Trouble - By Appointment

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the appointment of the referee is proving a decisive factor in the outcome of certain Premiership games and there are many people who believe that some clubs are beginning to exert a quite inappropriate influence in an effort to pressurise some of those appointments.

Take Manchester United’s crucial clash with Champions Chelsea at Old Trafford for instance. It became apparent that Chelsea’s carping about Graham Poll would effectively disqualify him from securing this game, in spite of the fact that he is generally regarded as England’s most experienced and most able official, and as such the most suitable candidate for such a fixture.

It is reasonable to assume that Sir Alex Ferguson was not ecstatic about the omission of Poll, or the appointment of the relatively inexperienced Howard Webb, who has much to prove before he is generally regarded as one of our elite officials. And Webb’s failure to dismiss Ballack for two blatant elbowing incidents in the first three minutes of the game would have done nothing to allay his fears, neither would the general leniency towards Chelsea during the rest of the game. Cynics may therefore claim that Chelsea have succeeded in barring the appointment of a top official and benefited hugely from the shortcomings of his less capable replacement – an argument that is reinforced by the fact that even if Poll was to be debarred, either Steve Bennett or Alan Wiley would certainly have offered a more effective and appropriate alternative.

If inexperience can prove crucial in the outcome of some games, incompetence can be decisive in others. Bolton Wanderers game against Arsenal was entrusted to Mike Dean, thick of thigh and of head, an official in the Uriah Rennie mould and much inclined to interpret the laws according to his mood. So when Davies pushed Eboue to the ground in the 20th minute, deliberately and violently, he should have been dismissed, but a benevolent Dean deemed this offence worthy only of a yellow card. There is no doubt that the prospect of a Bolton victory would have been adversely affected by the loss of Davies’ services for 70 minutes, and some referees might even have reduced 10 men to 9 in the light of Fortune’s challenge on Theo Walcott in the 37th minute. There is equally no doubt that a more competent linesman would have disallowed Anelka’s second goal on the grounds that he was clearly offside and that, together with the absence of Davies (and possibly Fortune), coupled with Arsenal’s domination after half time, might well have swung the game their way.

These are not isolated examples. Neither is it a case of expecting referees to be supermen, immune from human error. All that is required is more care in the appointment of officials and a determination that those who frequently demonstrate that they are not up to Premiership standards are not permitted to continue to practice at this level.