RateTheRef

I'm generally very generous towards referees but Ollie Langford's performance tonight was the worst I've seen for a long time.

Now, I am a Reading supporter but believe I can be unbiased when judging decisions for and against my team.  Reading had four penalty shouts in the game, two of which were nailed on in my opinion, one a close call and one rightly waved away.  The Sky panel felt three should have been given. Tony Pulis, the opposing manager, agreed that two should have been given. That has to be the most damning assessment of all. 

Just for balance I didn't think the free kick from which Reading scored should have been awarded. 

Whether it's my team involved or not I get genuinely embarrassed by refereeing performances like this. Rant over but a really poor performance by Langford.

Usual night for Langford then. Surely he’s the worst in SG2?

I've seen better refs on The Downs as they say around here.
Not sure about the red card.................

I can only recall one decent game he had.... when he did the PL game between Chelsea v Leicester!

This again emphasises the dross present in the second echelon....

And replaced by?

Not a snarky answer but I do have concerns about the Referees, particularly at 2A and 2B They seem to have had all individuality driven out of them in pursuit of officials who tick all the right boxes and maintain their distance from the players.
I am talking Non League here (Currently levels 2A and 2B) but the likes of Gary Kellett, Steve Brand etc. could manage a game with the strength of their personality, not reliant on cards and box ticking
 Both were eminently capable too, the players enjoyed the games, the fans enjoyed the games, the games flowed and there was I believe less adverse comment

And replaced by?

Not a snarky answer but I do have concerns about the Referees, particularly at 2A and 2B They seem to have had all individuality driven out of them in pursuit of officials who tick all the right boxes and maintain their distance from the players.
I am talking Non League here (Currently levels 2A and 2B) but the likes of Gary Kellett, Steve Brand etc. could manage a game with the strength of their personality, not reliant on cards and box ticking
 Both were eminently capable too, the players enjoyed the games, the fans enjoyed the games, the games flowed and there was I believe less adverse comment

I'm sure there are L1/L2 referees who could not do worse, and would probably be considerably better, than some of the weaker SG2 referees.

I do agree with your general point though that it appears too many referees coming through now are pretty much a clone of each other and lack the individuality/personality that we used to see.

Quote from: PhiltheRef on Thu 03 Dec 2020 14:31

And replaced by?

Not a snarky answer but I do have concerns about the Referees, particularly at 2A and 2B They seem to have had all individuality driven out of them in pursuit of officials who tick all the right boxes and maintain their distance from the players.
I am talking Non League here (Currently levels 2A and 2B) but the likes of Gary Kellett, Steve Brand etc. could manage a game with the strength of their personality, not reliant on cards and box ticking
 Both were eminently capable too, the players enjoyed the games, the fans enjoyed the games, the games flowed and there was I believe less adverse comment

I'm sure there are L1/L2 referees who could not do worse, and would probably be considerably better, than some of the weaker SG2 referees.

I do agree with your general point though that it appears too many referees coming through now are pretty much a clone of each other and lack the individuality/personality that we used to see.

That was the complaint previously from the players, managers and pundits, the lack of robotic consistency, they're well on the way to it now...

I'd suggest Jeremy Simpson is consistently worse, while have never seen Gavin Ward have a decent game in the middle with Tranmere, though he seems to fare better elsewhere.

I'd suggest Jeremy Simpson is consistently worse, while have never seen Gavin Ward have a decent game in the middle with Tranmere, though he seems to fare better elsewhere.

I don’t mind ward never seen him a truly bad game.

I think Simpson, Davies, Langford and sometimes Woolmer are the weakest refs