RateTheRef

I was there in the North Stand and thought he was pretty good overall.  Don't really agree on the timewasting, I didn't see anyone taking an excessive amount of time, and also don't see why Wednesday would bother timewasting.  All they have possibly to play for is to avoid the ignominy of finishing on minus points, and the odd draw here and there isn't going to get that.

My immediate reaction on the penalty was it was a dive, but then the complete lack of protest by Wednesday players made me think I'd seen it wrong, understandable from the distance I was away from it. But having now seen the replay it was a blatant dive, Fusire did dangle a leg but Clarke then ran into it and flung himself forwards.  Interestingly when I met up with the Ipswich fan friends in the pub after they said they they thought it was a dive real time.  With hindsight the lack of protests didn't really indicate much other than the Wednesday players are totally demoralised and don't really have any protest left in them.

I said offside at the time, whilst there was the line of the pitch it was obvious that Sarr was leaning forward and his head was going to come into play.  Was actually surprised it was as close as it was once the image came through.

I really don't see the problem, if you are offside you are offside.  Do athletes (or racehorses) complain if they lose a race because their opponent finishes ahead of them by a nose?  No, of course they don't.

I'm OK with it, similar to what they already do in the National League and I believe it has been popular there.  Like it or not football is now all about money, this will create additional revenue from TV coverage of the additional games.  It will also effectively extend the season for many teams, even with just 11 games to go teams as low as 17th would still have a chance of getting into the play offs (based on this season), and that in turn will keep interest and attendances (and therefore revenue) up.

A lot of people were up in arms about the introduction of the play offs in the first place, but they have possibly been the most successful change in the history of football.  It is also good that they have weighted it in the favour of teams finishing 5th and 6th as they will be at home in single leg matches.

For the potential penalty for holding by O'Nien, whether we agree with it or not PGMO have stated that penalties will only be given if the holding is impactful, and that means stops the opponent and prevents them from getting to the ball.  Whilst there's no doubt this stopped the opponent in his tracks, from memory the ball wasn't going anywhere near where that holding happened or where the held attacker was heading, and therefore isn't going to get given either by on-field officials or VAR.

Quote from: TA_Ref on Thu 26 Feb 2026 17:45

Quote from: Ashington46 on Thu 26 Feb 2026 16:27

I agree with Nemesis ---the game really has gone at the 'elite' level.

Off topic as well but I have to ask a question…

Why is the game ‘gone’ at the elite level?

Is because of referees? Is it the implementation of VAR? Is it the playacting of players and managers to an extent? There are many question as to why but let’s remind ourselves of something.

Why was VAR introduced? It was because the fans, the players, the managers and the boards all wanted it because to put it simply, they didn’t trust the referees at the time. Howard Webb openly says that they’re in dialogue with clubs all the time. Is there anything they want to change? Is there a rule that needs adapting? That’s why there are different interpretations of things all around the world. Referees are there to do a job. They’re there to protect the players and enforce the rules. We don’t know whether Joao Pinheiro actually wanted to give the foul and yellow card. All we know is he enforced the laws that he is told to enforce. I recall a certain quote by Wayne Barnes “It might be a bad law but it’s the law”. That sentence could be applied to many laws in football.

The game is not “gone” because a referee gave a red card for an incident. The game is gone because of the antics of players and managers who are demanding change on a seasonal basis which makes it impossible for any level of consistency.

I refuse to believe the game is gone because of a decision made by a referee who is there to uphold the laws of the game.

I don't think fans did want it. Not the majority I have spoken to anyway. It was a gimmick pushed by media, pundits and administrators taking further control from normal football match-goers

They absolutely did want it, the vast majority anyway, because it was mistakenly believed it would be this utopia that would take all controversy out of football.  Now the majority don't want it, but as soon as their team got done over by a dodgy decision they'd be demanding it back.

It has to be a clear and obvious error to send the referee for a review, but once there they can pretty much take whatever decision they want

Quote from: elbee94 on Thu 26 Feb 2026 13:08

Quote from: DerbyLad90 on Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:48

Still no Sam Allison in the appointments … thought he was the next big thing?

I think that ship has well and truly sailed, he’s found closer to league one than the Premier League now. Probably 10 SG2 officials in front of him now.

On his day Sam Allison is a great referee; the trouble is his days don't come round often enough.  I have some sympathy with him; at a much lower level the same could ( and indeed was ) said about me. The difference possibly is that I was never really looking to climb very high up the refereeing ladder.

Unfortunately he was pushed too soon too quickly, he wasn't the first and he won't be the last.  I can say with absolute confidence he won't be going back to Premier League games, that ship has sailed, and I really felt for him when I watched the game live where he got 4 out of 5 KMIs wrong.  Not sure I've ever seen a referee at that level look so short of confidence, it really was difficult to watch.

Hopefully that was a wake up call to PGMO to not push referees too quickly.

A few stories floating around suggesting a whopping 40-60 point deduction could be heading their way once this financial stuff and the outstanding charges have been judged on.

Some bookies have them at 50/1 to get the boot from the PL.

By comparison, we are 400/1 on some sites…

Let’s be honest, this has taken far too long to get sorted, when you have the likes of Leicester whom seemingly got their verdict in a flash.

Completely different things.  The points deductions for Leicester, and Sheffield Wednesday for that matter, were black and white.  They breached a specific EPL / EFL rule, the punishment for which are set in stone, it really didn't need a lot of sorting out.  Leicester's took longer as they somehow managed to use a loophole to say that when they breached they were neither a member of the EPL or EFL due to their relegation and the dates of AGMs, but they were never really going to get away with that.

Whereas Man City are charged with a multitude of offences.  A breach of P&S is just one of them, but the bigger issues are being accused of misrepresenting sponsorship revenue, failing to provide accurate and truthful financial information, and non-cooperation with EPL investigations.  That just cannot be compared with a simple breach of P&S, or going into administration, it is much more complicated hence why it is having to go through the legal route.