• This is a reminder of 3 IMPORTANT RULES:

    1- External self-promotion websites or apps are NOT allowed here, like Discord/Twitter/Patreon/etc.

    2- Do NOT post in other languages. English-only.

    3- Crack/Warez/Piracy talk is NOT allowed.

    Breaking any of the above rules will result in your messages being deleted and you will be banned upon repetition.

    Please, stop by this thread SoccerGaming Forum Rules And Guidelines and make sure you read and understand our policies.

    Thank you!

Official Referee Bitchfest Thread!!! [R]

Seán D

fm prodigy
I think this thread is now needed, due to the idiocy now between the Eniglish Premier League Referees.

Fair enough, Mascherano desereved to be sent off. But he would not have gone over if it wasn't for the petty yellow card to Torres. Killed the game there and then. I'm a Man Utd fan aswell. Bennett never had control of the game and from the first tackle from Mascherano it was clear he was looking to send someone off. Trying to make an example of players just because Mike Riley didn't do his job properly and send Ashley Cole off during the week.

It's ridiculous. Every week you think the refs have gone as low as they can go, but alas, they're still digging. :S
 

tim5303

Youth Team
I'm a Liverpool fan and whilst annoyed at the referee I am more annoyed at Mascherano for putting himself in the position where the ref could send him off.

Fair enough he asked what Torres got booked for, but it wasn't his job to do it, if anyone it was Gerrards.

For a Man U-Liverpool game I felt it was a bit tame normally there are a load more tackles going in, so being sent off for disent is strange to say the least
 

easyeasyeasy

Senior Squad
I agree that Gerrard, as captain, should have questioned Bennett's decision to book Torres, but as Denny correctly stated, and anyone who watched Sky's coverage would have heard from Andy Gray's rant, its all down to the Cashley Cole affair in midweek in which Bennett was the fourth official and took absolutely zero action when he should have done.

As Gray said on TV, the referees association must have bollocked Bennett for not doing his job properly, so to make up for this he thinks hes doing right by doing what he did at Old Trafford yesterday. Only he wasn't right and once again made the match a complete spectacle and my words at the time was that Liverpool had no chance playing ten men against twelve. I've never rated Bennett, I just think of him as a useless incompetent bald tw*t with an ego that is almost on par with one Graham Poll, a ref who goes by his own rule book rather than what his paymakers set out.

I've said it before and will say it again, the biggest problem with officials is their inconsistency.
 

easyeasyeasy

Senior Squad
Oh and another thing, going slightly off the subject of Bennett, another referee who should be facing the rath from the referees association is Mark Halsey...

Why? Well its as if he too has his own unique interpretation of the rules, that being, according to him, if a player passes the ball back to an opponent who is in an offside position, then that player is STILL offside, when in the official rules, he's played ONSIDE.

Last week it was Arsenal, this week Everton....... and in both cases the linesmen involved were at fault but he failed to use his authority as the referee to overrule them DESPITE being only yards from play and being able to decide for himself, which makes him just as bad, if not worse than his assistants. As a result we may well have seen a title challenger and a team in the chase for fourth place respectively losing out because of one of the most obvious rulings in the book.

Besides I think he's a crap referee anyway, tends to get in the way of the play 99.9% of the time and I've known many other fans to be infuriated by his performances.
 

newbie original

We apologize for keeping the yellow too long
Yellow Card
Player related:

I also feel that I was annoyed with the player...not really with the referee. Mascherano is an IDIOT! And Benitez is just as bad for backing him up.

There were so many things wrong with his reasoning...."WHAT HAS HAPPENED".....that's one of the stupidest things I;ve ever heard!!!....from the captain or anyone else! Actually, I have to admit.....the first time I read it, it made me laugh.

- Sure he looks like a feather, but Torres could have taken care of himself....he did not need someone else to "look after/protect him"
- It's a big game.....he's already on a yellow.....hello Captain Obvious!
- If he had half-a-brain (so to speak), he'd have known that (already trailing 1-0 and being outplayed AWAY from home) the NEXT game (against another hated rival) WOULD BECOME absolutely critical......and THAT game was already registering as a major obstacle on the radar (arguably, even bigger than this one)....he has now compromised his team's chances in THAT game by ruling himself out of it and potentially 3 MORE "games of destiny" for his club (latest is that FA is considering lengthy suspension)
..........He had 20 yards to process all of this information, but was overcome by rage....again, just seeing that expression on his face, made me laugh.

If you run 20 yards (not that you will, but) YOU DESERVE TO BE PUNCHED IN THE JAW, KNOCKED TO THE GROUND AND HAVE A STRAIGHT RED PRESENTED TO YOU WHILE YOU ARE LYING FLAT ON YOUR BACK!

(On a side note, neither Mascherano nor Torres dealt with the pressure of playing in a Liverpool-ManU game at Old Trafford. It was their first such game, and perhaps they were both TOO wound up and that resulted in the cards and their lack of effectiveness.)

Referee related:

- The player knew that dissent was the topic of the week and should have been careful to avoid it...21 other players on the field managed to do so
- It wasn't his place (or even the captain's) to question the referee...if it is that obvious that the decision was incorrect, it would most likely have been corrected after the game.....like Lampard's red card (would John Terry would have questioned the referee like that....highly unlikely!)

Conclusion: I did not find anything wrong with the referee's decision. Dissent should become an automatic yellow...whether its one word or a short story!

Consistency:

I thought he was fair in his treatment of Liverpool players. They vented their frustration and got what they deserved.

EDIT:
tim5303;2502594 said:
I'm a Liverpool fan...For a Man U-Liverpool game I felt it was a bit tame normally there are a load more tackles going in...

I think you should wait for the results of the scans on Torres to return before saying that! Furthermore, a weakness in his game may have been revealed...he may be as delicate as he looks, which is probably what caused the frustration leading to his yellow to trigger the mess....
 

easyeasyeasy

Senior Squad
Knob Styles............. well lets just say I've never rated this egoistic twunt in all the years I've been watching the game. I'm sure many have slated him on here for the charity shop penalty that Chelski got at Anfield earlier this season, but yesterday's bigger charity shop "gift" to Man City at Birmingham yesterday was even more idiotic. Even the most short-sighted viewer could see that Gary McSheffrey barged into Sun Jihai, but after bouncing off him and taking a tumble, cue the inept Mr Styles to promptly blow for a spot kick. Incredible.

Keith Hackett and his gang of cronies in the ivory towers of the referees association should relegate this tosser to the lower leagues (and preferably take Bennett and Halsey with him too).
 

Zakov

Senior Squad
well, for the referees that I wouldn't want to referee my team's game I'd probably mentioned Steve Bennett and Mike Dean, the rest I don't really have a problem with, except Graham Poll but he's retired so sod him.........

Steve Bennett could've actually warned Mascherano u know, but he was quite quick in pulling that card out, maybe if it was at Anfield he would'nt have done so.......

also the R.E.S.P.E.C.T thing is like a one-way solution really, referees also have to respect players as well, they have to understand that emotions run high in certain games and they should use their powers to ensure the game is played fairly(11 on 11), sending off a player only as a last resort(bad tackle or something).....something like Aliadere's appeal being called "frivolous" really shows the lack of respect the FA has for some Premier League clubs......

i think for Mascherano, it was because he ran the long distance and went too close to referee's face, I don't think he even knew how to swear properly..............Whood Happeeneed?!! hehe, nothing against him tho, great player for Argentina in the games I watched him in........

Furthermore, I think this thread should be called a Referee and Keith Hackett b1tchfest since its the his group who makes all these daft guidelines for the referees to follow, not all referees are twats, but the guys above them probably are........
 

easyeasyeasy

Senior Squad
As anyone who has watched football in the 80's and 90's would tell you, Keith Hackett wasn't exactly a good ref. His predecessor in the top referees committee job, Philip Don, was just as bad, if not worse. Bad teachers, bad pupils, you could argue.

We all thought the standard of refereeing would level itself out after Poll finally hung up that whistle, and that huge ego of his - the ego still exists, thankfully in the print of the newspaper pages rather than on the field but other poor referees out there are certainly making the most of his absence with wanting to be the centre of attention (especially Bennett).

The FA's stance on the appeals procedure is a complete joke you have to admit, not just the "frivolous" appeal from Aliadière but many other red card decisions that never were. Its as if they take the dosh paid up for the appeal, stick it in their fat pockets and chuck out the appeal without so much as giving it a proper review. That and the refs situation is something that the new "independent" chairman of the FA needs to iron out, quickly.

You could also argue that the problems with refereeing doesn't end with the FA. Blame a certain corrupt fat Swiss berk who is football's AIDS virus and his daft directives thrown left right and centre over the last 15 years.
 

Zakov

Senior Squad
Just a thought, if you look at Pierluigi Collina(who was one of the best, but he had ups and downs as well), he was once a footballer himself(albeit for a short while), maybe that helped him become a better referee since he probably knew what the players were experiencing on the pitch........I read in interview once that he had his own way of dealing with problematic players(like Keane vs Vieira), he would force them to shake hands and he would also study players who have a history of diving and bad discipline, I don't think thats the case with referees now currently, they just book players on impulse, its like they have a goal scored for each card they produce............yeah I know about Keith Hackett, watched him in some clips from some old VHS tape, but didn't see anything that amused me(1981 Cup Final City-Spuds), maybe I need to see more clips of him to find if he is as bad as you say.............
 

itsbeenpickedup

Youth Team
That Birmingham penalty is officially the worst penalty I've ever seen. Sure, there have been a lot of dives and unfair penalties, but that was just so obvious. He should probably never reff another game for that. Really, really bad penalty. Could he be corrupt? It really was that bad a decision that it could be suspicious.
 

easyeasyeasy

Senior Squad
Knob Styles got suspended from refereeing for a week after the charity shop penalty he gave to Chelski at Anfield. I reckon they should give him a two week suspension this time for that cock-up at St. Andrews.

Anyway back to Hackett, let's just say I reckon Father Carlos Hackett could do a better job of controlling the refs in the Prem! (H)
 

FFC2004

Senior Squad
I don't understand why players get booked for throwing the ball down, surely the referee would prefer the frustration be taken out by throwing the ball down than be used going into the next tackle.....
 

easyeasyeasy

Senior Squad
Seán Denny;2508379 said:
Mike Riley, you sir are a ****!
That's extremely rich coming from a Man Yoo supporter, eh 'Tater?... how many penalties did he give you in the 02/03 season? About 10 if I recall. (H)
 

easyeasyeasy

Senior Squad
I'm surprised AberdeenFC hasn't been in this thread after what happened at the weekend... the handball that never was!

*awaits shut up response from Denny* :taz2:
 

Seán D

fm prodigy
haha, don't get me started on these handballs!

I'm preparing this thread for Liverpool tonight, CL luck and all.
How will Liverpool cheat their way through this one?
 


Top