Don's Match Thread
 

Stanley line up : Etheridge, Halliday, Davies, Wakefield, Pearson; Mingoia, Crooks, Conneely, McConville, McCartan, Kee subs:- Mooney, Procter, Brown, Carver, Hughes, Boco, Shaw.

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Gonna be a tough owd game down yon.

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Stanley scored but ref blew for half time before entered net?

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Sounds like a very dubious disallowed goal. The ref claims he had blown the whistle for half time before Billy Kee scored. even the radio commentator was a little confused.

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Kee scores as the ref blows for half time :) but ruled out because the whistle blew at the same time as Kee hit the ball:(

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Is Bucko injured? he has missed a couple of games and I do think they miss him.

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Scarcely believable refereeing. After an even first half, Stanley edging it, Billy gets the ball in the box and in the act of volleying home the ref blows for HT and disallows the goal. Entire team and bench does it's collective nut. Terrible refereeing.

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Who does he think he is Clive Thomas.Dan says in the match commentary that Kee may have handled it though. Still poor reffing.

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If the half time whistle was actually blown as the shot was on its way, this fellow should never be in charge of a professional game ever again. but was that the case?:confused:

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Our keeper sent off.:eek:

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0-0 after 9 pigging mins, not a bad point though imho.

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Great Point and a clean sheet !!!!,sorry redraine for getting carried away :)
This will prove to be a point gained as their a tough decent team.
Shows we can battle as well as play a bit which should give us great confidence in the run in KTF

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As my Cockney Dad would say f***ing cheats :mad::mad::mad::mad::dflam::dflam::dflam::dflam:

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Glad of the point in the end but some disgraceful decisions leave a bit of a sour taste & cheated us out of maybe getting all 3 - shame there's no way of reporting such inept officials!

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What an absolute joke of a decision.

Half-time whistle denies Accrington goal | Video | Watch TV Show | Sky Sports

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I'll take the away point against the team only second to Northampton in the form table any day! We just need to rediscover our best winning form at home and we'll be quids in. We have missed Windass badly in and around the box imo.

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Quite possibly the worst decision I've seen in 40 years of watching football.

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Oh dear,what a shocking decision,hope it doesn't overshadow a battling clean sheet performance

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Referee Kettle's brain must have boiled over in order to make that decision.

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I've been waiting all season to say this, but, "we wuz robbed".
What was, if it had been left to the players, a good, tense, and competitive game between two well-matched sides was turned into a pantomime by dreadful refereeing and some pretty patchy back-up from the linesman.
On a poor playing surface, which made staying on your feet and intricate passing difficult, Stanley had the better of the first half and, in stark contrast to Tuesday, were much more intent on threatening the Dons' goal. The surface and some healthy challenges from both sides led to more dropped balls than I've seen all season. Even their keeper's balls dropped, after he claimed Billy Kee had been a little too friendly, literally, in the box (historical note: quite why Wimbledon should complain about such tactics is beyond me given the way they still hold Vinnie Jones in such esteem).
Back to football, Wimbledon, in Elliot and Taylor, had 2 useful forwards but Messrs Davies and Perason were more than a match for them. Both had great games. Even when Elliot got subbed by Akinfenwa, and they then had, pound for pound, the equivalent of 3 useful forwards, the defence held steady. Young Etheridge also had a good game. As for his sending off, of course all Stanley fans, who were level with the penalty line, were convinced his hands were in the box when he made the save. However, the linesman, who at the time was still ten yards behind play didn't stick his flag up until he heard all the home fans (behind the goal, where you get the best view across the pitch) shouting. Looking at the video, it seems Etheridge was standing just beyond the line but I don't have the technology or skill to stop it when he actually touches the ball. Maybe he was stretching backwards, and thus his hands were inside. Time will tell.
But what the video does seem to confirm is that, at the end of the first half, the ref's whistle sounds after Billy Kee had shot, but just before it hit the net.
Funny, I always thought we paid money to watch goals being scored but obviously Mr. Kettle thinks we were all there to admire his time-keeping.
I guess, with officials like that, we should be glad Mr.Mooney was able to save the resulting free kick, and be content with only being robbed of 2 points.

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This should be used by the manager to motivate the dressing room massively. Tell the players it proves how much we have to scrap and fight for every win, and that we can't rely on anyone, including the officials, to give us any support. Nothing but absolute commitment to playing our brand of football, that has been so successful this year, will do.


Bring on Portsmouth.

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That is bang on as far as i'm concerned,I have said what i think of the ref if the case was proved, I stand by it.:mad:

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Exile has it spot on, a very close and hard-fought contest with neither side giving an inch. Having seen those Wimbledon forwards make hay at our place, I was wondering how we would cope, but the surface was poor and made pass and move difficult. I thought we played the better football of the two sides, always looking to get it down and find the wings. Our set-pieces were generally poor, though, and when either Piero or Sean Mc did box it, there was always a Wimbledon head there. I can't recall us having a headed effort on goal. A pity we couldn't have found a way to run at them from more central positions, though the conditions made that a tough ask. Really hard lines for Etheridge, neither of the officials were in a position to make that call, and an even tougher decision to swallow for Billy. A special mention to Tom and Matty who were excellent throughout in central defence and gave Elliot and Taylor barely a sniff, and then stood up to the barging and elbowing that passes for Akinfenwa's game these days. A proper battle and a moral victory for the Reds.

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I doubt the players will need much motivating given that it was Jimmy (Ghandi) Bell who had to peel them off the ref at half time. We all know for Stanley to succeed the team often has to beat more than their opposing 11.

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Having seen this and the reruns of the goal on TV, it was quite clear the ball was on it's way when the whistle was blown. It will take a finite technology to say if the whole of the ball had crossed the line at the point of the whistle blowing, Nobody could believe the ref blew up at that point, It puts a bitter taste in the mouth if you add all the other dreadful decisions if they were not more than mistakes. I do hope every avenue is exploited by the club in appeals all round. These officials should be sacked.

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Just seen it on twitter...BLOODY disgraceful refereeing. Never ever seen anything like that in my life-at any standard. The jerk should be publicly castrated.

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Pathetic refereeing. The goal decision blowing just before the ball crosses the line is disgusting. The sending off looks wrong to me but could be 50/50 in real time and difficult to call.

However would a half competent ref blow as the ball is crossing the line, or why else would a ref get in that position? The FA and Football League need to respond to this.

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To be blunt....Trevor Kettle should not be allowed to referee any form of professional football ever again.....Id even go as far as saying the clown shouldn't be allowed to officiate in schoolboy football.:mad:

That decision could potentially cost us an automatic spot come May....the financial implications if Stanley miss out on the autos by those two points lost could run into tens...nay hundreds of thousands.:mad:

Not to mention that the decision may have scuppered quite a few bets yesterday. It might effect season long bets ( I know I've made one and it might cost me a decent lump ) Though I dare say the bookies won't shed too many tears.:(

I'm surprised Coleman took it as well as he did.....though I dare say he was watching what he said, for fear of a charge from the circus who employ the clown who was in charge !!:o

Can't comment on the sending off from what I've seen on various videos....evidence was a bit inconclusive.....:confused::confused:

When I played in local league football, after the game, we had to mark the ref's and officials performance. If the rating was lower than a certain mark (4 or 5 rings a bell) , the club would have to explain the reasons for such a low / poor rating.

If the same scenario is used in pro football in today's age.....I'd seriously hope Stanley's players and officials gave that clown a suitably low mark...so that his "officiating" is looked at.

Absolutely Disgusted.:mad::mad::mad:

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never seen a ref blow for time when the ball is in the penalty box let alone when the ball is nearly crossed the goal line as a matter of interest I see there was 3mins of extra time shown on the board does anyone know how much extra time was played

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The only thing the club can appeal against is the sending off, nothing else. Technically the referee was not wrong, just plain stupid

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Or corrupt its debatable.

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If you're going to be corrupt you'd give each team 5 penalties each. A 5-5 draw at the bookies would be greater odds than 0-0 :)

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Referee should be demoted for 2 seasons, terrible decision

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Not if yeh wanted the Wombles to win,? down to 10 men plus 9 extra mins on top of disallowed good goal, it makes me wonder.

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delighted with the point against an in form side away from home but after watching the goals rush I just can,t believe what I saw. clive Thomas got all manner of stick when he blew the whistle whilst a corner was in the air before someone scored a goal from it. but whistling kettle yesterday did something I,ve never seen in 60 years of playing watching and refereeing. I always wait till the ball is in mid field or gone out of play before ending a half or at full time. that stops any arguments whatsoever. this would not take place by a new young referee doing his first under 9,s match. you don't need technowledgy for these things its called common sense. we all know kettle and his other pals will be out next week causing their self induced mayhem. they are not cheats but I,ve always wondered how some have got where they got in the first place, I do know there is a lot of creeping and pushing certain people in refereeing. could tell you loads of stories but would take me hours and my finger would be blunt. only hope the two points lost will not affect us at the end of the season. if there was any doubt about the side this should really galvanise them as it seems to be Stanley against the world.

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Without wanting to go to far off track I quit reffing because of the politics and the brown nosing. It's who you know what you know gets you to the top ;)

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We all know how many debateable decisions we've had from referees, it must sometimes sound to others like we're making excuses for a disappointing result & yes, some of these decisions are part of football & as Coley says what makes it the game it is BUT the ludicrous one by Trevor Kettle yesterday isn't only being berated by Stanley fans, the reactions to the clip on Facebook & Twitter say it all & yet, no doubt he will not face any action because of it & will carry on bumbling his way through more games - seemingly untouchable & above any reproach - that can't be right! Wimbledon must've thought all their Christmases had come at once.
Stanley meanwhile have to just put a brave face on it & carry on, just hope he isn't assigned to a game at the Crown anytime soon!

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We watched the Football League programme last night and the commentary said they have never , ever known a ref blow his whistle at that moment before . I wonder if he would do that had he been ref at United games ???? an utter disgrace.

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I sincerely hope yer right monkey hanger @ the guy aint a cheat, but i aint naive enough to believe there is no corruption in football or any sport for that matter, though i reckon theres more stupidity.

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The referee for the postponed Portsmouth game was Trevor Kettle; which means it's "his" game for the re-arranged date!!

The good news is that he also has been assigned at game at Bradford which was off for some reason; which has also been scheduled for Tuesday the 8th.

Happy to report Mr Kettle's off to Valley Parade at the minute.

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Thank god for that, though he should really be off to oblivion imho.

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My sentiments entirely!!!!

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bet he,ll be mr perfect as he will be under scrutiny there. will be getting ready for our play off games.

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if the game had been a world cup qualifier, big European game or played in south America I would agree on cheating and corruption as it goes hand in hand with these competitions and countries.

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If that decision had been made in certain other countries then many, rightly or wrongly, might have immediately put it down to match-fixing. But instead we must be content with it being just pedantic ineptitude.
The football authorities (remember, at their summit sits FIFA:eek:) struggle to deal with the former but it's pathetic that they don't even seem to care about the latter.
To my eye, Mr.Kettle didn't appear fit enough to ref the match yesterday. I noticed in the warm up he was less than thorough, compared with most other refs we see going through their pre-match routines. Maybe it had something to do with the fact, according to the young dude who stood next to me, he seemed to wearing trainers, not studs. Whether it was his lack of grip :rolleyes: on the pitch or the spread around his middle, he struggled to keep up with the play.
But let's forget his and all the other muppet decisions we've seen.
My praise goes to the entire team who didn't let such nonsense unsettle them and restricted the home team to very few serious chances whilst creating plenty themselves (the video gives a very unbalanced representation of the attacking chances throughout the match).
Must also say how much I'm impressed with Professor Coleman's post-match interviews this season. He has shown an admirable sense of perspective and must be in with a chance to win the 'most improved performance' of the season.

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Imagine how the crap would have really hit the fan,had it been one of the premiership so-called big boys.

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Was just saying the same thing Cashy - it would've been talked about for weeks & some action would probably have been taken against the ref

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The only explanation I can come up with is the ref run over his "added on time" and realised The fallout that would ensue if the away team were to score in that period.
Totally bottled it -simple.

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prem refs usually seem to get demoted to football league games for a couple of weeks for their mistakes. will be swept under the carpet I am sure. for those out there who know statistics who was the last ref. to be kicked off the football league list for poor performances.

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could be the reason f19 but is it not protocol to allow an attack to finish before you blow

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You might be right, F19. The second half ended in even more disarray as the so-called 4th official didn't even put up his little electronic board and no announcement was made of any added minutes.
The numb-heads who run football could easily solve this entire problem by adopting what they do in rugby.
Take time keeping out of the hands of the on-field ref, stop the watch every time the ball is not in play, blow a hooter after 45 minutes of play, end the game when the ball next goes 'dead' after that hooter.
But they never will because the sweet **FA blazers arrogantly know it all and refuse to learn anything from any other sport.

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Agree with with Exile. Football's inability to learn from other sport (or from previous mistakes) has always baffled me. But having said that, there is absolutely nothing Stanley can do about it. Technically the ref is correct, or at least entitled to do it. Football is the only sport where nobody save the ref knows when the game finishes. I, too, remember the stick Clive Thomas got, but it was in another era, before time was added on. And his mistake was really allowing the corner to be taken. He had somehow got it into his head that he should blow for time when the ball was in play, but he had told players close to him, including the goalkeeper, that he would blow for time as soon as the ball was in play. Stupid I know, but there was no way he could have allowed that goal. It was poor refereeing, but hardly of mr. Kettle's standard.

Compare that to what happened to Iceland in the Euro qualifiers. Time was up, but the Czechs still scored from a corner 20 seconds past. When the coach enquired, the ref explained that the corner had to be taken and some 15-20 seconds allowed for the team taking it to try to score. The coach, with 40 years in the game and five World cups behind him, had of course never heard of this.

OK. So what is the message then, you might ask. None, really, except that refs can do as they bloody well please. It is all down to their judgment, or in Mr Kettle's case, lack of it.

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Football is not that exact or strict, you don't get a minimum of 30 secs, 10 secs , 45 secs added on at the end of the half, it is either 1 min or more or nothing.

The ref being fussy about half a second is a farce, and learning from past mistakes most refs (or all apart from this one) blow before a danger situation or after it.

After the world cup example there was only David Platt for villa in 1990 with an overhead kick being disallowed that I can remember being like this, and even then it was not as tight as this one. It is very basic so makes you wonder why he did it? I suppose the reason doesn't matter, the outcome should be it is his last match.

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I agree chewbacca, but the outcome will be sod all no doubt at all.

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Paradoxically, Cashy, I think your point may be just why nothing will change soon as regards poor judgement from refs.
It does happen with the 'big boys' but football is now so indebted to the media, mainly television, who love such controversy as it produces hours and hours of broadcast hot air. Sometimes the games are so boring that refereeing decisions are the only thing all those pundits can 'debate'. Happening right now - the main topic on 5Live is currently the sending off of Mata, and an hour ago it was the Liverpool 'penalty'.
We all know it's not easy being a ref but the lack of technology or other support to help improve matters is of no interest to the media,whose primary purpose seems to be to create tomorrow's headlines.

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Yes, but what a lot of commentators on other message boards after this idiotic error are missing is that it happened at half time, not at the final whistle, when any time wasting can be taken into account.Even if you are right the berk could have deducted a few seconds at full time if he was that bothered. Nothing but incompetence can explain this shambolic situation. According to the Rochdale MB Mr. Kettle has "history" when it comes to cock ups, which to be fair, most refs do, although not on this scale!:(

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Considering the amount of money, fans, infrastructure, it's standing in british culture etc etc etc.... It is incredulous that officiating in football is as poor and as controversial as it is. Every other sport has moved on with technology (in many cases it enhances the experience such as tennis) and professionalism. Football referees need to take a long hard look at themselves, accept that they aren't performing well enough for a sport in 2016 and change. Some people think controversy are part of the 'romance' of watching football - I don't, it puts me off the sport, I would rather watch a highly skilled, uncontroversial game.

My first step would be connecting them all up to a microphone. If your decisions are correct and you are confident they are doing a professional job, they should have nothing to fear.

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Be careful what you wish for. Up here the refs were pushed too far and went on strike so the SFA had to go round europe to get refs who would come over. They got 11 in the end but fortunately the weather was so bad most games were off that weekend and they came back thefollowing weekend.

However bad you think they are a poor ref is better than no ref because no ref means no game. If football did bring in more technology it won't be at our level it will be in the top two divisions. There's a reason we get these refs and it's because we are in the bottom division.

God knows how we ever managed when it was highlights of 3 games per week and all we could do was argue in the pub :D .

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I've had a go at refereeing, albeit, at nowhere near football league level and it's very difficult - every single decision is questioned by someone either playing or watching to various level of vociferousness, anger, gamesmanship etc.

I also know a few lads who have worked hard at their refereeing, take it very seriously and practice at football league level. These people are dedicated to being the best they can be and, as they've progressed up the levels, they've also gained experience about the game - how it's played and the expectations players and club officials at the different levels have. They understand the game.

Mr Kettle's decision yesterday was simply incredible. How a man who has progressed up the refereeing levels, has taken charge of hundreds of games, allegedly understands the game, can blow the whistle for half time after a striker has took a shot from about 10 yards from goal is simply incredible. The play was building, so either blow the whistle as Pierro's pass is in the air or wait until after the play has gone dead after Kee's shot.

As an earlier poster said, technically, Mr Kettle did nothing wrong, however, he showed an amazing lack of judgement and understanding of the game. I'll be very disappointed with the Football League if he's asked to take charge of a game this week.

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Do we even know if he was watching the game or was he looking at his watch and pointing to the tunnel. I can't see him on the TV pictures so I don't know.

As stated technically correct but either stupidity or a sign of an officious nitpicking jobsworth.

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Think you probably will be disappointed JegRed, according to Mr. T's pst earlier Mr. Kettle will be officiating at Bradford on Tuesday evening - could've been worse though, he was assigned to ref the Portsmouth match on the original date & would therefore have been in charge for the rearranged game - fortunate for us then that Bradford are also playing on the same night in a rearranged fixture that he was originally meant to be in charge of (I use the term.'in charge of' in the very loosest way of course'

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I agree that the sensible way ahead would be for timing to be be taken away from the ref and given to the fourth official. Also probably a good idea for the final whistle only to go when the ball goes dead - provided everybody knows time is "in the red" a la rugby union, so a tactical boot into touch can be applied once time is up.

From very limited experience umpiring hockey at seriously low levels, I know how difficult it is to choose the moment to blow if an attack is developing that may change the outcome of the game - but I also know I never chose a moment like that. Hockey at top level is now centrally timed and everybody in the ground can see the clock and counts down the last 5 seconds, so yesterday's situation could arise - but nobody could argue.

Nothing in my hopefully rational comments above means I'm not at one with the other pots calling the kettle black ... or worse :eek:

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Sweden's biggest paper showed it on their Website with this heading:

"WOW- This is a really poor decision!
We know you are not supposed to knock referees but this must be the WORST we have ever seen"

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NewsNow: Loading story... who was the ref??and who scored our ghost goal :(

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Its a london rag, expect nowt else.:rolleyes:

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Only the modern me'ja can surpass the incompetence of some referees.

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From today's Times: "The owner of Accrington Stanley could be subject to an FA charge after he retweeted a comment from a fan that described the referee in his team's 0-0 draw against AFC Wimbledon as a "d***".

Meanwhile, what are they doing about a referee singularly lacking in common sense? Sweet FA probably!

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if you make a comment about a referee you,ll probably be charged and fined by the fa, they love to do this as their referees are the untouchables.

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[QUOTE=Jeg Red;1163302]I've had a go at refereeing, albeit, at nowhere near football league level and it's very difficult - every single decision is questioned by someone either playing or watching to various level of vociferousness, anger, gamesmanship etc.

I also know a few lads who have worked hard at their refereeing, take it very seriously and practice at football league level. These people are dedicated to being the best they can be and, as they've progressed up the levels, they've also gained experience about the game - how it's played and the expectations players and club officials at the different levels have. They understand the game.
you know you,re going to get stick as soon as you walk on the pitch or field of play as they like it to be called. its up to you and youre performance to keep it down. sometimes you can but you do get games with history behind them when all you end up ding is cautioning players and sending them off. as for them understanding the game apart from a few they certainly do not. I,ve run the line and had assistants with me are so arrogant to players its got to be seen to be believed. such statements in the dressing room as we are the most important team out there are regulary quoted. their attitude really stinks.