League 2 General Chat Thread

[Chris FGR]

Mike Mullarkey was always utter shite in the Conference, and ended up officiating in a World Cup final....

 

[Valeite]

It is because of VAR. The referee's down here had to be promoted as you need more officials in the top flight now to cover doing VAR hence L1/L2 has ended up with a load of non league referee's promoted this season, some who appear to be clearly not up to standard.

Saying that the worst referee I have seen at Vale in recent years was actually Premier League Referee Mike Jones who took charge of us against Chesterfield in a crucial relegation battle. Awful!

Correct on all counts except it was Crawley who Mike Jones awarded the win to. My God he was appalling!

 

[Boletus Edulis]

It is because of VAR. The referee's down here had to be promoted as you need more officials in the top flight now to cover doing VAR hence L1/L2 has ended up with a load of non league referee's promoted this season, some who appear to be clearly not up to standard.

You are quite right that VAR has had a signficant effect this year, but there are two longer term factors as well.

First, it takes time to get the experience, to have been in a range of situations, and now it generally takes far less time to get to the EFL. Its a long time ago for when I and my dad were officiating, but when I did I was told it would take at least 15 years to get on the line, and then another five to get in the middle at the level Argyle now play. By that time an official will have been exposed to an awful lot of situations. This simply does not happen now, they are fast tracked much more quickly. So I passed my test at 14, and would have been realistically 29/30 before I got to run the line at the likes of Home Park. This year we had a ref who was 26 - he had the ability but not the experience - and it showed in his game management.

Second, by and large the county FAs now do the training so they get the money, and a result the local referees associations have all but died out. These acted like a referee university and work placment scheme combined in one. An inexperienced ref would be mingling socially once a month with experience refs, and often getting game-time opportunities through them. The most important person for the career progression of a ref is the Referees Secretary of the semi-pro leagues, and they often relied on opinions of the experienced refs of what they thought. But those experienced refs have less opportunity to get to know in and outside a game situation the inexperienced refs now.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Mike Mullarkey was always utter shite in the Conference, and ended up officiating in a World Cup final....

As a lino, and the skills between the two jobs are very different. I knew a lot of refs who were good in the middle, and lousy as linos. Personally I was a much better lino than I was a ref.

 

[Chris FGR]

Yeah but there's shite and there's shite. Amongst many horrendous displays Mullarkey actually ignored his linesman flagging for a blatant pen (would have been red) and then again later for a blatant last man foul (another red) on Stuart Fleetwood at Aldershot in 08. Total bottle job. Think the lino actually joined in with chants of you don't know what your doing.

 

[Grumpy Grecian]

All this talk about dodge refs but no mention of Brett Huxtable yet??

 

[darren gregory]

Hope any Vale fans braving this wind and rain battering us are rewarded at Morecambe tonight.

Usually not a bad hunting ground for us. Expect an unchanged team from Saturday.
Against the grain for my usual predictions i do fancy us tonight.
1-2
Draw not a disaster though

 

[Vanni]

Don't know if this is true but apparently Morecambe always get off to a slow start in matches, and that's the time to hit them with a goal or two. They do however finish much the stronger side.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

All this talk about dodge refs but no mention of Brett Huxtable yet??

Bizarrely the last two games he did for us he was actually quite good. He’d lost a bit of weight which helped him, but I assume an aliens came down and took over.

This Saturday we have Trevor Kettle. On Pasoti there is a poster who always supports the referee, this week for the first time ever he said something critical: “he is not a very good referee.”

 

[Greenacres]

We had Trevor Kettle a few weeks ago and to be fair he wasn't bad. He did something that I have never seen a ref do, or if I have it is something so rare as hens teeth that I have completely forgotten, and that was overturn a decision he had made. He incorrectly booked Joe Mills for a foul but after speaking with his linesman, who pointed out that is shouldn't have been, overturned his own decision and awarded us a free kick instead. Not many refs would have done that!

 

[Boletus Edulis]

We had Trevor Kettle a few weeks ago and to be fair he wasn't bad. He did something that I have never seen a ref do, or if I have it is something so rare as hens teeth that I have completely forgotten, and that was overturn a decision he had made. He incorrectly booked Joe Mills for a foul but after speaking with his linesman, who pointed out that is shouldn't have been, overturned his own decision and awarded us a free kick instead. Not many refs would have done that!

The Hux did something the last time out I really liked. The Lino gave the penalty, and after we had scored he made a big thing of clapping the Lino, which I thought was good.

 

[Deepcut Cobbler]

The Hux did something the last time out I really liked. The Lino gave the penalty, and after we had scored he made a big thing of clapping the Lino, which I thought was good.

I do that, but normally if the decision was contentious, even if the lino didn't give it.
It diverts the flack away from me...

 

[Andy Proctor]

The ref we had at bradford away this season was shit cant remember his name though.

I think the weather has put of a few vale fans going today dont want travel that way find out it's off or sit in the cold and wet for 2 hours at least I'm warm where I am at wanky work.

 

[Posh Harry]

Christ that’s nowhere near his fucking arm, standard of officiating in this league is an absolute joke. Look how excited the little twat is to get his red card out too.

To be fair, after watching the highlights on quest, I’m not sure the ref gave it. I think he moved away initially towards the half way line and either the Lino or 4th official has had a word in his ear and told him. He also put his hand up to his ear piece before giving it. Could be wrong though.

 

[Pennywise]

The ref we had at bradford away this season was shit cant remember his name though.

I think the weather has put of a few vale fans going today dont want travel that way find out it's off or sit in the cold and wet for 2 hours at least I'm warm where I am at wanky work.

Graham Salisbury. Notoriously shite every single time.

Blew for FT. Managers shaking hands etc.. only for him to suddenly decide he wanted it to carry on for a bit longer and Bradford had a corner. I think there would’ve been some serious anger had they equalised.

 

[kieran_vale]

Didn’t take long for Morecambe take the lead. Have to admit I wouldn’t fancy it myself tonight.

 

[valefan16]

game over.

 

[HutchECFC]

Well...

 

[kieran_vale]

Know it’s not Askeys style but I think we could have freshened things up a bit after Saturday. Can pretty much write tonight off already.

 

[Indian Dan]

pull yer finger out, Vale.

We’ll have DevonLad on here soon crowing.

 

[Dave-Vale]

We are shit and don’t look up for it.. again!

Askey doesn’t strike me as a motivator and it’s obvious in the way we play.

 

[Vale on Trent]

Terrible half. As I’ve said previously, we were also terrible against Stevenage but the win papered over the cracks.

We haven’t had a shot yet. I don’t mind losing but with everyone harping on about the play offs you’d think we’d at least be able to lay a finger on the opposition!

 

[valefan16]

Bang out of order that performance, look disinterested and flat. Made Morecambe look decent. Got the wind second half and anything less than an absolute roasting at half time will suffice.

Not done one thing that we’ve done all season in the main in terms of energy. Maybe one game too far with the lack of changes the past month or the conditions who knows.

Don’t mind losing to quality but when you don’t put enough in then it’s not enough.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Ifollow are counting a header from the edge of the box that nearly went out for a throw as a shot, apparently.

I agree that we were garbage on Saturday and should’ve probably lost. I don’t know why so many fans praised the performance because we got out of jail, big time! We seem to really struggle against sides down the bottom.

Askey needs to change things at half time and not wait until 70 minutes before deciding he wants make a sub.

 

[kieran_vale]

If we are going to have any chance of turning this around need some bold management from Askey. Make some fucking changes and do it now. If it doesn’t work who cares but just for once be proactive about this.

 

[Dave-Vale]

If we are going to have any chance of turning this around need some bold management from Askey. Make some fucking changes and do it now. If it doesn’t work who cares but just for once be proactive about this.

I would be shocked if he changes it this early.

 

[valefan16]

If we are going to have any chance of turning this around need some bold management from Askey. Make some fucking changes and do it now. If it doesn’t work who cares but just for once be proactive about this.

Got to get support to Pope especially with the wind behind us, maybe Cullen up top with him to pick up the lose balls.

61% possession and 1 shot is bad. Need to up it and go at them.

 

[hellogregory]

Useless

 

[Crewelad87]

Been watching this Morecambe Vs Vale game, and I can't actually put it into words how bad Vale have been. They just look like they don't want to be there at all and not even bothered. Feel for the fans that have paid money and travelled to watch that.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Surprise, surprise no changes and there won’t be before 65 minutes.