cheats.  We know that and yet we still take pot shots at some opinions which may have a lot more going for them than flag waving.  Taylor should not be a top class official in any game let alone professional football but he is - go figure who of us are a part of the problem and you will find we all are.

Another two faced thread which makes me want to retch.

IMO.


   

[Nick Bateman]

Nick Bateman has every right to express his opinion like all of us. Those who disagree have a right to express that disagreement too. 

We are all a part of the reason why football is in a mess since we are a part of the game's investment and our freedom to record our feelings is what makes life what it is and can last long after we have passed along. 

Does Anthony Taylor cheat at least som of the time because he is not acting as a professonal but making personal assumptions, allowances, or adjustments in his head for whatever reason. How would anyone know? Sport is full of cheats and the professional game is full of professional cheats.  We know that and yet we still take pot shots at some opinions which may have a lot more going for them than flag waving.  Taylor should not be a top class official in any game let alone professional football but he is - go figure who of us are a part of the problem and you will find we all are.

Another two faced thread which makes me want to retch.

IMO.


   

Amen.

[We Are Premier League]

I think the only way to raise the quality of referees is to quadruple their salaries. Take 10m off the PL price money and spend it on safety and salaries for the refs. Unless its a super attractive job, you will never get the talents to stick with it. Money talks.

[McBrideOfFrankenstein]

Really interested to see how some of the biggest critics on this board would do reffing a game. I guarantee it would considerably lessen their vitriol. It's about as easy as shooting pool with wet spaghetti.

No one is censoring their right to express their opinion, imo it's just boring to constantly hear about. Reffing is part of the game and still mostly done by humans, and in my opinion the current standard is pretty impressive. With very, very rare exceptions, refs seem to me to be well intentioned professionals.

[Rupert]

I think the only way to raise the quality of referees is to quadruple their salaries. Take 10m off the PL price money and spend it on safety and salaries for the refs. Unless its a super attractive job, you will never get the talents to stick with it. Money talks.

The problem is, this was the original idea of having this elite pool of relatively well paid refs. According to many, the standards are lower than ever.

The only way referees get to the top is by putting in the hours in the lower leagues. They are constantly being assessed and reviewed. Paying more will not raise the standard of candidate. What will raise the standard is having a wider pool of talent to pick from, which means those who otherwise merely criticise actually going out and having a go themselves.

It will never happen, no matter how much you pay them.

[Southcoastffc]

The biggest problem with referees is their employers who, for years, have undermined their authority. Whatever happened to 'the referee is the sole arbiter of the game'?  Even before VAR, the FA failed to back referees and does anyone really believe that VAR has helped referees?

[alfie]

Sometimes it's the same old story of what is a foul and what isn't, you view an incident from one side of the ground and shout "that was never a foul", yet people on the other side get a different view and say "was a clear foul". Like supporters he gets one view and gives what he feels he has seen, of course if you are on the first side he is considered rubbish or incompetent, or the new bus word with referree's corrupt.

[Lester Burnham]

Really interested to see how some of the biggest critics on this board would do reffing a game. I guarantee it would considerably lessen their vitriol. It's about as easy as shooting pool with wet spaghetti.

No one is censoring their right to express their opinion, imo it's just boring to constantly hear about. Reffing is part of the game and still mostly done by humans, and in my opinion the current standard is pretty impressive. With very, very rare exceptions, refs seem to me to be well intentioned professionals.

This, I agree.

[Nick Bateman]

So what was Marco Silva insinuating in his post match Man.U FA Cup press con? And I agree with Marco, btw.

[toshes mate]

The biggest problem with referees is their employers who, for years, have undermined their authority. Whatever happened to 'the referee is the sole arbiter of the game'?  Even before VAR, the FA failed to back referees and does anyone really believe that VAR has helped referees?

Absolutely agree with this in its entirety. A referee with the weight of the game on their shoulders has an enormous task and will, by taking it seriously, add value to the job. The fA has failed miserably as a regulator and employer in setting an example and it is that which is the signal curse. The FA haven't bred decent referees for decades - all they have produced are bastard children because that is all they are capable of.  They have no standards of decency to uphold.

[toshes mate]

Sometimes it's the same old story of what is a foul and what isn't, you view an incident from one side of the ground and shout "that was never a foul", yet people on the other side get a different view and say "was a clear foul". Like supporters he gets one view and gives what he feels he has seen, of course if you are on the first side he is considered rubbish or incompetent, or the new bus word with referree's corrupt.

By the laws of the game a foul happens when the referee says it does. What is missing from the dialogue is why something that was a foul with one referee isn't a foul with another. That is when the game is falling apart at the seams because nobody has bothered to patch it up.  I am still waiting for a cogent explanation as to why the assualt by Luke Shaw on Mitro wasn't a foul apart from the old "referee is the final arbiter" which is the screen to hide behind rather than a moment to let all of us become better referees by showing us what where we are gong wrong (as in "Well Luke plays for Man U and Man U don't do ...").  The FA stink and it is time to clean them out of the game and allow us to entertain a golden age of referees.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Sometimes it's the same old story of what is a foul and what isn't, you view an incident from one side of the ground and shout "that was never a foul", yet people on the other side get a different view and say "was a clear foul". Like supporters he gets one view and gives what he feels he has seen, of course if you are on the first side he is considered rubbish or incompetent, or the new bus word with referree's corrupt.

By the laws of the game a foul happens when the referee says it does. What is missing from the dialogue is why something that was a foul with one referee isn't a foul with another. That is when the game is falling apart at the seams because nobody has bothered to patch it up.  I am still waiting for a cogent explanation as to why the assualt by Luke Shaw on Mitro wasn't a foul apart from the old "referee is the final arbiter" which is the screen to hide behind rather than a moment to let all of us become better referees by showing us what where we are gong wrong (as in "Well Luke plays for Man U and Man U don't do ...").  The FA stink and it is time to clean them out of the game and allow us to entertain a golden age of referees.

The FA have a hidden Agenda in conjunction with the Referees Association.
The consequences are for all to see.
Add the fact that Officials including the Linos who are close to the crowd will be intimidated by the crowds at Anfield and Old Trafford for example and soil their pants, so they would rather upset the smaller club than their Star Clubs.
Add the love in by Sky and the BBC from the profusion of pundits who are in the main ex  Man Utd and Liverpool.
Then you have a cocktail of disrepute, corruption and politically correct stench with a sick bucket to carry it in.

[RaySmith]

The FA, in trying to get what they see is making the game more attractive to a mass tv audience, and modern sensibilities -

would 'Chopper' Harris, 'Bite yer legs' Norman  Hunter and 'Killer' Keetch, typical of the characters we got in the game, be heroes of the modern game - well, they'd be sent off after their first tackle today-

has fiddled about with the rules, like handball and off-side, and crucially, what is a foul? so that no one understands what the rules actually are, and there is so much subjectivity around decisions, that no one in the game knows where they are - what is a foul. or handball or off-side.
And I can see that  refs have a very difficult job today, and VAR makes this even more difficult.

There is also the fact that many see the big clubs, so rich and powerful, and attracting a worldwide global tv audience, having so much power that the authorities are somehow biased towards them, including refs, even if unconsciously;

and frightened to upset them, with their managers always ready to challenge any decision against them, and seemingly getting away with it,

[toshes mate]

Really interested to see how some of the biggest critics on this board would do reffing a game. I guarantee it would considerably lessen their vitriol. It's about as easy as shooting pool with wet spaghetti.

No one is censoring their right to express their opinion, imo it's just boring to constantly hear about. Reffing is part of the game and still mostly done by humans, and in my opinion the current standard is pretty impressive. With very, very rare exceptions, refs seem to me to be well intentioned professionals.

And the fact you are so imprssed is a major reason why we need these debates because I see very little in present day football that is going to hold my attention span in the way football did nearly eighty years ago with half way decent referees paid a pittance and often requiring police escorts from games ...

[Oakeshott]

"does anyone really believe that VAR has helped referees?"

Not as it stands, but it could do if its role was confined to one thing, determining whether a ball has gone fully over the line and into the goal.

No ref can get that right if the ball is significantly in front of him and it is marginal, and having VAR rule on that and that alone would I think assist refs and not undermine their role, and avoid the errors which, though rarely, occur.

Give refs back their authority but then hold them to account IF a club wants to appeal (after the match) what it sees as a dubious decision with a costly consequence. Get too many appeals accepted (by an independent panel with a former top ref as adviser) and the  ref concerned needs to be relegated.

[toshes mate]

Referees already wear watches that have an alert buzzer which goes off when the ball has completely crossed the goal line. VAR can produce a nice ad hoc graphic of the event which is not however to any scale known to reality since the monitors and broadcast signal are physically limited by the system and cannot be reliably enlarged.  Any enlargement is in effect an example of Artificial Intelligence. The watch however is just smart ...