Give over. The reason Fulham lost was because they acted disgracefully and we're fortunate to only have 2 players sent off. Manchester United didn't do an awful lot wrong.
The only way to stop this ridiculous behaviour, is by punishing teams in a way that hurts. A fine, a yellow, even a red and the odd suspension, are often worth the risk. And a lot of it comes from the coaching team. Give Mitro 10 games. Repeat offence in the same season? Points deduction and heavy sanctions on Managers, for failing to control their players. Same with things like time wasting. First offence - warning. Second offence - add 4 minutes. Throw a red in too, if it's the same player. They will soon pack it in. Unfortunately we're now in an era where cheating and dissent is considered a skill. The obvious problem though, is always gonna be consistency. We see time again, how routinely inconsistent refs are. And VAR has just become a farce. Bruno Fernandes shoves the lino against Liverpool for example - not a thing done. So you can see how Manager's will say 'well you did nothing there, so how is this different'? Other worry is refs with egos - and there's plenty of them - going power mad. I'm a big fan of ex-pros going into reffing.
and then some parents who are on the sidelines watching their kids play and give refs abuse at grassroots level doesn't help. Who'd be a ref?
I'm not saying I disagree with you entirely but I can see why it doesn't happen. For the elite players the question is where's the benefit? Multimillionaires receiving a (relative) pittance. There's no way they'd earn a great deal as refs while the gravy train for regular sackings as manager or coach is much more lucrative. Or the money for old rope route as pundit which will carry less hassle. There's also more impartiality risk. If a player refs one of his former clubs or players he's played with/against there could be accusations of bias.
The ref is always the villain. To strict according to one side, too lenient say the other. It would help immensely if players and coaches stopped trying to exploit the laws of the game and/or cheat.
Agreed, you're not going to get the top players doing it, and many will naturally go into coaching. But surely in the football pyramid, there are 50/60 ex-pros out there, who would fancy it? Seems to work in cricket and rugby. I just think it has to have advantages over some ex-accountant with a God complex, who's never played the game.
No elite players would. With the wages in league one I doubt many league one players would. Would be an upgrade though, especially playing any professional football at all
Yep it definitely wouldn't happen overnight. Would have to be structured through the pro route, with some sort of fast-tracking programme, to make it a career path for ex-pros. I imagine there's 100s of pros that don't quite make the grade, or get injured early, or drop down the leagues or whatever.
My opinion is the abuse they get. Is it worth it? Look at former players of cricket who go on to umpire matches. All about respect and sadly in football there is too much dissent and contesting of decisions. Argue with a ref in both codes of rugby and its a penalty . Why cant FIFA bring this in to football at all levels? A very simple rule that would have maximum impact.
My problem with ex players is that most players are cheats. Look at the pundits on all channels "he was smart there diving after being touched". How can people like that be referees? And they will all have agendas too and favoured clubs, personnel etc. For me refs just need to be better and players and clubs punished harsher when they try to influence them
The trouble with elite level football these days is that it's no longer a sport but more of an entertainment, like WWE wrestling or Formula 1. Referees are instructed and coached to 'manage the game' to keep it entertaining - to the extent of ignoring the laws and avoiding red cards as far as possible. Sky Sports and money have ruined the game and it's probably too late to reverse the trend.
Not sure about that. There's a plethora of trigger happy referees. Perhaps in the sense of non-football related issues like the Mitrovic/Fernándes push you may be correct bud. Completely agree with your last point though!
I watched both games. I don't remember the Fernándes incident, but I certainly remember the Mitrovic one. I'm not saying nothing happened, I may have just missed it. The touch judges and 4th official also need the same protection as the Referee. Two types of dissent I hate to see are players waving imaginary cards, trying to get someone sent off, and players wagging their fingers in a condescending way in an officials face. If I did that to my boss at work, I'd be out the door.
On the money side there are far more players who need to work from the lower leagues that could take it up. Point about previous clubs fair point though.
I knew someone would pickup on that. I was trying to avoid using Linesmen, and I didn't want to use Lineperson, so that's the best I could do.
