RateTheRef

Quote from: bmb on Fri 14 May 2021 09:06

Quote from: GameDay2021 on Fri 14 May 2021 08:11

Also, we need to bring an end to the seemingly specific rule that Manchester referees can get big games in Manchester

YAWN!

He is NOT a Manchester referee. He is from Altrincham in CHESHIRE, Altrincham Referees are registered with Cheshire FA. He is a CHESHIRE referee NOT a Manchester referee.  He is also known to be a fan of Altrincham and attends games there as a supporter when he can.

Even if it was classed as Manchester, the postcode rule went out of the window years ago.  It was always ridiculous when for example Stroud lived at the opposite end of Dorset to AFCB he couldn't referee them, despite living 60/70 miles away because he had a BH postcode, yet when he moved to Hampshire just 5 miles away and had a SO postcode he could! The only rule now is if a referee has an affiliation to a club e.g James Linington with links to the Southampton academy or if they support a particular club e.g Oliver being a Newcastle fan.

Just as the team formerly known as Newton Heath (LYR), so Altrincham is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford.  Trafford is, like the boroughs of Bury, Bolton, Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside and Stockport, part of the Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester.

Quote from: Whistleblower on Fri 14 May 2021 15:11

On his day Anthony Taylor is an excellent referee. Trouble is I don't think he has enough 'days'. I watched last night and if that is England's finest referee at his finest then we are way, way behind many countries in Europe in refereeing. Of course, all referees have matches which are less good but is Taylor consistently turning out superlative performances? Genuine question. His backers, including some on this site will say yes, others, myself included, are not so sure. However, he seems to enjoy the continued good opinion of those whose opinions really count, the big wigs of English and European refereeing.

It's a very difficult exercise to compare referees from different generations  (the game has changed so much ) but even allowing for that I would say Anthony Taylor is not in the same class as his namesake Jack or George Courtney or, it goes without saying, Joe Worrall ( totally unbiased opinion of course  )

I must say Whistleblower that I totally agree with you. Mr. Taylor certainly has the ability to perform to a very high level but I don't think we see this often enough.

To clarify I think he is excellent in Europe compared to his domestic performances. This could have something to do with his more 'front end' management, manufactured (I don't mean that as an insult at all) style of refereeing being more suited to those competitions. I also think UEFA's stricter approach on dissent suits his style (the excellent decision to send Vidal of for 2 YC for dissent in the space of 10 seconds for example) where as in the PL it seems at least that the stance is to avoid cautioning or sending off for dissenting behaviour wherever possible (for example, IMO Bruno should have been at minimum cautioned last night at HT and I really feel Anthony Taylor in a UEFA match would have done so).

In the PL I think in almost every big game he officiates there are talking points of one kind or another. Its not that he ever loses control or makes ridiculous decisions, he just doesn't seem to have the game 'in his back pocket' the way you would expect a top referee to. He's reacting to the music rather than conducting the orchestra so to speak would be the impression I get. I personally am convinced that the difference in UEFA vs PL refereeing is the reason for this and I feel if he refereed like he did a UEFA competition we might see a few more cards but we would also see a better refereed game. Its great if a referee can control a match without cards but not everybody has that style/ability and that's not bad thing - e.g Mike Dean, still one of the best.

Saying that though I don't think either of our elite referees have covered themselves in glory this season with Michael Oliver not on top form. Again no disasters but, IMO, a lot of penalties that could have gone without whistling. I hope that both he and Taylor will go on to have a better time at EURO.

For me the standout performers this season come from outside the elite duo, I think Atwell has been good, Dean bar 1/2 big controversies has been sound, Marriner always puts in a quality performance but for me Craig Pawson has been the standout

I reflect from personal experience somewhat. An Assessor once told me ' when you're on song you can outperform any referee in this league and quite a few in the league above; trouble is too many of your performances are out of tune '  He was absolutely right. My matches either went like a dream and were much appreciated or else they left quite a lot to be desired, particularly in the area of accurate foul detection. There were too many out of tune performances to ever consider climbing the refereeing ladder very far so I was content at finding the level I was comfortable with and getting known by the clubs who learned to take the refereeing rough with the smooth.  To be an excellent referee at any level there has to be a good consistency to performances.