Quote Originally Posted by pravda_plc View Post
As the controversy over the refereeing in the play off semi-final rumbles on, i'm amazed that nobody has considered how luck has a habit of evening itself out over a season.

Yes there were some poor calls by the referees in these 2 games but if we are honest we know full well that NCFC had more than their fair share of ridiculous refereeing decisions that went in our favour and gave us points towards the total needed to reach the play offs, that we would not have had if the referees in question had not made mistakes in our favour.

There are many decisions that have gone our way this season, but the three that stand out the most are the sendings off of opposition players in the first half of the home games against Chesterfield, Lincoln and Newport. All 3 sendings of were at best 'soft' and at worst an absolute travesty. They came when the games were clearly in the balance and in effect they gave Notts the 3 points.

It's time that Nolan stopped bleating about poor refereeing and admit that we have had a lot of game changing decisions given in our favour.

For me the reason we failed in the playoffs was that over the 2 games Coventry were significantly better than us. Our Stone Age hoofball has clearly been rumbled by a lot of opposition clubs in this league.

We were not good enough to get promoted - it's as simple as that.
Whilst I agree overall we were not good enough to get promoted, one thing those two games highlighted was that three key decisions went against us and ultimately had an impact on the playoff games and cost us dearly.

I can no longer subscribe to the "things even themselves out over a season" stance because football officiating will never get any better if clubs, players, and the fans accept substandard performances from officials or a failure to get basic decisions right, particularly in the lower leagues. It does not matter whether decisions go for us or against us in my view.

As a matter of course all playoff games in the football league should be officiated by those that operate at the highest level. No premier league teams played on the days we played. I was surprised this was not the case already.

It's not an easy job for officials and they do need help. The football league need to do something about it and that will only come when clubs lobby for change and the FA or EFL get their heads out of the sand and move into the 21st Centruy and recognise the jobs these people need to do needs to be a professional one and one in which these people need to study and learn the game in the classroom when they are not out on the field. They need to become full time to start with which would also give them time to improve their fitness, study scenarios and learn more about the game from a players point of view.

We as the oldest league club can be one of those clubs that pushes to move the game forward by promoting the need for improvements in officiating and I have no issues with KN promoting this. If you let mediocrity prevail then things will never change.