By Walter Broeckx
Next in our series as we cover each and every Premier League team we have Southampton.
Now before any Southampton 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.
And if you’ve done that you can come back and have a look at the statistical pointers we have found when we compare the overall results of Southampton with the results of each ref when he does Southampton 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 |
|
|
Southampton |
531 |
155 |
146 |
230 |
29,19% |
27,50% |
43,31% |
|
| Atkinson |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
57,14% |
0,00% |
42,86% |
5,56% |
| Clattenburg |
6 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
16,67% |
66,67% |
16,67% |
4,76% |
| Dean |
12 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
16,67% |
41,67% |
41,67% |
9,52% |
| Dowd |
13 |
1 |
8 |
4 |
7,69% |
61,54% |
30,77% |
10,32% |
| Foy |
8 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
25,00% |
25,00% |
50,00% |
6,35% |
| Friend |
6 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0,00% |
50,00% |
50,00% |
4,76% |
| Jones |
8 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
0,00% |
25,00% |
75,00% |
6,35% |
| Halsey |
21 |
10 |
3 |
8 |
47,62% |
14,29% |
38,10% |
16,67% |
| Marriner |
6 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
16,67% |
66,67% |
16,67% |
4,76% |
| Mason |
5 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0,00% |
40,00% |
60,00% |
3,97% |
| Moss |
8 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
37,50% |
25,00% |
37,50% |
6,35% |
| Oliver |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0,00% |
33,33% |
66,67% |
2,38% |
| Probert |
10 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
50,00% |
20,00% |
30,00% |
7,94% |
| Swarbrick | No games | |||||||
| Taylor |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
20,00% |
20,00% |
60,00% |
3,97% |
| Webb |
8 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
0,00% |
50,00% |
50,00% |
6,35% |
With Southampton we have a team that has been in the PL for a long time in the early years, then build a new stadium and then got relegated. Went bankrupt, barely survived. Maybe a wise lesson to some nervous Arsenal supporters. Because this is what happened to almost all the teams who build their new stadium themselves. But we are not here to talk about Arsenal (well you might of course) but we are here in this article to talk about Southampton.
The average win percentage that Southampton got in the PL is just under 30%. That is the winning number of this article.
Can we look at all the refs? Well no. There is one ref who hasn’t done any Southampton games so far. That is ref Swarbrick. And once again we don’t know why this is the case. Supporter, hater, just coincidence? Only Mike Riley knows the answer and he only speaks to come out with great stats regarding the refs based on no real numbers but well we are used to that by now. Is it really that difficult to be open when it comes to referees?
There is one other ref that I rather not use in these numbers (there are more as some refs only did five games) and that is ref Oliver. With only three games I don’t think we can count him in to make up some conclusions. Mind you so far the games under Oliver don’t seem to produce a lot of wins for Southampton. So for our survey we will only look at 14 refs out of the 16 refs who have done PL games thus far.
The question is “who are the “good” refs for Southampton?” Who are the refs under whom they win more games than their average win percentage? Well we have Atkinson, Halsey and Probert. Those 3 refs are the ones that have the highest win percentage in Southampton games.
And are there any refs who come close to the average 30% wins? Well we have Foy. And if I want to be generous I could also include Taylor. So that is only two refs who come close to the average.
If you can add a few bits and pieces together this means that we have nine bad refs for Southampton. And with bad I mean that they don’t win or even come close to their average win percentage when those refs are around.
The bad refs are Clattenburg, Dean, Marriner and Taylor. That is four. And I should find nine. Well that is because I would like to introduce a super bad category in this case. If you look at the results from Dowd it is really bad. But things can always get worse. Because we find 4 refs under whom Southampton might as well stay at home and give the points to the opposition. Those refs are Friend, Jones, Mason and Webb.
Now some of those refs have only done a handful of games so it still can change a bit but they surely don’t seem to bring a lot of luck and points to Southampton.
So this is a very bleak situation one could say. Now let us look at the part for which the PGMOL is responsible. Let us see if the way the refs are appointed bring a little bit of hope to Southampton.
Well the good thing is that the ref they have most of the time (Halsey) is also a ref under whom they have a great win percentage. He is one of the good boys. His influence is in the region of 5-6 games in a season. And that I am afraid is not really how it should be.
But to even things out the PGMOL does also send Dowd a lot to Southampton games. And he is one of their Dean-refs (local slang on this site for a bogey ref). With only a win percentage of less than 8%.
So this all looks a bit strange. The 2 refs Mike Riley sends out most are each others opposite one could say. The best and the one of the worst refs, result-wise.
The other refs are more evenly spread when we look at the appointments and most of them have a small influence in the final table. Apart from Halsey and Dowd. In fact those two refs together are responsible for more than 25% of their games. Just imagine your faith depending on two refs out of the possible 16! That is almost 10 games! Or 30 points!
Nice job, Mike. That was sarcastic of course. In fact this is inexcusable. Another example on how the PGMOL is making a mess of the PL. This is rather disgraceful.
The referee analysis
- Case study 9: Reading
- Case study 8: QPR
- Episode 7: Newcastle United
- Episode 6: Manchester City
- Episode 5: Liverpool
- Case Study 4: Fulham
- Case study 3: Everton
- Case study 2: Chelsea
- What’s wrong with the refs in the PL: Case study Aston Villa
- Is it right to have refs doing two PL games over a weekend?
- So what’s wrong with the Premier League – the opening part of the story
——————————–
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
Should a ref nessesarily come close to the average? There are å lot of factors who dosen`t seem to be taken into consideration. The stats from home games and away games for
example.
@Walter, slightly off-topic, but have you noticed M L Dean hasn’t officiated a game since 16th March, I wonder where he’s gone and can he please stay there. Plus since you colected your data, I think Swarbrick has officiated Southampton.
@ Adam, he’s saving his energy for an epic 8 game, one club burst.
Robl, don’t do that mate, you will give me a heart attack.
Interesting thing about Southampton.
Artkinson the Chelsea favouring ref who also has a great record for Southampton was replaced at the last moment it seems.
Moss took over the job. He only has done 2 Chelsea games 1 win and 1 draw. But his record for Southampton was rather good.
I think Chelsea could have done with Atkinson for this game.
I wonder who will do the Chelsea – Mu game? Atkinson or Dean?
@Adam im sure Riley must be saving Dean for screwing us over. Im sure we are going to see him again twice. Once against United and the other against the relegation battlers just dont know which.
I cannot see us getting Dean in our next three games. But I’m also sure that if Riley could get away with it he would send Dean to us every match.
Has there been any information on why the officials were swapped around for the Southampton Vs Chelsea game?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbKdTBVwpQ
Plus, to be honest, recently we seem to be getting officials that aren’t such twats with us.
A lot of Europe And indeed world wide investigation into dodgyness at the moment, are the pgmol trying to be seen as towing the line or are there a few stings in the tail? Could we get dean for the Newcastle game? Our last game against a major northern club. Are they waiting to see when dean can do most damage or is Ivan putting his foot down?
Interesting observation Mandy. Sorry to the Southampton fans for another off-topic post, but it’s the media attitude that has changed, at least here in the US. Fox is now speaking constantly about Arsenal pushing for a top 4 finish highlighting the team’s achievements in the last few matches, and overlooking to a large degree the misses and lapses that were making such headlines not long ago. The change of attitude started after the win at Bayern, and became even more obvious after the Swansea game. Could also be Stan that’s using his connections in the American media, but whatever the reason, it’s a relief to get decent comments instead of the bashing that was so ubiquitous all season.
@Walter Dowd is the ref for Chelsea v United. In another news Mark Clattenburg has been appointed to ref Bayern v Juventus 1st leg and i cant help but wondering if that was what he was promised for doing what he did in THAT match as he hasnt ref’d a QF match before. Not that he didnt deserve it though i still like him and still think he is one of the best the PL has to offer…..
Florian,
Where you find “relief,” I find there’s nothing left to talk about in this runaway season, that so Fox tacks to “hey, well look at that Arsenal there, who wulda thunk it,” as the story line of the moment to keep the oiks hooked on something. You think for a minute that after years of Arsenal-bashing in every way that Murdoch’s minions have actually changed their tune? Do you see it yet in his English papers? And now it’s Stan’s invisible hand that’s to be credited? It’s all opportunism and screen-capturing, the flavor of the moment. If we wuz actually a contenda, Charlie, we’d be back in da shit with murdochmedia.
I fear we will get the smirking Dean for 2 more games. Fulham perhaps? Imagine if we need something from that last game at Newcastle (and maybe the barcodes need something to stay up!) Dean is the OMR choice. I am going to this game. (Lately I have to choose my cheap days out to be even cheaper. Bolton, Blackpool & Blackburn have caused my schedule to be somewhat re-assessed.) St James is the noisiest stadium I have ever had to endure. Dean will out perform fat Dowd’s all time idiotic performance. He is saving himself for such a stage.
Norm, sorry, what’s OMR stand for?
Old Mike Riley?
Yes, he’ll always be Old Mother Riley to me, but I also enjoy ‘the hives of Riley’. Although there is nothing to enjoy about the person himself.
http://youaremygooners.weebly.com/2/post/2013/04/scapegoats.html?