What is it with the standard of referees in the lower leagues? It’s understandable in the Premier League that top class officials make mistakes and controversial decisions in the white-hot atmosphere of the most competitive and rich league in the world but, and it’s a big but, what’s with referees like Carl Boyeson?
Grimsby Town fans know exactly what I’m talking about. The club has even gone so far as to have petitioned to stop him from being given Town matches to officiate due to his awful performances. Boyeson has a history of sending Grimsby players off and on Saturday ruined a fairly average game of football by being whistle happy. A match littered with typical, rough and tumble tenacity of League Two football was stopped time and time again by the man in black. Boyeson has history- Yeovil manager Darren Way was less than impressed by his match refereeing and yet the Football League continues to send him out to matches to be the man in the middle. It isn’t the first time that match officials have come under the spotlight, particularly in League One and League Two. It seems that the standard is not as high as fans expect. Then again, it is without doubt the most difficult job of all those people out on the field of play. They should be applauded for doing the work that nobody, especially those who are more than ready to criticise them, would want to go out and do. However, if the standard does not improve then you end up with top flight officials such as Mike Dean, who this season has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons as a string of controversial decisions left managers fuming. Let’s hope that the FA reforms the standard of refereeing as well as sorting out its own prehistoric attitude to footballing matters. Last time out, the Football Weekly looked at the growing impatience of club chairmen and owners who were trigger happy and sacking managers faster than you can say Jean Louis Akpa Akpro. And, since than we’ve seen Steve McClaren leave Derby again and the managerial merry-go-round continue as Mark Warburton takes the very hot seat at Nottingham Forest. The craving for instant success gone wrong can be seen with the plight of Leyton Orient, who this morning had a High Court winding-up order adjourned until the summer. The future is insecure. The owner has ravaged the club with a spate of different bosses and snap decisions that have left fans in a desperate scramble to save their football club. It is almost as if football is not learning the lessons of Portsmouth, Leeds and Rangers. You are never safe. You can never be too big to go bust. It’s a very good club and one that does not deserve to be teetering over the edge and plunging headlong into the muck and nettles of non-league football with the sword dangling over their heads. Leyton Orient FC could cease to exist.
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What is it with football chairmen and owners? There have been so many ridiculous managerial sackings this season, its bordering on the bizarre. Warren Joyce of Wigan is the latest in a long line of decisions that make you think ‘what next?’. How can you expect to make much of a difference in four short months? Not to mention that Wigan also have Omar Bogle at their disposal, a player that will light up League One when the 2013 FA Cup winners are relegated for the second time in three seasons. You look at some other managers that have gone- Russell Slade at Coventry, Alex Neil at Norwich and Mark Warburton at Rangers and have to feel that the timing of these decisions is almost completely wrong.
When Sam Allardyce was forced to quit as England manager back in the autumn it seemed to spring a trend for trigger-happy decision making. Eastleigh, for example, are looking for their 4th manager of the season. And for what? To be languishing in lower mid-table in the National League. Making a change simply for changes sake is a dangerous thing. Just ask Swansea, who two years wrongly sacked manager Garry Monk and have been on a downward spiral ever since, being caught up in a relegation battle this season. My team, Grimsby Town, got our first new boss since 2011 when Marcus Bignot replaced the promotion-winning Paul Hurst in November. There have been glorious moments, none more so than the outstanding away wins over high-flying Plymouth and Carlisle; there have been lows, notably the horrendous 5-0 drubbing at Crewe. Should the board and the supporters trust decide that a fairly average winning percentage under Bignot be worthy of giving him the chop then I, for one, would jump immediately to Bignot’s defence. In other news- it’s the business end of the season and this first-ever edition of ‘The Football Weekly’ kick-starts the ‘squeaky bum time’ of the 2016/17 season. I barely register an interest in the moneybags Premier League anymore and I find the battles in the Football League far more interesting and compelling. Take the fascinating League One promotion push as an example. We all like a bit of comedy so watching Scunthorpe fall apart and concede three penalties in nine minutes to lose their place in the top two on Saturday was hilarious. Losing a game is difficult to take but when you bring it entirely on yourself it makes the rest of the country just point and laugh. I’m not gonna miss out on an opportunity to put one over on my rivals from up the county. Haha. I wonder who will be the next managerial casualty by the time of the second edition, next Monday? My money is on Coventry getting their guillotine out again or yet another new face in the dugout at Birmingham. You heard it here first. |
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