Support Not Happy With Referee’s Performance

I have had a few things to say about officials, especially referees, since I claimed the editorial hot seat.

My general view is that the standard of referees has been on the decline for many a year and looks set to continue.

I have always said that the best referees are those that you never notice, those that let the game flow, those that halt play only when its necessary and those that get a grip on my pet hates of diving and time wasting as early as possible.

Following the 2-1 defeat at The Stadium of Light, yesterday, at the hands of promotion chasing Middlesbrough, the referee, Jeremy Simpson, didn’t exactly cover himself in glory, if you read the posts left by Luton Town supporters:

2-1 to the referee

— Callum🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine (@callumLtfc) March 5, 2022

He was shocking mate.

— Simon Higgens (@simon_higgens) March 5, 2022

We’ve seen some poor refs in the Championship, but todays was a joke.

— Stalte (@Stalte3) March 5, 2022

But was he any worse than those we’ve been saddled with this season is my big question to you?

Continuing, on an officiating subject, VAR is used at Premier League matches, and I’ve always felt it unfair that there are different levels of rules for the different leagues, but has VAR improved the situation?

Viewing the Carabao Cup Final last weekend, I saw a goal, scored by Romelu Lukaku, that was given as offside by VAR, yesterday Sadio Mane scored a goal, for Liverpool, that looked identical to the Lukaku goal when he was given offside but the Liverpool player was ruled onside!

I guess there will always be dodgy decisions but are they highlighted more with the saturation TV coverage of our game?

Time to bring back a few of those witty ditty’s relating to referees methinks.

COYH’s