by Walter Broeckx
Next in our series as we cover each and every Premier League team we have West Ham United which if you don’t mind will from now on call just WHU.
Now before any WHU supporters comes on here and suggest that it is not the averages but the actual decisions that count (as some fans of other clubs have done) may we suggest you take a look at both the introductory articles which you can find here and here. You may also enjoy our other site: Referee Decisions.
After that do come back have a look at the statistical pointers we have found when we compare the overall results of WHU with the results of each ref when he does WHU games.
Of course you might have bad experiences with some refs in some games but who, after seeing the statistics, you find are not really that bad in general. You can share your experiences of course. But this article is not really about those games in particular. It is more about the total picture of the referee and this team.
Under the table I will try to give a short explanation on what you see.
|
Total |
won |
draw |
lost |
won |
draw |
lost |
% games |
|
|
West Ham |
641 |
210 |
164 |
267 |
32,76% |
25,59% |
41,65% |
|
| Atkinson |
24 |
10 |
4 |
10 |
41,67% |
16,67% |
41,67% |
10,21% |
| Clattenburg |
15 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
33,33% |
20,00% |
46,67% |
6,38% |
| Dean |
31 |
11 |
10 |
10 |
35,48% |
32,26% |
32,26% |
13,19% |
| Dowd |
22 |
6 |
4 |
12 |
27,27% |
18,18% |
54,55% |
9,36% |
| Foy |
28 |
6 |
6 |
16 |
21,43% |
21,43% |
57,14% |
11,91% |
| Friend |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
80,00% |
20,00% |
0,00% |
2,13% |
| Jones |
11 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
63,64% |
9,09% |
27,27% |
4,68% |
| Halsey |
20 |
9 |
5 |
6 |
45,00% |
25,00% |
30,00% |
8,51% |
| Marriner |
18 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
16,67% |
33,33% |
50,00% |
7,66% |
| Mason |
9 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
11,11% |
44,44% |
44,44% |
3,83% |
| Moss |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0,00% |
33,33% |
66,67% |
1,28% |
| Oliver |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
40,00% |
40,00% |
20,00% |
2,13% |
| Probert |
11 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
36,36% |
9,09% |
54,55% |
4,68% |
| Swarbrick |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
60,00% |
0,00% |
40,00% |
2,13% |
| Taylor |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
33,33% |
0,00% |
66,67% |
1,28% |
| Webb |
25 |
10 |
5 |
10 |
40,00% |
20,00% |
40,00% |
10,64% |
We can see that when in the PL WHU has a win percentage of just under 33%. That is the number we will look at when we try to judge if a ref is good or bad or average for WHU.
A first remark is that it seems that all 16 refs active in the PL can do WHU games. That is a good start. But we then have to see at the numbers and we have to cut out referees Mos and Taylor from this survey. They have only done three games so far and we don’t want to draw conclusions based on three games. So we will only have 14 refs to look at.
Who are the “good” referees for WHU? First let me say that by saying “good” referees I don’t refer to their decisions on the field. I only look at the win percentage of WHU under those referees. A high win % is good for the team but says nothing about the decisions on the field.
In the category of good refs we can say that Friend is the best friend of WHU. We also could say this from Jones, Halsey and Swarbrick. So that is 4 “good” refs of a total of 14 refs.
Which refs come close to the average win percentage of WHU in the PL. The refs we can call average for WHU are Atkinson, Clattenburg, Dean, Dowd, Oliver, Probert and Webb. That is 7 average refs for WHU we could say.
So we should now be looking for the bad guys. The refs under whom WHU are more likely not to win too many games. And we see that Foy, Marriner and Mason are those refs. Those are the 3 refs who when doing WHU games, for some reason, WHU doesn’t win like they normally win games.
Now let us see if we can find strange things in the appointments made by the PGMOL in WHU games.
The ref that has been sent most to WHU is Dean. But his win percentage is rather average so this doesn’t have a major influence on the season outcome. But still WHU and Dean share around 12-15 points each season. And that is way out of line with what can be considered as acceptable. You know I have said it time and time again that for a ref his personal influence on each team should be a maximum of 6 points in a season.
Luckily for WHU the other two refs who do more than 10% of their games are also above average or average. But they do have one “Dean-ref” (as the type is known among some Arsenal fans) with Foy. He is one of their bad refs and has an influence of 9-12 points. And I think this is not acceptable. Not for WHU not for any team.
But then again we have to come to the same conclusion. Because there are not enough refs in the PL you get such numbers of refs doing too many games of some teams and having a too big influence. Be it a good or a bad influence. For fair play in the PL each ref should have an equal influence on each team. And that is what the PGMOL should take care of.
In fact I think it is a disgrace that nobody ever mentions such things in what should be the “serious media”. They come up with all kinds of list and stats. But nowhere can I find numbers like these and articles where they question the PGMOL. Nowhere do they demand that refs are appointed in a fair way and in an equal way for all the teams. Nowhere can we find articles asking the PGMOL why there are so few refs in the PL compared to other leagues.
Maybe the media is not interested in such things? Maybe the serious media is not interested in a fair league? Well we are.
Recent posts…
- West Bromwich Albion 1 Tomas Rosicky 2
- Amazing revelations ahead of the West Brom game
- On the eve of the West Bromwich match – it’s WBA and the Refs…
The referee analysis
The full index of articles in order of publication is now available here.
The latest reviews:
- Case study 15: West Bromwich Albion
- Case study 14: Tottenham Hotspur
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
————————-
Thanks! It is long I have been here.. Your effort is great! Carry on..
Mike Dean – That would be the same chap who had the whistle for that game at Highbury, when he sent off Lomas whilst chasing Pires AWAY from goal and the infamous elbow on Bowyer by Bergkamp. (And I could go on and on).
Forget Grobbelar and others, this game was fixed.
Take on board most of the points about things averaging around, but there are some very rotten eggs in this pile.