WHAT'S THE ANSWER/

[Lozzle1]

Ok...so (for my sins, maybe!) I'm a 48-year Supporter of this club. I go 'way back' to a time when you could stand on the Kop terraces and have a convo with your mates in the Lane, end, during play!

We attended 'pea soup' night matches and (understandably) if you were close enough to see/recognise a lino/Ref's 'mistake'; then you excused them/it, simply because of the 'conditions' at the time.

This past Season, however, we've all watched what I consider to be some VERY UNFAIR and proper DOOZIES - from both linesmen and Ref's - that I'd go as far as to say, have a) cost us a Top Three/automatic place/promotion; in addition to (guesstimate) an additional 10 - 15 points that wrongful, abysmal, dire and not-fit-for-purpose calls, have robbed us of! (Not least (as beautifully explained in another article here, by Joe) the recently televised play-off's against CCFC, have demonstrated just how (many) wrong decisions, over two matches, turn EVERYTHING around!

I've heard the 'moans' - mostly from opponents and those who wish us ill-will - that KN, AH, all of us, who witness it and complain, weekly, should "just get over it, that's football"; but my questions now, in 2018 (not the 70's) are:-

1.   Should we expect less-than totally professional and CORRECT decisions from officials - part-time or otherwise?

2.   Should the FA and EFL be doing 'more' to ensure 'fairness' in football?

3.   With NO/NOT ONE/NONE of the Officials at the World Cup from the UK, is this downturn something we should be accepting of?

4.   Is the 'answer' for each Club to offer to pay for training/continuous 'education'/wages of officials (obvs not to officiates at their 'home clubs' games)?

5.   Are you happy to pay to watch 'more of the same' in the coming Season?

6.   What do you think should be done to change the situation?

[liampie]

1.   Should we expect less-than totally professional and CORRECT decisions from officials - part-time or otherwise?

if the games a professional sport, so should be the officials.

2.   Should the FA and EFL be doing 'more' to ensure 'fairness' in football?

of course, if players can get suspensions after games then so should officials and any unfairness should be resolved.

3.   With NO/NOT ONE/NONE of the Officials at the World Cup from the UK, is this downturn something we should be accepting of?

no, we should have the very best officials and its shocking that we dont have any.

4.   Is the 'answer' for each Club to offer to pay for training/continuous 'education'/wages of officials (obvs not to officiates at their 'home clubs' games)?

i dont think fans can officiate games that they may have a connection to but i dont really understand the question.  

5.   Are you happy to pay to watch 'more of the same' in the coming Season?

i support my club and thats what i pay, i would hope for better officials but every season is different.

6.   What do you think should be done to change the situation?

maybe officials should be rated and then this judgement reflects what games they can officiate? if they fall below the quality set outright by the league, then they should be demoted. if they do well then they will be rewarded with stability.

[Countyman]

We can't keep complaining about officials, yes they can be extremely poor but the decisions work both ways. How many decisions cost us points this past season? The players have to get on with things. If they played to their ability the decisions should not cost us at the end of the day. Until we get out of League Two I dont think we can expect higher standards.

[Fan of Big Tone 𝕏 @mainstandpie]

All referees should be professionals, they should have training and constant assessments of their ability, the stakes are so high these days that wrong decisions can cost clubs dearly. Maybe more ex players should become referees but then there would be problems with them reffing teams they played for but at least they've played the game and know the problems.

Mind you if refs were perfect all the time all the fun would be taken out of the game, I love to boo the ref off when he's had a bad game. 

[Lozzle1]

4.   Is the 'answer' for each Club to offer to pay for training/continuous 'education'/wages of officials (obvs not to officiates at their 'home clubs' games)?

i dont think fans can officiate games that they may have a connection to but i dont really understand the question. 

Liampie... By this, I meant, should Clubs take responsibility to pay for, the training (i.e. fitness standards)/continuous education and wages, of (say) three Officials each season to allow them to become full-time Professionals? Obviously, they would't be able to officiate at any of the clubs that 'sponsor' them, but it would ensure a) they get the training/education they need b) they'd be full-time and able to fully concentrate on being 'at their best' and c) I believe there'd be less room for 'costly error'.

Like I said, with the current opportunity for use of technology (VAR/Monitors for 4th Official/s) I really don't expect to see the poor decision-making I watched this past Season and/or experience the 'costs' to us, again.

I don't expect, either, to 'move on' when decisions have actually 'cost' us points...which no one attending matches (home AND away, as I have this past Season) can deny that they HAVE!!!

[Magic magpie]

I have to say not wanting to go on at length but the refs this season have been nothing sort of awful .. and as it’s the efl league it  should be down to then to train and make sure standards are kept and every game no matter the league is treated the same. It is not down to teams to pay for training the league is not named after them. Awful officiating and lack of training has rob teams of success and needs to stop. So regular training is required and they need to sort things out because why should league 2 or 1 be treated differently from championship. With The induction var the ref need training on that as well.

 

[liampie]

21 minutes ago, Lozzle1 said:

Liampie... By this, I meant, should Clubs take responsibility to pay for, the training (i.e. fitness standards)/continuous education and wages, of (say) three Officials each season to allow them to become full-time Professionals? Obviously, they would't be able to officiate at any of the clubs that 'sponsor' them, but it would ensure a) they get the training/education they need b) they'd be full-time and able to fully concentrate on being 'at their best' and c) I believe there'd be less room for 'costly error'.

arent some of the taxes clubs get billed by the football league and fa used to pay for the match officials?

i don't think sponsoring refs wold be a good at all, it would lead to corruption imo.

[DangerousSausage]

Refereeing decisions cost us big time in the play-offs. The answer to that is to finish in the top three - the play-offs are a lottery where your entire season can be decided by a fluky deflection or a poor decision.

What we all love about football is the human factor. People make mistakes. Keepers drop crosses, defenders scuff clearances, opposition strikers miss penalties and the better team doesn't always win (the FA Cup would be no fun at all if they did). Officials are human too and that's part of the package.

That's not to say that things can't be improved, refs should be as accurate as possible. But what I don't want is the ref consulting video footage every few minutes - the German cup final was stopped twice for this (once in the midst of a goal celebration) and he got one of them wrong anyway!

[CliftonMagpie]

I think officials pay should be performance based, this way if they want to be professional they would have to act like it.

Really it's down to the FA to sort the standard out.

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

I think the majority of referees are actually okay, it's just those who have limited seasons and games behind them - this is where the inexperience shows for me. Yet officials need to be punished for making mistakes and, I do feel it would be in the benefit for all if they were 'professionals'.

There needs to be something in place, perhaps if they make a certain number of mistakes they get demoted and forced to attend training?

I don't think they should be punished too harshly, as to be fair mistakes are easy to make but the officials we had in the playoffs made some very baffling calls which in my opinion seemed quite bizarre (very biased). Usually in the league they aren't as bad, perhaps the occasions got to them but the standard needs to be improved. I don't like how officials are quickly becoming 'icons' and known for their positions, they're not a footballer and the attention some get is very unwarranted. I think this is part of the problem, when officials feel that we are there to watch them.

Some act like they thrive on the attention.