So what is wrong in the PL? Refs: Case study QPR

By Walter Broeckx

Next in our series as we cover each and every Premier League team we have QPR.

Now before any QPR  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.

So here we have a look at the statistical pointers we have found when we compare the overall results of QPR with the results of each ref when he does QPR 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

QPR

227

71

57

99

31,28%

25,11%

43,61%

Atkinson

13

3

2

8

23,08%

15,38%

61,54%

9,03%

Clattenburg

11

2

4

5

18,18%

36,36%

45,45%

7,64%

Dean

9

1

1

7

11,11%

11,11%

77,78%

6,25%

Dowd

11

2

3

6

18,18%

27,27%

54,55%

7,64%

Foy

7

2

1

4

28,57%

14,29%

57,14%

4,86%

Friend

12

5

4

3

41,67%

33,33%

25,00%

8,33%

Jones

10

2

3

5

20,00%

30,00%

50,00%

6,94%

Halsey No games
Marriner

11

3

4

4

27,27%

36,36%

36,36%

7,64%

Mason

10

2

4

4

20,00%

40,00%

40,00%

6,94%

Moss

9

1

3

5

11,11%

33,33%

55,56%

6,25%

Oliver

6

0

3

3

0,00%

50,00%

50,00%

4,17%

Probert

12

4

3

5

33,33%

25,00%

41,67%

8,33%

Swarbrick

11

4

4

3

36,36%

36,36%

27,27%

7,64%

Taylor

6

2

1

3

33,33%

16,67%

50,00%

4,17%

Webb

6

1

2

3

16,67%

33,33%

50,00%

4,17%

The most important number in the QPR history in the PL is that they have won around 31% of their games. That is the main number we keep in mind when seeing if a ref is good, average or bad.

Once again I would like to remind everyone that calling a ref good, average or bad has nothing to do with his decisions but more with the fact that the team in our report won more (hence good for that team), was average (neutral for that team) or bad (more bad results for that team). So keep this in mind when we call a ref like we call him.

The first remark we have to make is that one ref doesn’t do QPR games. That ref is Mark Halsey. As Halsey once outed himself as being an QPR supporters it is obvious he cannot referee them. Sot that leaves us with 15 refs to do the QPR games.  For the rest we can take all these 15 refs in our numbers as they all did more than 5 games.

So who was a “good” (see above) ref for QPR? Well we can only find two refs who fit that description and that is ref Friend and ref  Swarbrick.  Two refs under whom QPR perform better as average is not that much.

Then who can we call average refs looking at their average win percentage? Atkinson, Foy, Marriner, Probert and Taylor can be considered refs who come close to the average win percentage of QPR in the PL. That is 5 refs out of the 15 we have in our report.

Those who can still count will know by now that this means that there are 8 refs under whom QPR under perform in the PL.  And who are they? Well we see Clattenburg, Dean (the only win for QPR under Dean was…yes against Arsenal), Dowd, Jones, Mason, Moss, and Webb.

If we now look at the way the refs are appointed we see that QPR is one of those teams which doesn’t have a ref that does more than 10% of their games. That in itself is rather good. Just as was the case with Norwich the PGMOL can obviously make it happen that then influence of individual refs is limited.

Their worst refs when you look at win percentage are mostly refs who come over for one or two games in a season. So the maximum influence they have is around six points in a season.  And one of their better refs (result-wise) is one of the refs who gets around 3 games a season.

In general one could say that QPR doesn’t win a lot of games and most refs are not that good for them when you look at the final result. Of course this tells us nothing about the decisions on the field. You can still lose a game when the ref gives you some decisions in your favour.

The good thing for QPR is that the PGMOL seems to be interested in sending the refs as many times as possible and so the individual influence of each ref is rather limited. And that is something that we would like to see with all the teams. Not just with Norwich. Not just with QPR. If the PGMOL can do it with those teams, then why not with other teams?

That is a question we really would like to see answered by Mike Riley. And hiding behind the answer of  having too few referees is not good enough. He has been head of the PGMOL for four years now, surely something could be done about it by now.

The referee analysis

2 Replies to “So what is wrong in the PL? Refs: Case study QPR”

  1. Interesting how Halsey can do Fulham and Chelsea games yet cannot do QPR games. Bit like letting Clattenburg do Sunderland games which he doesn’t. Maybe we will see Halsey officiating over some other relegation battles?

  2. Anyone else notice that last year neither Fulham or Chelsea won a game when Halsey was officiating.

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