REFEREES don’t need to give Mike Riley and the powers that be at the PGMOL a vote of no confidence – you can see they have lost confidence in the system by what is happening out there on the pitch.

The elite group of referees are the 21st team in the Premier League and if any other club was performing as badly, the tabloids would be screaming for the manager to get the boot.

Our top level referees look completely disenchanted. They are being slaughtered by an evaluation system that no-one likes and given no guiding hand at the actual game, when it could do some good.

There is friction between officials, people have their own agendas, and we are left discussing too many controversial decisions each and every week.

Someone has to be made accountable because they way things are going, the situation is only going to get worse.

Not so long ago, if you were off the pace in a game and you’d made a couple of bad decisions you’d have a coach come down at half time and tell you to toughen up, or to get a grip.

After a game he’d let you know how you’d done – good, bad or indifferent – and you had closure. It’s the same nowadays if you referee in the Champions League or Europa League.

But at Premier League level you are left stewing until an evaluation meeting days later. It’s too mechanical and it is making our referees scared to make a decision.

There is too much emphasis placed on the PGMOL code of conduct, on protocol, instead of managing our referees to be the best team they can be.

This is not a personal thing. I’m not touting myself for the job.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be involved but being realistic they wouldn’t have me.

You need someone with a business mind to take care of the budget and someone to come in from the outside, to bring their own ideas, and really shake things up.

Howard Webb has been a terrific ambassador and was a great referee but I don’t think he’s the man, simply because is too close. He has too many friends still doing the job and it was the same with Mike Riley when he took it on.

Perhaps we need to look towards Scotland, Wales or abroad – maybe someone like Peter Walton, who has done a tremendous job with MLS referees since he went over there a couple of years ago.

He has been a revelation and has a sound management background working with the power company EON.

Peter is the kind of person that Richard Scudamore should be looking towards to change things and bring a bit of unity to what is supposed to be our elite group of officials.

Outside the Premier League there is just as much need for change.

David Elleray and Neal Barry deal with things at the Football Association but who oversees what they actually do? They can do what they want.

The assessors at Football League level just are not good enough. It is a massive problem affecting everything from grassroots up to the big games being played outside the top flight.

Someone needs to get a grip, and fast.