Should referees be marked on performance?

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/9167551.stm

Stoke manager Tony Pulis has advocated the introduction of a relegation system for referees to stop poor decisions.
Pulis was angry Stoke were denied a penalty on Saturday when Sunderland's Lee Cattermole appeared to handle Kenwyne Jones' header on the goal-line.

And he told BBC Radio 5 live: "Every club should have one vote [annually] and mark referees after every game.

"Then they have a chance of being relegated to the Championship. It would be a great system."

Pulis said that after the game at the Stadium of Light, which Stoke lost 2-0, his players were totally despondent after they felt they were on the wrong end of another example of bad refereeing.

During Stoke's previous Premier League game against Everton, which the Potters lost 1-0, Tuncay had a goal disallowed for a push on Leighton Baines with the score at 0-0 - a decision Pulis, at the time, called "very, very poor".

Pulis added: "People say you can't help certain officials being a little biased towards bigger clubs. They don't go out with it in their minds but they tend to do it."

As well as seeing the worst-performing referees from the Premier League going down, Pulis would like to see the top-performing Championship officials promoted.

He said: "If the top three [referees] in the Championship got the opportunity to work at the top level, I think it would certainly clear a few referees' minds."

The Professional Game Match Officials board, which looks after the referees, pointed out that clubs and managers get the opportunity to assess officials after every game.

They also said there is no such thing as a Premier League list of referees, with officials for all matches being drawn from the select group list that is sent out every Monday.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp told BBC Radio 5 live that he thought Pulis's idea was "worth looking at".

Pulis played and coached under Redknapp at Bournemouth, and succeeded him as manager at Dean Court in 1992.

Been looking at this story and its sort of a good idea in one sense but can't see it been viable, it effectively means that referees livelihood would be in the hands of managers they may have upset somewhere along the way. I'd like to believe that a manager would mark a ref based on the current match but can't help but get the feeling that refs would be crucified on past mistakes.

Could be totally wrong but would be interested to hear what others make of it?

stumpypeeps

I think they should be marked but not by clubs. That is not by managers. The majority of whom, haven't the integrity to give the referees a fair crack at the whip.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Dont think it would make much of a difference tbh, the only way your gonna get better refs is if the training improves. I think, and I know its been said before, the FA should try and get past players to go into refereeing.

5ForKeeps

A trial period should be introduced firstly at lower level to see will it work.

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THFC wrote: »

Dont think it would make much of a difference tbh, the only way your gonna get better refs is if the training improves. I think, and I know its been said before, the FA should try and get past players to go into refereeing.

I doubt you'd get any past players to referee at the moment, refereeing in the EPL (or any league) at the moment is a thankless job, and been under constant scrutiny from pundits, fans and managers would put anyone off even considering doing it.

Dempsey

That "system" doesnt solve the problem of poor decisions during matches just gives clubs a method of getting their own back on referees that mess up.

lordgoat

I don't think it would help. I think it would put more pressure on them to perform.

I think more training and an emphasis on consistency needs to be stressed. All the refs need to be on the same page.

I also think the rule that ' the ref saw it during the match' means the issue is over should be scrapped.

The Huddlestone incident for me is the most recent where he should have walked and is getting away with it. I think Terry got away with a couple of disgraceful tackles as well at the weekend. I think these are the most important things to crack down on first.

UnitedIrishman

I can imagine the scoring in it will be something like "Winning manager scores Mark Clattenburg 9/10. Losing manager scores Mark Clattenburg 2/10".

To be honest, referee's are referee's. There's always going to be debate and argument and doing something like this would only make it tougher for the ref to make decisions because they'd be under pressure for their job.

Gillington

Former players wouldnt work either I dont think,they would personally know too many players/managers involved in the game

kryogen

Yes they should be scored, but not by managers/players/ex players etc...

A panel could be set up to review performance

It wouldnt be high on my list of priorities however

Dante

Tbh, the only thing that will improve the standard of refereeing significantly is technology - not just goal-line technology, but also some sort of video referee.