That's him. Kevin Reeves. The most painful refereeing decision I've ever suffered, along with that penalty at Old Trafford in the FA Cup when we were 1-0 up.
Just remembered another term a referee made up especially for us.
"Aggressive walking". Kevin Horlock at Bournemouth I think.
Pollock was indeed sent off too.I was there. An old bastard named Brian Coddington, who gayly played on after Nicky Weaver had been knocked out at a corner by a flying Bournemouth boot, and then sent Super Kev off for objecting. Not sure, but was that the same day Jamie Pollock, who was also sent off, called it a "holocaust of a decision"?
If we turn up and play at our full capability we shouldn't care who the ref is.
My younger daughter went to a school with a lad who is now a ref. When she was at school with him he was a season ticket holder at OT with his mum, dad and younger brother.If those facts are public knowledge, given the scrutiny refs are under these days from assessors in the stands and TV, I'd assume he'd try even harder not to get anything wrong.
That's not to say he won't, of course. Let's just hope any error is in our favour. We've had a few iffy decisions go our way recently, so let's hope that continues.
I was there. An old bastard named Brian Coddington, who gayly played on after Nicky Weaver had been knocked out at a corner by a flying Bournemouth boot, and then sent Super Kev off for objecting. Not sure, but was that the same day Jamie Pollock, who was also sent off, called it a "holocaust of a decision"?
My younger daughter went to a school with a lad who is now a ref. When she was at school with him he was a season ticket holder at OT with his mum, dad and younger brother.
He's never been a footballer but has reffed games from the age of 14 till now. She was quite surprised that he currently claims to be a Rochdale fan, even though he's no clue where Spotland is. He's a member of the Lancashire FA and can ref City and United games.
One day he may ref the Derby, it will be interesting.
I honestly think this "he supports...." thing that we hear on here about refs, journos etc is overplayed. Most of us are dyed-in-the-wool City fans, so we see things through that prism. If I was reffing a derby I'd think twice about giving a penalty against us, and I'm sure you would. But I think most people who make a living from the game don't have that fierce allegience that we have. You hear it from footballers all the time: "When I was a boy I supported...". I think once your inside the game that partisan thing fades, mostly.
But more importantly, as I said earlier, refs are professionals. It's their career. They feed their families on the salary and are extremely dedicated to what they do. And every ref at every game has an Assessor in the stand doing a report on his decision making. TV means that the assement is always bang on: wrong calls are always highlighted. So I don't believe that any of them would risk that career by showing bias towards or against any team. That's not to say that some aren't "homers": I've seen plenty of them. And I see them regularly making decisions to redress the balance of an earlier one. And of course I see loads of bad decisions.
But I honestly think that the sentiment that "he supports X therefore he is biased against Y" is in the mind of fans these days.
I have no idea because I don't know who they are or what games they refereed. What I do know is that referees are given feedback, stepped down a league or even "retired" if they are found to be incompetent. If you think that the FA Bods said "You were really biased on Saturday but because it was City we aren't bothered" then you have a head full of magic of course.This is true regarding the assessor being in the stands,but these must be bloody blind/stupid or both,I mean just this season alone,explain to me how Maddeley,East and Moss have been given games in the Prem the following week after such inept,and plainly disgusting performances we have witnessed
I have no idea because I don't know who they are or what games they refereed. What I do know is that referees are given feedback, stepped down a league or even "retired" if they are found to be incompetent. If you think that the FA Bods said "You were really biased on Saturday but because it was City we aren't bothered" then you have a head full of magic of course.
I'm not saying referees are perfect of course. They never have been and never will be. Until video technology comes in that's the way it is. But everyone remembers the things that went against them and doesn't remember the things that went for them. That's human nature.
I'm not sure which way his bias lies, but he's already shown himself to be duplicitous by claiming to be one thing whilst actually being another.I honestly think this "he supports...." thing that we hear on here about refs, journos etc is overplayed. Most of us are dyed-in-the-wool City fans, so we see things through that prism. If I was reffing a derby I'd think twice about giving a penalty against us, and I'm sure you would. But I think most people who make a living from the game don't have that fierce allegience that we have. You hear it from footballers all the time: "When I was a boy I supported...". I think once your inside the game that partisan thing fades, mostly.
But more importantly, as I said earlier, refs are professionals. It's their career. They feed their families on the salary and are extremely dedicated to what they do. And every ref at every game has an Assessor in the stand doing a report on his decision making. TV means that the assement is always bang on: wrong calls are always highlighted. So I don't believe that any of them would risk that career by showing bias towards or against any team. That's not to say that some aren't "homers": I've seen plenty of them. And I see them regularly making decisions to redress the balance of an earlier one. And of course I see loads of bad decisions.
But I honestly think that the sentiment that "he supports X therefore he is biased against Y" is in the mind of fans these days.
You couldn't be more wrongI honestly think this "he supports...." thing that we hear on here about refs, journos etc is overplayed. Most of us are dyed-in-the-wool City fans, so we see things through that prism. If I was reffing a derby I'd think twice about giving a penalty against us, and I'm sure you would. But I think most people who make a living from the game don't have that fierce allegience that we have. You hear it from footballers all the time: "When I was a boy I supported...". I think once your inside the game that partisan thing fades, mostly.
But more importantly, as I said earlier, refs are professionals. It's their career. They feed their families on the salary and are extremely dedicated to what they do. And every ref at every game has an Assessor in the stand doing a report on his decision making. TV means that the assement is always bang on: wrong calls are always highlighted. So I don't believe that any of them would risk that career by showing bias towards or against any team. That's not to say that some aren't "homers": I've seen plenty of them. And I see them regularly making decisions to redress the balance of an earlier one. And of course I see loads of bad decisions.
But I honestly think that the sentiment that "he supports X therefore he is biased against Y" is in the mind of fans these days.
You couldn't be more wrong
certainly a ref should not manage a game within x amount of miles from his town of birth or the area where he lives,if this was applied it would knock out the chances of having a biased ref,refs do have to notify the FA of any interests in clubs either financially or a team they support however they could put down any bullshit,to a certain degree it will always be present in the game
I caused an absolute ruckus on here with that phrase "a holocaust of a decision" a few years ago. I can't remember what it was about, probably one of Mancini's decisions, and in an effort to be funny I called it " a holocaust of a decision". Cue loads of jumping and screaming from idiots attempting to jump on the moral high ground, pretending to be offended. The fucking clowns didn't even get the City/Pollock reference and there were concerted efforts from my legion of enemies at the time to get me banned.
Luckily Ric isn't an idiot and remembers the 98-99 season just like us. It was one of the most ludicrous things I've ever seen on here.
The thing is DD, the Sheikh and Khaldoon would say the same thing to you. They KNOW that refs are not neutral and paid a lot of money to make Riley aware of that.I guess you are aware that that's not really a brilliantly constructed counter-argument, mate?