It's time the FA axed Rob Styles IAN WRIGHT - Columnist Published: 30 Sep 2008
THERE’S this FA campaign called Respect to stamp out bad behaviour towards refs.
I think it’s not a bad idea.
But how about referees starting to show a bit of respect — to the fans.
Some people in football still forget the sacrifices supporters make to see their team each week.
Both in financial terms and the time simply spent going to watch their club.
For the majority of punters, watching a game is the highlight of the week.
It’s what makes slogging around at work worthwhile.
So it annoys the hell out of me when I see a referee such as Rob Styles deliver a joke decision which changes the complete direction of a game.
His decision to award Manchester United a penalty after a perfectly good tackle from Bolton’s Jlloyd Samuel on Cristiano Ronaldo was just diabolical.
Completely embarrassing. If that decision had been made in a Sunday League game the ref would probably have taken some serious abuse on his way back to his car after the game.
The problem I have with Styles is that he keeps making cock-ups. There is something clearly wrong with his decision-making as it was his fourth clanger in just over a year.
At the start of last season, he awarded Chelsea a dodgy penalty against Liverpool.
He was then demoted to League Two after turning down two penalties in a match between United and Blackburn.
And, worst of all, he gave a penalty against Manchester City’s Sun Jihai after a shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Birmingham’s Gary McSheffrey.
At the time, it was called the worst penalty decision of all time.
But Styles’ latest offering at Old Trafford on Saturday was right up there.
I wonder whether Bolton, if they end up getting relegated by a point, would have a case to try and sue either Styles or the Premier League.
It might sound crazy but you only have to look at what has happened with Sheffield United and West Ham.
Anyway, my plan is that referees should work on a system of three strikes and they’re out.
If they make three massive errors within 12 months then it’s goodbye to the Premier League — and hello to the Unibond League. Styles should not be allowed to referee professionally again. Ever.
I expected him to get shoved out to some match in League Two for a week.
But amazingly it seems he will be back in the Prem on Sunday doing Spurs v Hull. I just don’t understand how Styles keeps featuring in all these disasters and gets away with it.
He’s the type of official I can’t stand, anyway, as I always get a vibe that he loves the attention and the control.
Referees with egos are the most dangerous types. In fact, Styles is the new Graham Poll — and one of him was more than enough.
Supporters pay their money to watch footballers not officials. The FA and the Professional Match Game Officials Board — who are in charge of our refs — do not appear to be answerable to anyone.
They just allow their well-paid officials to keep on making mistakes, something that doesn’t happen in too many other walks of life.
And let’s not forget Stuart Attwell — the man who made the worst refereeing decision in history by awarding Watford a goal that they never scored against Reading.
I still can’t quite believe that incident actually happened but Attwell will be back in a week or so. You can bet on it.
I understand referees are under great pressure and the stakes are now so much higher.
We all make mistakes but there comes a point when enough is enough.
Those who run our game have to give people like Styles the boot and maybe then, more people will give decent referees what they crave.
Respect!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/sunsport_columnists/article1748148.ece
you've probably all read this already, but thought i'd post it here just in case!
