Why it is right to stick up for the wronged men in the middle

Why it is right to stick up for the wronged men in the middle

Can we not just accept a referee's mistake for what it is – human error? It is only in England where the perception of English referees is poor

It is almost 40 years since World Soccer Referee, Jack Taylor's autobiography, was published, but perhaps its foreword is worth bearing in mind now it seems there is virtually nobody left in the modern game who wants to speak on behalf of the people officiating our games. "Referees have the most difficult job in the world. They've got to make split-second decisions and don't have the chance to sit back and ponder what they should do. I fear that, at times, we managers feel referees should be absolutely perfect for 90 minutes and that everything has to be dead right every second of the game. Yet we can't get this as managers. We don't always pick the right team, carry out the right training method and book the right hotels. Players don't put every pass right, and coaches don't always bring youngsters through as they should. So we're wrong in expecting referees to be perfect when we're not perfect ourselves. "They are the words, believe it or not, of Don Revie, a man hardly renowned for making life easy for referees during his Leeds United years. Yet Revie made some fine points that still feel relevant now, at a time when so many managers are choosing an entirely different option, stockpiling grievances, convincing themselves they are the victims of a prolonged injustice and that it is different for every other team. Even before we get to the issue of whatever was said or not to Mikel John Obi, there is no doubt Mark Clattenburg made a significant error sending off Fernando Torres last Sunday and that, for Chelsea, there were considerable repercussions. It happens, it is an unshakeable fact of football life and it must be annoying for the people involved. Yet Roberto Di Matteo had had several days of reflection before his assessment later in the week that it was always Chelsea who lost out. "We just want to be treated fairly," he said. Then he cited another disputed red card, for José Bosingwa, during a game at QPR last season. "It's incredible that it always hits Chelsea football club." In fairness to Di Matteo, he is not the only manager afflicted by the why-always-us germ. Brendan Rodgers has told us several times that it is always Liverpool. Kenny Dalglish used to say the same to anyone who cared to listen when he was at Anfield, even putting on a Powerpoint presentation one day to try to validate his argument. Tony Pulis would like us to know it is always Stoke, and Mike Riley, running the Professional Game Match Officials, still has the letter Brian Marwood sent him last season complaining that it was always Manchester City. Around the same time, Patrick Vieira, one of Marwood's colleagues, said he did not want to entertain the idea there was an agenda against the club, but then did precisely that. "You are asking yourself if something is wrong, if people don't want us to win the league," Vieira said. "It feels like anything City do will be amplified and punished, compared to the other teams and other players."Perhaps it would not be so tiresome were it not that, amid this stampede to be seen as permanently wronged, the relevant clubs, managers and supporters conveniently ignore anything that does not fall into the narrative. In Liverpool's case, say, they have legitimate grievances about some of the decisions that have gone against Luis Suárez this season. They also overlook that he should have been sent off at Everton last Sunday and, at times, it has felt like the classic diversion tactic. Liverpool, in 2012, have taken 28 points from 28 matches, losing 14 and winning seven. Since the Bill Shankly era, only one other Liverpool manager, Roy Hodgson, has had a worse start than Rodgers's total of 10 points from his first nine league games. Throw in a Capital One Cup defeat at home to Swansea and, all things considered, it probably suits Rodgers if the talk is about referees and hard-luck stories. But nobody sticks up for the man in the middle. Never mind the fact the PGMO assessors, using independent Prozone statistics, have concluded 93% of refereeing decisions this season have been correct (99% for offsides). Or that England is one of only three countries to have three referees – Howard Webb, Martin Atkinson and Clattenburg – on Fifa's elite list. Which is why, incidentally, a dozen or so referees from the J-League are over here now to see what they can learn. Others arrive soon from the Australian and Asian federations. It is only in England where the perception of English referees is poor. The profession has certainly come under extreme scrutiny since a serious one-off allegation, denied by Clattenburg, has somehow morphed into a wider debate, often hostile, about the faults of our referees – the sense, perhaps, that they want to be too cosy with the players, and maybe even crave a share of the fame. It doesn't actually work that way at all. How many times have you seen a referee in Hello! lately? When was the last time you saw a referee take part in any form of interview? It simply doesn't happen. PGMO rules stop officials from doing any media duties and, if you didn't know that, it's probably because, well, they don't like to talk about it. All we really know about the referees – their personalities, their family lives, their accents, their backgrounds – is very little beyond guesswork and assumptions. So an opinion of Clattenburg is formed on the basis that he is from the north-east but has that all-year tan and, heaven forbid, used to own a BMW X5. The caricature is of someone who wants to be the star, the big I am, waving to people from his car. Except that's what it is: a caricature. Back in the real world, the people who actually know him properly say he is a fairly private man who just wishes, among other things, that the television crews would get off his front lawn. As for the motor, I suspect I'm not alone in finding it preferable to see someone in his 30s, at the top of his profession, driving around in a nice car rather than some of the kids in football these days who have barely played a game yet still have the keys to any number of dream machines. Sometimes, yes, referees don't help themselves. Their body language can grate (I'm thinking of you, Mike Dean). Maybe Riley, as the top man, should come out publicly more often to offer their side. It was slightly disconcerting, too, to see the way Mark Halsey greeted Gary Cahill before a match at Chelsea last season, bear-hugging like old pals. Halsey used to train at Bolton Wanderers, Cahill's former club, and in football's bubble of paranoia it is probably not surprising questions have been asked about the rights and wrongs of it. The bigger point, however, is that the persecution complex is never attractive in any walk of life. Referees make mistakes and sometimes they can have damaging consequences. Sometimes it might come in a cluster and compound the sense of grievance and, when that happens, a manager is probably entitled to the occasional blow-out. But can we not just accept it for what it is – human error – rather than insinuating there is something more to it?

Balotelli the Ballon d'Or contender – on what grounds?

Perhaps the good people at Fifa and France Football might be decent enough to explain on what grounds Mario Balotelli made it on to the 23-man Ballon d'Or shortlist to be recognised as the best footballer on the planet. Presumably it has to be his two goals for Italy against Germany in the Euro 2012 semi-final. It cannot have been how he did in the final, and surely it has little to do with his performances as Manchester City's third or fourth-choice striker. The lasting memory of Balotell in 2012 is still that April day at Arsenal when he was a red card waiting to happen and Roberto Mancini virtually disowned him. Balotelli has started 12 league games, been suspended for seven and a substitute for the rest. Which hardly puts him in the Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo category. Or even the next rung down. Balotelli is not the only rogue name on the list. Gerard Piqué, for instance, has just had his least distinguished year for Barcelona. As for the coaches' award, Sir Alex Ferguson's name seems to be there as a matter of habit rather than real achievement in the year Manchester United squandered an eight-point lead in the Premier League and did not even get to the Champions League knockout stages. The winners will be announced in Zurich on 7 January and this correspondent's vote would be for Lionel Messi (surprise, surprise), plus Roberto Di Matteo as the top coach on the basis of his transformation of Chelsea. A pity, though, the organisers could have not taken a bit more care in putting together a shortlist that would make it feel they had actually put some proper thought into it.

Wasteful United still left holding the Bébé

One of these days it would be nice to think the full story will comes out about what possessed Manchester United to sign Bébé without anyone from Old Trafford seeing him play. Whatever the truth, the story just goes from bad to worse. Bébé travelled to Stamford Bridge for the Capital One Cup tie against Chelsea on Wednesday but watched from the stands, no longer considered good enough even on the nights when Sir Alex Ferguson plays the reserves. Bébé was not helped by a serious knee injury during an aborted loan spell at Besiktas but he is over it now and has not made it on to the bench for United this season. Tuesday will mark the two‑year anniversary since his second and last appearance in the Premier League, both as a substitute. He was left out of United's 25-man Champions League squad and his contribution so far is recognised in a YouTube video entitled "The Bébé crossing show". It lasts almost three minutes, featuring 11 of his deliveries – eight go straight out of play, three hit defenders. Bébé, to recap, cost £7.4m with Jorge Mendes, United's go-to agent, taking 30% for his GestiFute agency. Just remember that the next time Ferguson talks about the "kamikaze" spending of Manchester City or Chelsea.

sumber: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/nov/03/stick-up-men-in-middle