By Walter Broeckx
As someone asked me to give a more complete picture of the refs so far this season I will be happy to provide this.
If we only take the league games we get the following refs and results. Because for some strange reason the refs do a better job in the cup games than in the league games as can be seen in my reviews and the scores of the refs so far.
LEAGUE GAMES
| Ref | Games | W | D | L |
| Atkinson | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Jones | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Foy | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Atwell | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dowd | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Probert | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Oliver | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dean | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Clattenburg | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Mariner | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Halsey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Webb | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Walton | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Friend | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mason | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Taylor | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 29 | 17 | 7 | 5 |
So in this table you can see the same names coming back when it comes to positive results. Jones, Clattenburg and Foy are the refs we get the best results with if we only look at refs whom we had 3 times this season. With them we won all our games. And Clattenburg was the ref we had away at Man City and at home against Chelsea. So not the easiest games to win.
The one negative in refs with 3 games is Dowd. We couldn’t win one game when he was in control. Not even in the cup.
If we look at two games we see on the positive side Walton and on the negative side Dean.
To make it a bit complete I also made a table in which you can see how we did with the refs in all the games so far.
ALL GAMES
| Ref | Games | W | D | L |
| Atkinson | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Jones | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Foy | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Atwell | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dowd | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Probert | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Oliver | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dean | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Clattenburg | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Mariner | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Halsey | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Webb | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Walton | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Friend | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mason | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Taylor | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 41 | 24 | 9 | 8 |
And again the same names come forward both in the positive sense and in the negative sense.
On the positive side we have Clattenburg with whom we have won all our games. I hope this doesn’t bring him into disrepute. Foy is also favourable for our results. Despite our defeat at Old Trafford.
On the negative side we have Dowd under whom we can’t seem to win a game. A negative record which even Dean doesn’t share. Because we could win at Leeds under Dean even though he did try to help Leeds a bit in that game.
One ref I didn’t mention as he only had one game is ref Oliver. But ref Oliver who did our last home game against WBA had a great game and was in no means responsible for our defeat. So I did not name him with the negative refs. Because losing a game is not enough to get in my bad ref book, you also need to show a bit of bias.
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I always liked Clattenberg, despite all the arguments that he was in the SAF camp. He is one ref that does his job properly, without bias and looking to let a game flow while still protecting the players. Unfortunately, it is the dowds, deans and webbs that do everything in their power to undermine the game.
Interesting, Walter. Thank you. Insofar as good refereeing is in the best interest of all football, it would be neat if we could set up a network of fans to do what the FA is seemingly unable to do that is rate the referees and make public the results. Even if we could only get fans from a third the Premier league teams, the sample size (of great concern to some posters here) ought to be relevant. Are you in regular contact with any reasonable (and dedicated) fans from other Premiership teams?
The important question is who will ref our last 9 games ? I don’t know how far in advance these decisions are made but we must at least know who will ref the Blackburn game tomorrow.
Walter, How do them same Refs stack up for UTD …do the ones that we never win a game with also let ManUtd win every time ?
Dowd in particular im on about ?
it is important not to take this table too seriously. There is too much random variation (or noise) that is both independent of the referee’s performance and that affects the outcome of an arsenal game. I have not checked but I doubt dowd’s performance (in this data set) is statistically different from the rest of the referees. If we are going to perform a ref analysis we need more than 30 or so games to draw meaningful conclusions. I just dont think this table tells us much. we are not observing the thing we want to observe (the refs impact on the result).
Even more damning is that I believe that Dowd’s games are the only ones we’ve dropped points after scoring the first goal and he’s red carded an Arsenal player in two of his three matches.
Tee Song – and we have the unfit Dowd tomorrow!!!!
Illuminating stats again. Funny how its always the same names that crop up linked to our poor results. How come someone like Halsey, for instance, who I regard as a fair ref, who lets the game go a bit, is assigned only once to us in the PL? Old Mother Riley follows the script well.
heys guys, ARSENAL shld buy quality players otherwise refs cant win anyone a trophy,thx to the glazers united is becoming another Arsenal complaining abt being cheated for 6 yrs. we are to start complaining of refs too…Glazer oh Glazer God knows
How come we get Dowd so often? How are refs allocated to particular games, are they picked out of a hat or is the selection less random than that, the better refs getting the supposedly more important ties? Also, though I don’t suppose you can answer this, how in the name of god after his recent performances is Dowd still getting Premiership games? He was I think dropped after Newcastle but only for a week. I predict at least one penalty to Blackburn, probably more if we manage to be two up by half-time. Good day for the bookies, therefore: one of them said on talksport that loads of punters are betting on us winning 4 or 5 nil.
Tony and Walter,
I’m not too sure about this, and I doubt you’ll be able to do this without following the refs for 2-3 seasons at least, but I get the feeling that, much like rotational fouling, we also have rotational “refereeing”. By this I mean that referees take turns in different seasons to be biased against us so that the stats don’t show too strongly on any of them. I say this because, I remember last season, Dowd reffed a couple of games against us where he did a fantastic job (one in particular v Aston Villa) and Clattenburg was absolute BS in games involving us a couple of seasons back. I reckon it would be quite interesting to see whether this tactic is implemented against us.
Why aren’t the refs announced along with the fixture list at the start of the season? I think that is something that should be demanded from the Premier League, so that we can examine before which ref gets one team how many times. Also, it’ll be more difficult for them to just assign refs to swing results in important games later in the season.
i think this says a lot..riley and his pal fergie are at it once again btw where is dogface ref preview? not that we need one though we all know what to expect from fat dowd by now
Based one what you’ve been providing us on these refs and who’s biased and etc, I find the selection for the fa cup semi final really interesting. Dean will be covering the manu game and webb is covering the other. Two refs to ensure manu go through a face who they want perhaps?
Hi Walter- and aint it strange that Scudamore comes out asking for respect for refs when Old Mother Riley keeps giving us the very same refs that have already (very nearly and quite probably) bombed us out of the title- AGAIN. Of course- they did it two years ago. I mean- what is Riley on? And how can Scudamore stand there and actually say that managers are acting AS IF refs have been reffing in a biaed way. Does the Prem have a watchdog? Do they check the statistics and look for patterns? What do they think when Dowd tuns in a performance like the Newcastle game? Don’t they see how differently he treats the two teams- even in the way he speaks to them- smiles and body language etc. Some of the refs need seriously looking at, taking out of the firing line and re-training. Get your house in order Scudamore, get a cheif ref who puts FAIRNESS at the top of his agenda- then you and your refs will get the respect they deserve.
Is it possible to do a list over 3-5 seasons for these refs ?
Last season, I wrote a report that included : “For once, no ref complaints which, given the performances of the last week from Webb and Probert, was a surprise. I thought Clattenburg had a 10/10.”
The game? Spuds 2 Gooners 1…and that really hurt.
To untold and Walter,
honestly, I thought the hard work of your effort deserved much more than just being publish, I and all Arsenal fans would certainly hope to see these report being submitted to the football association, the police and government. I am sure all of us here are not just asking for favorable referee, but someone fair and of quality.
pls, push it forward!