LAST Thursday morning Mark Halsey was making the news on the back page of several national papers writes Richard Mulligan

Halsey is the Premiership referee who committed the cardinal sin of awarding a correct decision on a corner in the 88th minute of the Premiership clash between Liverpool and Arsenal.

Liverpool equalised from the corner and Gunners boss Arsene Wenger - some 50 metres away and not wearing his specs - decided he thought it was a goal kick.

Home fans love you, away supporters hate you. It is all black and white in the life of a referee, but while Wenger was seething, Halsey himself was unmoved.

He said: "There will always be something in a game that people concentrate on. At the Arsenal-Liverpool game I just gave the decision and didn't think anything of it until after when I was approached by Wenger.

"I don't want controversy, this is my job and I just do it to the best of my ability, and like other referees, I'll admit it if I'm wrong.

"But I don't worry about the media, and I hardly ever notice the noise from the crowds because I'm concentrating on the game - occasionally you hear things and have a little chuckle to yourself, but if you took notice of things like that you could not ref at the top level.

"You have your pride in your job too and after a difficult game I'll be thinking all the way home about the decisions I made."

Nevertheless Halsey believes the advent of professionalism among referees has improved standards, despite what some Premiership managers may believe.

He said: "We take some stick but in other countries English referees are respected as the best in the world.

"We are accountable - we are assessed on every single performance, how many other trades are that strict? We effectively have suspension or the sack just a few bad performances away.

"Standards are excellent and improving all the time because we are fitter in body now and that makes the brain work quicker."

One certainty after his run-in with Wenger was that he could expect some stick from the Bolton Wanderers players, who he trains with during the week.

All Premiership refs are allotted a different club, and Halsey enjoys the banter at the club's Euxton training ground.

He said: "I've been with Wanderers for 18 months now and they have been first class with me.

"They gave me stick last week because I made the papers, telling me that I'm always looking for headlines.

"Sam Allardyce has had a few run-ins with refs this season but he still treats me exactly the same, and I love being linked with the club."

The road to the Premiership began for ex-Spurs schoolboy and well travelled non league goalkeeper Halsey in 1989 when injuries curtailed his playing days - he admits to a few bookings but was never sent off.

At 28 he wanted to stay in the game and one day discussed his hopes with a friend who suggested: "Why not become a ref?"

Both men laughed, as he recalls: "It was a bit of a joke at the time because in my own experience refs had just been used and abused and I didn't fancy that.

"But when I thought about it further I decided to give it a chance.

"My first game in charge was a Hatfield Sunday League game. I was nervous but it was quite funny when the game began because I had played against so many of the lads on the pitch and I got a fair amount of stick.

"But it also gained me respect because the players recognised that I had been around and knew the game."

He progressed quickly up the ladder and seven years after his first game he was making his league debut in a Third Division game between Brighton and Chester.

By 1999 he had become a Premiership referee, and since then has taken charge of the Wembley play-off final between Manchester City and Gillingham, and a Uefa Cup game at Bayern Munich.

Halsey believes his experience of playing at a good level, of knowing what players require from a ref and having a good level of fitness have helped him.

He said: "As a player I knew all about the frustrations you go through in a game, and I felt I could identify when players were upset.

"That's when man-management comes in - whether it's a Sunday morning game or a televised Premiership match - you try to get the players to resolve their differences like adults."