Clattenburg - Manchester Derby

[notts ref]

We've had the thread to rip Rob Styles' head off, now lets do something not many people do around here, and praise the referee for an excellent performance.

Mark Clattenburg, refereed the Manchester Derby today, and he did it bloody well. Not that anyone cares really. The referees are always the first to be critiscised and the last to be praised. I don't think that works really. I'm sick of programmes like MOTD and bloody Andy Gray, Sky Sports News,, always picking up on why games were list. And of course it was the ref. Every time.

Rob Styles is in no doubt good enough to referee Liverpool v Chelsea, or any game in the Premiership. But people in Media and on here will say no, and then bring up an incident, which obviously means they can't referee another premiership game.

I think that if you think the refs are crap, have a go at doing it. Then you'll see how difficult it is.

[boro_boy]

Well said mate, people are always too quick to judge the refs on ONE bad game. I know for a fact I would be shit at being a referee, you have to be constantly alert and physically fit and have to make instant decisions on what you have just seen.

I never hear refs being praised, but at the end of the day they are doing their job, you don't usually get praised for doing something you are paid to do. But when you fuck up then people notice and start gobbing off.

[westboy]

ok well done - can we go back to criticizing them now?!

In all seriousness the 'have a go yourself' argument annoys me. The average fan isn't paid/qualified to referee so why should he be better than a supposed top quality ref?

Its true that refs are supposed to be in the background though, as the cliche goes 'you dont notice a good ref'. This is one of the reasons i think we should have some form of technology in the game as it would make things run smoother in some ways and draw less attention to the ref. The fact is you don't got to the game to see the ref