Football Standards
Pelé didn't call football a "beautiful game" without good reason. Played well, and played fairly, it can be mesmerising. But too often we are being let down by poor decisions from referees which not only costs teams valuable points but a potential position in the league.
If technology was introduced during matches, there would be no excuse for such stupid mistakes; like the one that saw Fulham denied a last minute penalty after a foul everyone in the stadium saw, except the referee. Football standards need to be reviewed by the governing bodies, and this is why, two weeks ago, I spoke out by writing to the FA and FAPL. More recent mistakes have angered me further, and so on Wednesday, I issued the following statement on my Club's website.
Statement:
The FA’s problem in addressing this pivotal situation is that it has too much power. Where else can decision-makers (referees) escape all responsibility to admit serious and blatant errors and have the protesters (the football clubs involved) fined on charges of misconduct?
The losses that we incur from such careless decisions have a huge impact and can have calamitous consequences. Referees are all too easily influenced by the more powerful clubs and individual owners which calls into question the integrity of both them, and the governing body that they report to.
We need brave, pioneers in the Premier League, the FA and within the Premier League shareholder group. In the past I wrote to highlight the need for the Premier League to lead the way with the introduction of video technology. After many years, it appears that the Premier League has admitted I was correct all along.
It is time for the Premier League to wake up. They have been in a coma for a long time. Lots of clubs are suffering from such stupid decisions. Advanced technology is available and it is evidently being used in other sports.
Once again I call for action to review the standard of officials, and the transparency of the processes by which referees are allocated to games.