New respect initiative planned

[dorgie]

We'll rip the old one up because it lead to a suspension for our lord and master

 

There was nothing wrong with the old one only it took them 3 years to have the balls to apply it to one particular manager and one particular team. This really is an admittance of how spineless they are.

 

 

New respect initiative planned

Friday April 01 2011

 

Managers and players face a new crackdown on their behaviour towards referees from the start of next season.

 

The Premier League clubs have announced a new campaign targeting "unacceptable" behaviour towards officials following a number of high-profile incidents this season, culminating in Sir Alex Ferguson receiving a five-match touchline ban for his TV outburst at referee Martin Atkinson following Manchester United's defeat at Chelsea.

 

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: "We do need to concentrate on the player and manager relationship with the referee this time, as every one of us knows that there have been elements of unacceptable behaviour."

 

He added: "As to what we think is unacceptable; it's vitriolic abuse towards match officials and that has on occasions gone unpunished; the surrounding of referees is unacceptable; the goading of referees into trying to get opponents sanctioned we think is unacceptable; and also the undue criticism, where it spills over into questioning the referee's integrity or his honesty is also unacceptable."

 

The Premier League will also consult the League Managers' Association, the FA, the Professional Footballers' Association, and then the PGMO body that represents match officials.

 

Scudamore said that they did not expect perfect behaviour from players but that they had to realise that their being idols carried responsibilities.

 

"Footballers enjoy a privileged lives," he said. "The contrast between what is happening in their world and what is happening in the rest of Britain, and indeed most of the world, is getting starker.

 

"Whether it is realistic or not they can't entirely be perfect role models, they are young males and boys can behave badly from time to time. But there is a point where extra responsibility comes with the territory.

 

"There are so many good things about what footballers do, so this is not us demonising them, But the mood is that things could improve."

 

The league point out there have been some recent improvements and that over the last two seasons bookings in the top flight for dissent have decreased by 20% year on year.

 

[smithdown]

Read this earlier, was thinking it was an extremely subtle april fool

[dorgie]

Read this earlier, was thinking it was an extremely subtle april fool

 

That thought did strike me too, but if it is, you're right that it is extremely subtle.

[Mooster]

Expect the phrase "current climate" to be used repeatedly when one of our players get sent off this weekend for looking at Martin Atkinson in a funny way. My money's on Suarez.

[Jiggy Hates Jazz]

IT'S NOT PARANOIA IF THEY'RE REALLY OUT TO GET YOU

 

The Fiver is a firm believer in the old adage that when you find yourself in a hole, you should stop digging. It is a stringent policy that inadvertently caused the miners' strike of 1984-85 (teenagers, ask your parents) when we were lowered into a hole on our first day at Grimley colliery, unenthusiastically swung our pick-axe into the ground, decided a life spent underground developing emphysema was no life at all and stopped.

 

 

If we'd known tens of thousands of our co-workers would follow suit, prompting one of the defining moments in British industrial relations, we'd probably have done things differently. We might have stayed digging ... much like Sir Alex Ferguson, another faux socialist, who famously did his own bit to chip away at the integrity of the UK trade union movement by accepting a knighthood and parking his rear end in the driver's seat of a sponsored Audi.

 

 

More recently, Lord Ferg's criticism of Martin Atkinson's handling of United's defeat at Chelsea this month led to a five-match touchline ban, resulting in the esteemed knight of the realm having to bark instructions down to the touchline through a giant white telephone receiver so antique he has to dial zero (teenagers, ask your parents) and wait patiently for an operator wearing curlers and a Hilda Ogden-style headscarf (teenagers, ask your parents) to stub out her Woodbine (teenagers, ask your parents) and connect him to his bench using a couple of plugs on a giant switchboard (teenagers, ask your parents).

 

 

"You've just got to be careful that you don't have paranoia about it," said Lord Ferg, fingering the brim of his tin-foil hat, while peering suspiciously through a gap in the Polythene taped over his office windows to make sure They weren't watching. "If you speak your mind it's a problem in the game," he continued, slashing at a portrait of Sir Matt Busby to stop its eyes following him around the room. "The FA is very strong in supporting referees and, in a way I agree with that, but there also has to be fair comment. I try to do that."

 

 

By "fair comment", Lord Ferg is referring to utterly unfounded allegations he made about Atkinson's lack of impartiality; comments made in the heat of a moment of extreme frustration, which he has since failed to apologise for or withdraw. By "in a way I agree with that", Lord Ferg is almost certainly referring to the FA clamping down on Premier League manaagers making disparaging and thoroughly scurrilous remarks about match officials. As long as they aren't him.

 

 

Glendenning, of all people!

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

An alcoholic speaks

 

 

Mr Ferguson has maintained that the Football Association was unjust in punishing him for his criticism of referees, saying he was guilty of nothing more than "fair comment" and reiterating his belief that Manchester United have been the victim of "terrible" decisions.

 

"You've just got to be careful that you don't have paranoia about it," said a manager who continues to show no sign of remorse for incurring five disciplinary charges from the FA in as many years because of his hostility towards referees.

 

Ferguson's outburst about Martin Atkinson's handling of United's defeat at Chelsea this month has led to a five-match touchline ban, a record punishment for a manager criticising a referee in the media.

 

Part of that comes from having a two-match ban hanging over him as a suspended sentence from a previous FA charge, when he described another referee, Alan Wiley, as physically unfit to officiate at the top level in October 2009.

 

The FA hearing into his latest case noted how Ferguson had not shown any regret for stating that Atkinson should not have been appointed for the Chelsea game because the occasion demanded "a fair referee". Ferguson's legal adviser, Graham Bean, has since described the governing body as "like a communist state".

 

"If you speak your mind, it's a problem in the game," Ferguson said. "The FA is very strong in supporting the referees and, in a way, I agree with that but there has to be fair comment also. I try to do that."

 

Ferguson remains aggrieved by Atkinson's refereeing at Stamford Bridge, noting that the same official also made a series of decisions allegedly in Chelsea's favour in the corresponding fixture last season.

 

The two sides meet again at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League next week. Before that Ferguson will serve the second game of his ban, when the league leaders resume their challenge for a record 19th title at West Ham United on Saturday, and he will subsequently have to suffer the ignominy of being the first manager to be banned from Wembley's dug-out when he takes his side back to London for the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City on 16 April.

 

they should extend his ban

[Maldini]

They should just put a mic on the refs, TV would go nuts when they hear the amount of cursing at refs and it'd soon be banned.

[StevieC]

They should just put a mic on the refs, TV would go nuts when they hear the amount of cursing at refs and it'd soon be banned.

 

 

Although I hate it when they try to compare sports, that's one thing that gives Rugby Union an extra and entertaining dimension when watching at home.

 

It would have been brilliant to hear what Graham Poll really said to John Terry during that fracas as Spurs a few years back, and you're right, it would instantly lead to a shape up in behaviour towards refs I think. It might also stop some of them being so f*cking pally with the players too.

 

10 min sin-bin for gobbing off at the ref could work too, if properly applied to suit the game. Soon see Rooney put a lid on it if he spent 5 mins a game on the pitch.

[Maldini]

Although I hate it when they try to compare sports, that's one thing that gives Rugby Union an extra and entertaining dimension when watching at home.

 

It would have been brilliant to hear what Graham Poll really said to John Terry during that fracas as Spurs a few years back, and you're right, it would instantly lead to a shape up in behaviour towards refs I think. It might also stop some of them being so f*cking pally with the players too.

 

10 min sin-bin for gobbing off at the ref could work too, if properly applied to suit the game. Soon see Rooney put a lid on it if he spent 5 mins a game on the pitch.

 

Don't know why they haven't brought it in yet.

[Bailo]

Red card every player who comes within 5 yards of the ref apart from the player he wants to speak to and/or the team's captain. Yeah, one weekend of fixtures will have 4 people a side sent off, but it'll stop it dead.

 

And touchline bans should be binned off and points deducted for managers criticising refs. They'd get pressure from their own fans, board and players then to shut the f*** up.

[johngibo YPC]

Red card every player who comes within 5 yards of the ref apart from the player he wants to speak to and/or the team's captain. Yeah, one weekend of fixtures will have 4 people a side sent off, but it'll stop it dead.

 

And touchline bans should be binned off and points deducted for managers criticising refs. They'd get pressure from their own fans, board and players then to shut the f*** up.

 

Chop people's heads off for speeding. Everyone would soon keep to the speed limit

[Bailo]

Chop people's heads off for speeding. Everyone would soon keep to the speed limit

Yep, same thing and all.

[dorgie]

Don't know why they haven't brought it in yet.

 

Says something for the fooball authorities that even the GAA have become more progressive than them when it comes to trialling technology.

[johngibo YPC]

Yep, same thing and all.

 

No two things are exactly the same

Its a massive overreaction to a minor problem. League titles shouldn't be decided on a manager criticising a s*** ref

There are actually decent rules in place. They just need to be inforced. Instead of draconian measures we should just be going for things like 'Actually send off Rooney when he calls the Ref 'a f*cking prick''

[sean]

Would be a good thing if we went the route of Rugby & Cricket. Absolutely no back-chatting referees when decisions are made. Although I think the competency levels in those sports when it comes to refereeing are way better, simply down to the nature of the game and the type of individual football has spawned. It's pure win at all costs and not until retrospective punishments begin will the players start thinking about cleaning up their own act.

I hate all of the crap that comes with it, appeal for decisions, by all means but that's as far as it should go.

[dorgie]

Instead of draconian measures we should just be going for things like 'Actually send off Rooney when he calls the Ref 'a f*cking prick''

 

What would their paymasters in SKY say if they went around saying that ? Much better to just enforce it with johnny foreigner (aka Javier Mascherano).

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Chop people's heads off for speeding. Everyone would soon keep to the speed limit

no - only Murph

 

Would be a good thing if we went the route of Rugby & Cricket. Absolutely no back-chatting referees when decisions are made. Although I think the competency levels in those sports when it comes to refereeing are way better, simply down to the nature of the game and the type of individual football has spawned. It's pure win at all costs and not until retrospective punishments begin will the players start thinking about cleaning up their own act.

I hate all of the crap that comes with it, appeal for decisions, by all means but that's as far as it should go.

The players don't help - they massively increase the pressure on the refs & TV (Sky) is looking for controversy as it is a talking point and will draw in viewers

[sean]

no - only Murph

 

 

The players don't help - they massively increase the pressure on the refs & TV (Sky) is looking for controversy as it is a talking point and will draw in viewers

 

 

Players and managers are root cause. Reffing has got worse, directly as a result of the methods employed to con them these days. It's a sport in itself. A f***ing s*** one. I'm not expecting players to stay on their feet when they feel a touch in the box or to accept every single rubbish decision with a smile, but I do expect some honour in the code they earn a living from. The refs have become celebrities in their own right, albeit a sort of twisted infamy. It's wrong. Far happier with Dalglish's approach to it. If we go down the road of refs explaining decisions, players should be asked about their behaviour when it's bad.

[Bailo]

No two things are exactly the same

Its a massive overreaction to a minor problem. League titles shouldn't be decided on a manager criticising a s*** ref

There are actually decent rules in place. They just need to be inforced. Instead of draconian measures we should just be going for things like 'Actually send off Rooney when he calls the Ref 'a f*cking prick''

Well obviously I wouldn't dock points from a manager saying "He didn't give us a few decisions today". But Ferguson has regularly shown he doesn't give two hoots about touchline bans and fines, so start hurting him where's he looking to get the advantage.

 

And it's not a minor problem at all. Assaults on refs in lower leagues are on the increase and it's because Billy Bigboots on a Sunday morning thinks as long as it's cool for Rooney to do it, he can do it.

[Woodsyla]

Yep, same thing and all.

Both are utterly ludicrous.

[dorgie]

They should also bring in a sanction that every time a manager points to his watch while simultaneously scowling at the referee, said manager should be paraded to the front of the opposing team's fans and said watch should be, in full public view, shoved up said manager's hole !

[sean]

Well obviously I wouldn't dock points from a manager saying "He didn't give us a few decisions today". But Ferguson has regularly shown he doesn't give two hoots about touchline bans and fines, so start hurting him where's he looking to get the advantage.

 

And it's not a minor problem at all. Assaults on refs in lower leagues are on the increase and it's because Billy Bigboots on a Sunday morning thinks as long as it's cool for Rooney to do it, he can do it.

 

 

100% agree with this, my son plays Under 7's and you should hear the crap from the wee lads at referees. I tell my lad every game if I hear him shouting at a ref I'll ask the coach to sub him immediately. Same for spitting and any other rubbish stuff.

[Bailo]

100% agree with this, my son plays Under 7's and you should hear the crap from the wee lads at referees. I tell my lad every game if I hear him shouting at a ref I'll ask the coach to sub him immediately. Same for spitting and any other rubbish stuff.

Watching my gf's nephew play football is eye-opening. I'd never ever ref a game at that level (Yr 8 at school), the amount of abuse they get from parents on the sideline. Seen the ref been offered out twice as well, once for awarding a throw-in the correct way. It's translating to the kids as well, couple of weeks ago the ref was told to "f*** off you prick" by a 12-year old. Red card, and the parents were on the pitch giving him similar abuse. To be fair to him, he stood up remarkably to it, and a few other parents cleared them off.

[johngibo YPC]

And it's not a minor problem at all. Assaults on refs in lower leagues are on the increase and it's because Billy Bigboots on a Sunday morning thinks as long as it's cool for Rooney to do it, he can do it.

 

When did Rooney assault a ref?

Edited April 1, 2011 by johngibo YPC

[Bailo]

When did Rooney assault a ref?

Hello Mr Pendant!

 

It's the attitude of being able to get away with it. Mind you, a fair few players regularly put their hands on refs, which again should be a red card offence.