Fergie so wrong on Atkinson

Despite a superb week of cup

upsets and Champions League success

for English teams, I am Mr

Angry. Sir Alex Ferguson, Sepp Blatter

and the International Football

Association Board have, for differing

reasons, surprised and disappointed

me over the past seven days.

First, Fergie. A referee's integrity is

of paramount importance and I am

very proud that, despite the money

available in football, there has not

been a match-fixing scandal in this

country involving a match official.

And when travelling abroad I was

never approached — despite many

legends to the contrary. We always

felt people knew that English officials

were out of reach to the fixers.

How infuriating then that a man I

hold in the highest regard as a coach

effectively says Martin Atkinson was

biased in Portsmouth's favour last

Saturday. How else can the comment:

'It gave them great confidence

to hang on knowing the ref was on

their side,' be interpreted?

To single out Sir Alex may be

harsh. Too often a losing manager

will come out with the inference that

the referee wouldn't have given a

decision if it were at Old Trafford or:

'We're a small team who never get

those decisions.'

The FA have for too long let referees

take these slurs on their

integrity. Don't get me wrong: in this

land of free speech a manager can

say he felt the referee got certain

decisions wrong or had a poor game.

However, it is time referees were

shown more respect. Yes, they make

mistakes, as do managers and players, but all of their errors are honest

ones.

Now on to the IFAB. Despite the

clear need for assistance when adjudicating

on close goal-line decisions,

they decreed that all experimentation

with technology stop with

immediate effect. Instead, they

would look at an extra match official

behind each goal. Given how thin on

the ground good referees are, I'm

sure park footballers will be

delighted to see six officials at the

top level, three of whom will probably

play no active role!

Finally, Sepp Blatter, who said he

wanted a look at the Martin Taylor

file to see if additional punishment or

prosecution is warranted. Taylor

committed a rash tackle which was

correctly dealt with on the day by the

referee. Without the horrific injury to

Eduardo the case would never have

been on the FIFA president's radar.

Are we now suggesting we should

look at the result of a tackle before

deciding the punishment? Another

farcical suggestion from the man

who effectively controls football

across the globe. Nurse, hand me

those pills.

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