[Lord Didsbury]

For as long as I can remember fans (and players) have said referees are getting worse. If this supposed steady decline were true the standard now be shockingly poor compared to decades ago.
In fact, any research done (that i can find) points to the opposite.

Linesmen in particular are surely light years better then they used to be. No longer do they have to just look at who's closest to the goalie when the ball was kicked, they also need to cater for players who might be offside and who don't touch the ball. I'm completely amazed how good they are when you see slo-mo replays on the telly box.

refs now have to apply more subtle judgement in a game that's faster, with players more skilled at diving. It used to be "did that tackle break his leg", now it's "was the angle of his foot slightly raised when he brushed his ankle"?

They have to do this, with every game televised.

Every week I used to groan if Elleray or Rennie or others of that ilk used to be in charge - and they were supposedly the top refs. Now, there's rarely a ref comes to Stanley that has a shocker. Sure, I see loads of incidents I don't agree with, but no doubt 50% of those are ones where actually I'm wrong (since I'm 70 yards away whilst he is 5), but it's very, very rare to come away feeling cheated by the officials or that the ref as been ridiculously fussy or has lost all discipline.

People often mistakenly think the country has gone to the dogs, that there's more crime now, that this is worse, and that is worse. Generally the reality is that things are a lot better than we think. I humbly submit that refs and liners are a hell of a lot better than is generally perceived and we are, in fact, living through a golden age of brilliant officiating.