Radio Lancashire Sports show Monday 11 March

[redrobo]

Alex Neill was the guest on last night's Sports Show broadcast at 6pm and he was adamant that the sending off of Max was totally unjustified having reviewed it numerous times. He felt that it didn't even warrant a yellow as their player was not in a scoring position and that he made the most out of the situation.

But as Wrexham have accepted on numerous occasions they are Masters of the Dark Arts and make no apologies for being so.

Would love it if we got some revenge by beating them at Wembley or even in the semi final games prior to another Wembley triumph.

[fulwoodshrimp]

Of course it wasn't a sending off but that assumes referee Anthony Parsons knows what he is doing- he doesn't because he is hopeless. Hang on, perhaps he does know what he is doing and ensuring a Wrexham win would be the result of the sending off!

[shrimpsontoast]

Unless the “dark arts” involves hypnotising the referee into making certain decisions, I think this one is entirely on the referee. Whether or not he actually tripped him, it shouldn’t have been a yellow card unless he tripped him deliberately and cynically. It certainly doesn’t look like it nor does it seem likely given who was on the ball and where he was going. You would usually expect as well that if a player is on a yellow card already, he will be given the benefit of the doubt, especially if the first yellow was a relatively innocuous one.

If I was a referee assessor, I would have serious concerns about this referee based not only on the decisions he actually made but on the time he took to make them (red card and penalty). He was obviously well aware that Max was already on a yellow as well given how promptly he pulled the cards out and yet he didn’t give himself a moment to think “hang on, I gave him a soft booking in the first, is it really fair to give him another soft one now” which is the sort of thought that could go through your head if you gave yourself say 5 seconds.

The handball law is a total farce isn’t it. It says something like “if your hands are in an unnatural position (whatever that is) when you touch it, that’s handball”. But I’d say that it’s a pretty natural position for them to be in if (a) you put them up to protect your face or (b) you put them up in an attempt to get them out of the way of the ball (the meaning of “natural position” surely has to be taken in context which is that you are playing a game of football and if the ball hits your hand there is a risk of hand ball because the interpretation of the law by referees is so unpredictable). The ball was going over the stand and can only have been going over the stand on that trajectory, so I’m pretty sure David didn’t put them up there except for one of the two reasons above (but only he knows the answer to that…). Anyway, if I am right about that, then it’s not handball, 100%.


On Alex Neill’s comments, if the player had been in a scoring position (past the last man) that presumably could have warranted a red card.

[fulwoodshrimp]

I see Saturday's referee is going to spoil the Swindon home game tonight! Obviously he is rated by the football authorities otherwise they would do what he deserves and sack him. The standard of refereeing will never improve if really poor refs continue to ruin games.

[redrobo]

I see Saturday's referee is going to spoil the Swindon home game tonight! Obviously he is rated by the football authorities otherwise they would do what he deserves and sack him. The standard of refereeing will never improve if really poor refs continue to ruin games.

Will be interesting to read their forum after their game with Accy Stanley.....

[Billy bodger]

I would want Max’s second yellow reviewed, it was such a soft second yellow, I don’t think it is but it spoilt the game.

[fulwoodshrimp]

Mr. Parsons probably intended it to spoil the game. He would be well aware it would mean 3points for Wrexham.

[Keith]

I see Saturday's referee is going to spoil the Swindon home game tonight

As a Wrexham fan, the outcome of this game is irrelevant so he can officiate it normally, without bias.

[glagys]

So watched ref watch on sky on Monday and jay Bothroyd was grilling dermot Gallagher about refs getting decisions wrong and do they get punished, answer,no they learn by their mistakes and are educated on what they got wrong,so no punishment

[shrimpsontoast]

Don’t think this modern practice of employing referees as pundits / TV analysts does much to diminish their obvious self importance. Also don’t recall ever hearing anything from a referee pundit / analyst that suggests to me that they have any sort of special referees insight into the game that is worth paying for. Ideally, the referee in any game should be totally anonymous and the game should be refereed without any ounce of personality (which is a subjective element and therefore liable to affect the purity of the interpretation of the rules). Wonder how long before we can look forward to AI referees…