League 2 General Chat Thread

[shoddycollins]

I still don’t understand why fans at this level demand or expect good officiating. Aren’t they part time still?

We are watching generally poor footballers, so why not a poor referee too? Do we as fans have a divine right for better?

Coventry and Notts fans witnessed a bizarre display from a ref today, his strange booking of Noble led to 2 more yellows for other players as the of players of both sides lost all confidence in his ability in the 2nd half. Noble was constantly in his ear all game and should be booked for just being annoying , McNulty committed countless fouls which went unpunished, Cov chose a weird time to hang around the ref on mass.

He then booked anyone who spoke out, one after half time whistle, one after Notts winning goal etc. He then capped it off for an Cov injury by calling on the physio for a downed player , then after treatment didn’t order that player off the field of play. A stupid rule anyway admittedly but a rule nonetheless that you see enforced ‘week in, week out’ this guy, nope . No idea.

Saying all that, he was far better than the Ref we got versus Wycombe last time out at Meadow Lane.

It’s 4 tier football, we should probably get 4th tier referees.

Well there are 76 referees on the national list officiating the top 4 divisions. If these are supposed to be the top 76 in the country then you would expect even the 76th to be a good referee. Can't expect them to spot every infringement and every attempt to deceive them because they don't have eyes in the back of their head and officials are outnumbered 22 to 3 by players, but would at least expect them to be the ones in charge of the match rather than the players. I think things like that don't form a big enough part of the criteria for promotion and would much rather have a referee who wasn't quite as fit or wasn't quite as perceptive but took no shit from anyone.

I know I've moaned about Lincoln enough for two seasons already this past week but the referee in that game was a perfect example of a referee who ultimately let the players officiate the game instead of himself.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Dave you and Kevin Nolan definitely have something in common as he is disappointed and perplexed on a weekly basis.

Although he played all his career at a higher level so naturally he must be used to a superior level of officiating than what he’s seeing as Notts Manager

Mate, I’m genuinely convinced there is some sort of refereeing conspiracy against us this season.

Nolan is probably right as the standard of refs at this level has been poor every season we’ve played here. Aspin said yesterday that the 4th official told him that Mike Jones (the ref who is infamous for a few things at a higher level) isn’t used to reffing in league 2 so he doesn’t quite understand it! That in itself is a ridiculous statement to make as the rules are the same.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

I’m not sure it is ridiculous tbh, referring a champions league game is done differently
to premier league game. The dark arts of L2 are not often seen at PL level from what I’ve seen.

Inconsistency is the problem, and the fact you get what you pay for. Part time £300 / £500 ain’t gonna get you much quality

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Hold on a second , why would the FA officials have an agreed conspiracy against lowly Port Vale?

 

[Dave-Vale]

Hold on a second , why would the FA officials have an agreed conspiracy against lowly Port Vale?

That is the mystery!

 

[IanPVFC]

In the first half yesterday Mike Jones somehow managed to lose control of a game which he didn't even need to control!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[darren gregory]

Yet another laughable jibe at your 92nd favourite club eh , hilarious.
I shouldn't mock too much pal as football has a habit of biting you on the arse.
Only last season you just stayed up and obviously Nolan has turned you into a wonder team this season .
When you bottle the play offs we'll all start on zero again.
Let's see how you do with the tag of of promotion certs .....not done much good for Mansfield

Hold on a second , why would the FA officials have an agreed conspiracy against lowly Port Vale?

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

What a bizarre post Darren. What are you talking about??

“Just stayed up” ?? Notts finished 16th last season, 10 points clear of relegation and were in promotion form since KN arrival. Hardly just stayed up buddy lol

We haven’t got in the playoffs yet lol! Defeat next week and it will be looking 50:50 imo. And yes, 3 teams will “bottle” them as you say. But better to be in there than not , right?

And finally, why would we be promotion certs next season? You think we will be bookies favourites like mansfield were this season? With this squad ?!?

Dazza at least do some research before posting.

 

[Dave-Vale]

I think I’ve grown to enjoy VM’s posts.

What I said earlier regarding the anti-Vale ref conspiracy was a joke and I think his reply was also in jest.

 

[darren gregory]

It was said in jest about promotion certs as that will obviously be Crewe
Yes better to be in there than not I agree.
Probably as well Vale aren't in the play offs because if we lost there would undoubtedly be some sort of riot or pitch invasion, we wouldn't want that at all.
Our good name dragged through the mud

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

It was said in jest about promotion certs as that will obviously be Crewe
Yes better to be in there than not I agree.
Probably as well Vale aren't in the play offs because if we lost there would undoubtedly be some sort of riot or pitch invasion, we wouldn't want that at all.
Our good name dragged through the mud

Just a weird post, check your facts
Same could happen if you stayed up or went down on last game of the season. Obviously 99.9% in attendance wouldn’t condone it

 

[darren gregory]

I have no fucking interest in trawling the stats for your team last season.
I recall you lost about 10 in a row and were in trouble.
Fantastic that you finished 10 points clear , I apologise unreservedly for my memory playing tricks and your comfortable survival is a credit to the managerial nous of Kev

 

[BelizeHatter]

Gotta be more than 76 refs no? Two per game with 4th official - have to be more than 38 games on a Saturday?

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Apology accepted. KN has done well so far as manager of NCFC. Only a numpty would comment otherwise.

 

[darren gregory]

Gotta be more than 76 refs no? Two per game with 4th official - have to be more than 38 games on a Saturday?

36 games in Champ, L 1 and L 2

 

[cufc17]

That was a terrible game again yesterday, two bad teams with Swindon just shading the game. I think we had one effort on target which was outside the box and right at the keeper, considering a win would’ve had us 2 points from the playoffs, there was zero drive to get a late winner.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Gotta be more than 76 refs no? Two per game with 4th official - have to be more than 38 games on a Saturday?

Not quite as straight forward as that:

Top 18 Select Group referees, a couple of which haven't really done that many PL matches this season. Fully professional.
Next 18 Select Group 2 referees, 12 of which are full time (I've no idea why not all of them are full time). These officiate primarily in the Championship.
Further 38 referees officiating primarily in Leagues One and Two. All part time. Some assistant referees act as fourth officials and should the need arise, the most experienced assistant take over.

Gone are the days where a top of the table clash would be officiated by a Premier League referee.

I've no idea why in this day and age with the amount of money in the game, why the EPL/EFL cannot make refereeing fully professional. It would maybe entice more into it as a career.

It also seems that some refeeres on the National List almost have a job for life with little accountability. And are being assessed by those who weren't good enough previously in their own refereeing careers. Jarnail Singh is an assessor ffs.

I'd actually argue that when we first rejoined the EFL in 2014, officiating was as pretty much the same standard in the Conference.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Not quite as straight forward as that:

Top 18 Select Group referees, a couple of which haven't really done that many PL matches this season. Fully professional.
Next 18 Select Group 2 referees, 12 of which are full time (I've no idea why not all of them are full time). These officiate primarily in the Championship.
Further 38 referees officiating primarily in Leagues One and Two. All part time. Some assistant referees act as fourth officials and should the need arise, the most experienced assistant take over.

Gone are the days where a top of the table clash would be officiated by a Premier League referee.

I've no idea why in this day and age with the amount of money in the game, why the EPL/EFL cannot make refereeing fully professional. It would maybe entice more into it as a career.

It also seems that some refeeres on the National List almost have a job for life with little accountability. And are being assessed by those who weren't good enough previously in their own refereeing careers. Jarnail Singh is an assessor ffs.

I'd actually argue that when we first rejoined the EFL in 2014, officiating was as pretty much the same standard in the Conference.

Back when we were in the Conference Jarnail Singh was widely regarded as one of the best refs around. It was a real shame when he retired. He was the complete antithesis of Trevor Kettle.

 

[valefan16]

Back when we were in the Conference Jarnail Singh was widely regarded as one of the best refs around. It was a real shame when he retired. He was the complete antithesis of Trevor Kettle.

Can't recall the game but Singh had a mare against us once!

 

[Luke Imp]

Back when we were in the Conference Jarnail Singh was widely regarded as one of the best refs around. It was a real shame when he retired. He was the complete antithesis of Trevor Kettle.

It absolutely wasn't! I never saw him have a good game.

On the subject of refs, they should be FT in the FT leagues IMO and that's something I've been banging on about for years. PL to L2 should all be FT. You can't expect a guy who's up at 6am to go to work as, say, a teacher, travel an hour or two to the game and then officiate.

PL are FT refs and Championship are FT refs (IIRC, the Club's contribute 'x' amount towards a pool of money which pays their wages?).

 

[MrGloverLover]

I'm amazed at the comments about Singh on here. Genuinely everyone I knew back then was really pleased when they saw he was reffing our games and he was great pretty much every time. Very fair and sensible.

 

[mowgli]

Ainsworth has been saying ever since he became our manager that refs should be full time just like the players. Some refs we've had are so unfit they can't keep up with play the same for some linesmen as well, perhaps it's also time to lower the age they have to retire.

 

[Super_horns]

We had Bobby Madley yesterday and he was very good. Never got flustered and barely broke a sweat throughout the game. Showed the difference between PL and lower leagues.

Yet apparently made an awful error to gift you the game according to the Chesterfield manager and fans..

They will make mistakes as anyone does .. except theirs gets highlighted more than a high earning (by most people's standards) professional athletes ..

 

[valefan16]

Ainsworth has been saying ever since he became our manager that refs should be full time just like the players. Some refs we've had are so unfit they can't keep up with play the same for some linesmen as well, perhaps it's also time to lower the age they have to retire.

I agree however Saturdays referee was Mike Jones a full time premier league referee and the worst we've had in years and the clown against Chesterfield was a Championship referee so doesn't overly seem to make a difference. Mike Jones has been slated in the Premier League a lot I believe.

 

[PaulHaddock]

Yet apparently made an awful error to gift you the game according to the Chesterfield manager and fans..

They will make mistakes as anyone does .. except theirs gets highlighted more than a high earning (by most people's standards) professional athletes ..

The vast majority of Chesterfield fans I’ve seen have said it was a penalty. The only game when it was seen a real time. After seeing the highlights, many agree it was the right decision.

I will reiterate that Madley showed his ability throughout the game. The players had his respect and from what I’ve seen of him before, he’s a ref who doesn’t make the game about him. I can’t speak for Mike Jones or Mike Dean but they’re the ones who seem to get criticised in the PL anyway!

 

[dedwardp]

The trouble is that in the majority of cases supporters are too partisan and blinkered in what they see that the referee will be criticised even for correct decisions. There are so many decisions that cause disagreement between both teams, that one side will be moaning unjustly - they can't both be right.

One good example from our game on Saturday was Billy Kee was tripped up, clear foul. He poked the ball away just in time and you heard our player's boot connect with his shinpads, it was blatant. But as soon as the referee blew everyone around me was up in arms giving him all sorts of abuse, and every decision for the next five minutes was then being slaughtered - even though he was spot on. Admittedly, he made a couple of complete howlers near the end that deserved some grief.

I'm sure it isn't really the case that 95% of matches has a useless referee as you would assume from listening to most post-match comments from fans of the side that lost. In fact, if I watch a game on tele I tend to think the vast majority of decisions are correct, particularly after watching replays etc, even though each one is met with uproar from the crowd in the background.

 

[Agombar stool]

The trouble is that in the majority of cases supporters are too partisan and blinkered in what they see that the referee will be criticised even for correct decisions. There are so many decisions that cause disagreement between both teams, that one side will be moaning unjustly - they can't both be right.

One good example from our game on Saturday was Billy Kee was tripped up, clear foul. He poked the ball away just in time and you heard our player's boot connect with his shinpads, it was blatant. But as soon as the referee blew everyone around me was up in arms giving him all sorts of abuse, and every decision for the next five minutes was then being slaughtered - even though he was spot on. Admittedly, he made a couple of complete howlers near the end that deserved some grief.

I'm sure it isn't really the case that 95% of matches has a useless referee as you would assume from listening to most post-match comments from fans of the side that lost. In fact, if I watch a game on tele I tend to think the vast majority of decisions are correct, particularly after watching replays etc, even though each one is met with uproar from the crowd in the background.

Totally in agreement with this especially the first paragraph.

 

[shoddycollins]

Hold on a second , why would the FA officials have an agreed conspiracy against lowly Port Vale?

Stoke City want the Potteries to themselves so they can push on to become the next billionaire bankrolled club and bring the Champions League back to England.

Isn't it obvious?

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

dedwardp nails it. People often make such strong comment on incidents having only seen it live, real time, once and from a long distance away.

If there are free kicks given in the far corners of the pitch by ref or linesman , I never complain, Cos it’s so far away I don’t know who was holding who’s shirt, who the ball case off last. Yet around me some of the old boys are having near heart attacks 100% certain it wasn’t a foul.

Same goes with offsides “that was never off”
Said say 40-50 yards out of line with the incident in the other half of the pitch lol

 

[dedwardp]

Same goes with offsides “that was never off”
Said say 40-50 yards out of line with the incident in the other half of the pitch lol

I think the offsides are my favourite ones - especially as I sit behind the goal and therefore we're not even looking it at from remotely the correct angle, let alone in line!

The other ones that seem to wind everyone up is every time someone comes over to take a corner and the ball looks slightly out of the quadrant, even though the edge will be overhanging the white line. It's perfectly legal but 99% of the people around me jump up every single time screaming at the ref to come and make him put it back, does my head in.

In fact, even our bloody mascot stands by the corner flag waving his huge fluffy arms about and pointing to the ball. Idiots.