9:20am Wednesday 18th August 2010
A NEW season kicked off on Saturday but it was a familiar old story up at Sunderland with Steve Bruce risking the wrath of the FA with a scathing attack on a referee.
The target on this occasion was Anthony Taylor – a 31-year-old in charge of only his third Premier League game – who had the temerity to send off the Wearsiders’ hot-headed young captain Lee Cattermole.
Seeming to ignore the fact Cattermole deserved the two yellow cards that led to his dismissal, Bruce not only claimed Taylor wasn’t up to the job but also criticised the policy of fast-tracking young refs and suggested the experienced Chris Foy was wasted as the game’s fourth official.
“He was out of his depth,”
the Sunderland boss said after the 2-2 draw with Birmingham. “If they fasttrack people, they have to be exceptions. I don’t want to criticise refs but I think he’s only been refereeing for four years .
. . and it looked like it.
“To be in a Premier League game when we’ve got Chris Foy as the fourth official doesn’t make sense. The fourth official is one of the best in the league, so why isn’t he refereeing?”
Maybe it’s time to let Premiership managers choose their own refs.
Better still, the FA could get tough on managers who criticise officials.
Don’t ban them from making any comment but give them the choice: button it or pay for the privilege, let’s say £10,000 per match to an appropriate charity.
And while we are on the subject of red cards, Roy Hodgson was half right when he suggested Joe Cole was “a little bit unlucky” when he was sent off for the challenge on Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny on his Liverpool debut. But the England midfielder was also a little bit guilty, which is why Liverpool had second thoughts about lodging an appeal
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