A&H

Ref of the Year

The Referee Store
IMO it is very tight between Mark Clattenburg and Michael Oliver
 
Given he is the only English referee to be recognised with a final outside of England, would it be fair to say Martin Atkinson is worth a shout?
 
I'd like to add Anthony Taylor to the list. I think he has been underrated this season. He has been given some big games and I believe he has dealt with them very well. If we were asking the best ref overall I would say between Atkinson Clattenburg and Oliver but if it is on this season only I would go Taylor 100%.
 
Michael Oliver? lol
Must be amazing in the matches he's refereed NOT involving Chelsea or Man Utd cos he's the worst ref in the league based on what I've seen in these matches
 
I'm going to guess you're a Man U fan @deusex ? lol

for me its Clattenburg, I think his a top referee

I also like Phil Dowd - he is living proof that 'larger' chaps can go to the top! haha I also like how he handles himself on the pitch being quite laughy and chatty with players - even though I know this does annoy some managers
 
My shortlist would be: Clatts, Oliver, Taylor, Atkinson and Dean. Tough to pick out of the first 3 for me to be honest. Oliver for his Man U Arsenal performance, Taylor for the majority of his performances, namely Cap 1 cup final and New-Sun derby, and Clatts for a number of strong performances this season, sometimes not necessarily correct but strong never the less
 
Wow, guessing you're not a big fan of Oliver @deusex? :D

Generally, I think the refs have had a pretty poor season. Clattenburg, as ever, has been the stand out for me, though honourable mentions go to Atkinson for his performances in Europe and in the second half of the season and Dean who's been pretty good.

Oliver and Taylor are too inconsistent for me. Both have had some brilliant games (Oliver - United v Arsenal) but there's been some shocking performances to go with that. That will probably come with experience.
 
First off, I don't like Michael Oliver. My reason being that his rise up the referee pole has more than a whiff of nepotism about it. Plus he let a player stick the head on him in front of MILLIONS and did sweet f*** all.
Having said that, did any of you actually watch the Utd vs Arsenal games or are you just chuffed a player was shown a card for dissent for the first time ever. (Which I would normally celebrate with you)
His cautioning is the least consistent of any EPL ref. I can tell when a card is coming when watching most EPL games, not so with him. He is also a subscriber to the "too early for the first booking" school of thought (but is certainly not alone in that in the EPL).
To not give Bellerin his marching orders for as clear a YC as you could hope for in the 2nd half smacked of the bottling I've seen from him at least 3 times this season.
And this is me trying my very hardest not to open up the debate on the first Di Maria caution.
Maybe he is really good in his other matches, but if you think Utd v Arsenal was a good performance then one of us is very wrong.
 
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deusex said:
but if you think Utd v Arsenal was a good performance then one of us is very wrong.
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I agreed with you then @deusex and I still agree with you now. The Man U v Arsenal game was not a good example of his better performances but I do think he's a better referee than he's shown throughout this season.

In my opinion the Ref of the Year award goes to my son, William who took the course last August, qualified, took in his 6 games and more, enjoyed his season and is looking forward to next one. At 14 years old, too.
 
Won't lie ... he nailed the Di Maria sending off ... YC all day for me on both incidents - although I do believe the Hart situation helped, I think with Hart he got caught up in the moment (happens to the best of us) and fluffed it, and I'm 90% sure he kicked himself for the rest of that match ... fast forward to DiM, and like hell was he going to made a mockery twice in the North!

sometimes I don't think the 'too early for first booking' isn't a bad rule to play - SOMETIMES! I've used it a fair few times
 
If feeling a player grab your wrist for a split second and deciding to go down is simulation then I genuinely have no problem with that. We all know the contact was not enough to make a grown man go to ground..
But the other 999 times a player feels the slightest contact, and goes down, it's a free kick (including in this very game)
 
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THAT is exactly the reason why the YC was a shambles, not the incident, but the other million times it goes unpunished (or in their favour)
 
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