Referee

[Acido]

Theres always the accusations of biased refs as well Frogger, how many pens and other 'big' decisions do the top teams get!.

[DK_NY]

Acido, i agree it seems like refs are getting worse every season but i'm not sure they are. There are 2 other things to factor in :
1. Tv exposure. Outside of the premiership we rarely used to be able to watch our highlights back on tv. There used to be nothing, then the rare live game, then weekly goals programs, now ways of seeing several minutes highlights (i use the sky score centre app and see a couple of minutes from every game. In the past we'd have come home thinking the ref probably got it wrong but couldnt be sure and it would be forgotten. Now we have proof.
2. Cheating. First it was cheating foreigners, then cheating premiership, now its in all divisions. You get the impression some teams practice diving as often as they practice set pieces. When players perfect diving you can sympathise with refs.
Dont get me wrong, we do it too. I've often thought rotherham were naive in trying to play fair but we now dive as much as anyone, perhaps we saw the level playing field campaign pre match. I actually laughed out loud at several free kicks awarded TO my team yesterday which shows that Mr Salisbury doesnt have the excuses i'm making for some of his colleagues.

So i think theres always been bad reffing but cheating and media coverage make it seem worse.

[frogmiller]

You're 100% correct DK_NY about the exposure.

[Acido]

Diving has always happened in our game of course, but I think it was the foreigners who took it onto the next level.
Although when we had our one season in the Prem we found the biggest diving cheats were players like Alan Shearer & Michael Owen!.

[rolymiller]

Shockingly bad ref but we didn't deserve to win. They could have been 3 up before the disallowed goal so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

[mellowmiller]

Shockingly bad ref but we didn't deserve to win. They could have been 3 up before the disallowed goal so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

But they weren't 3 up were they so it would have mattered. To concede a goal right on half time might have knocked the stuffing out of them particularly as they had been on top up to that point.

[DK_NY]

Diving has always happened in our game of course, but I think it was the foreigners who took it onto the next level.
Although when we had our one season in the Prem we found the biggest diving cheats were players like Alan Shearer & Michael Owen!.

I think we're making the same point. A bit like the Germans with towels on sunbeds, we're now as bad as they were and everyone does it.

[Acido]

I think we're making the same point. A bit like the Germans with towels on sunbeds, we're now as bad as they were and everyone does it.

Yes and it might sound bad, but why dont our teams do it more often, especially when you see the opposition do it and keep getting away with it!.