Why do we not hear much criticism of referees any more?

 

 

• The issue that makes us think, what is going on with the referees?
• Why does the media so rarely criticise a referee?

By Tony Attwood

We were having a debate about what the key issues are in football at the moment and one of my most valued colleagues forwarded the thought: “as they say in Africa, the fish starts rotting at the head.”

Expanding on this he added, “The referees are themselves ‘victims’ of an incompetent boys club parading as a professional organisation.   If you work for an incompetent organisation, how can you work well?”

Of course none of us have ever worked for PGMO so we clearly have no inside information, but this comment took us into a debate on how much a Premier League referee earns, so we went onto the the AI Overview on the internet to ask.  It said, “Premier League referees earn an average total annual income of between £170,000 and £180,000 combining match fees and retainer.”

Which is not bad considering the amount of work done; you can see why they keep that quiet – although of course they do need to keep fit.  And travel.  And know the rules.   Although they don’t have enough referees in the PGMOL to ensure that no  referee see the same team more than twice in a season, which has been a key demand of ours.  The same ref can see the same team five times or more in one campaign.

Anway, it appears that the basic retainer of the referees is between £72,000 and £148,000 and the rest is match fees.  This compares with  the median salary reported for secondary school teachers in England being £52,475.  We went to check this on the PGMO web site but they don’t seem to have one, but we know the rate of pay depends on how old they are, and how many years they have worked at the top level.

But the AI overview gave us this breakdown of the pay structure…..

• Base Salary (New Select Group Referee) – £72,000–£80,000
  Base Salary (Mid-Level) – £90,000–£120,000
  Base Salary (Senior Referee) – £130,000–£148,000
  Premier League Referee Salary Per Match – £1,116
  Total Annual Earnings (Typical) – £170,000–£180,000
  Top-Tier Earnings (Highly Trusted Officials) – Up to £250,000 per year

This is of course the rate of pay in England, and other countries will vary, as will their rules and regulations.  There are tales of referees who actually have a share holding in a specific club in a middle-east country. I can’t verify this, and make no allegation – it’s just what I was told while doing the research on this topic.   I might be worth looking into for anyone who would like to write an article on the subject.

As was pointed out to be when I started working on this piece, one of the the biggest problems of all with PGMOL and the way that it runs refereeing in the Premier League, is that it produces contradictory situations.  For example we might think of the fact that PGMOL states that VAR intervenes only in clear cut situations.  But then VAR can on occasion need minutes to come to a conclusion….  Why, if it is clear cut?

But perhaps the biggest problem is that it appears to be PGMOL (an organisation that doesn’t even have a web site with which is explain itself to the world) that creates new rules and then then insists that referees and linesmen and women enforce them from the start of the season, occasionally leaving players unsure what is coming.  By which I don’t mean unsure of the rule – but of how the rule will be interpreted.  Then if there is enough protest about the rule and how it works, the rule can be dropped, but the punishments dished out in the first week or two, seem to stay on the books.

So you will know, if you have been here a while, that our biggest and most constant complaints are twofold: one is the lack of clarity in reporting such issues, and the other is the lack of referees.   We’ve been saying that for about ten years.

But all I can do after all that time is repeat our suggestion that no team should have matches overseen by the same referee more than twice in a season.  If there is no problem with referees this would simply reduce the strain of their workload, and if there is a problem, it would at least reduce the chance of any club being particular put down by one referee.   At the moment there is no limit and we have had the same referee oversee Arsenal matches five times in a season.  That doesn’t seem right.

We also have stories about referees having personal problems such as drug addiction, alcohol problems.   Of course I make no allegation because PGMO is a secret organisation that tells us nothing, but it would be helpful to know what the medical records are.  After all these guys do affect the lives of hundreds of players and millions of supporters.

But the fact is that PGMO demand that we respect them and their referees, while they don’t respect us: they demand the right to remain utterly secretive about all their work – and that is not a balanced approach.   If they want our respect and acceptance they need to be open.

Of course we expect nothing back from an article like this, because not only are PGMO secretive, they have managed to persuade the media never to criticise them.   At least I imagine it is they who have persuaded the media – after all why else would the media never ever criticise and referee?   Radio 5 used to – but the correspondent who did that was moved on many years ago…

If you want more just look at or listen to the comments of Alan Green, Keith Hackett, Danny Baker… but you probably won’t find them allowed to speak out on radio or TV, because anyone who criticises referees in the media is, as we all know, very quickly moved on.