So what is wrong with PL refs? A case study – Halsey

by Walter Broeckx

In our series to find out with which ref some teams perform better than average we have referee Halsey next. One of the older refs and so lots of numbers on him. More than on some other more youthful refs.  So I will be curious, just like you I think to find out how he does in general for the teams in the PL. Will we see a lot of average results?

But first let me explain in short the average, under and over thing you see in the last row. This is for new readers of course. Regular readers can skip this text and go to the table.

When you see “average” it means that the results of the team in general are not that far away with the results when the ref is in charge. It is in fact what one should hope to see most.

When we see “over” it means that the team in question is doing much better and in some cases much much better than they usual do.

And when you see “under” it means that the team is doing bad compared to their usual win percentage.

So let us see the results of the teams under referee Halsey

	Total	won	draw	lost	won	draw	lost
Arsenal	797	426	212	159	53,45%	26,60%	19,95%
Halsey	23	15	5	3	65,22%	21,74%	13,04%	Over
Aston Villa	797	287	249	261	36,01%	31,24%	32,75%
Halsey	40	12	11	17	30,00%	27,50%	42,50%	Average
Chelsea	797	414	206	177	51,94%	25,85%	22,21%
Halsey	39	22	8	9	56,41%	20,51%	23,08%	Average
Everton	797	282	230	285	35,38%	28,86%	35,76%
Halsey	41	15	11	15	36,59%	26,83%	36,59%	Average
Fulham	443	137	128	178	30,93%	28,89%	40,18%
Halsey	24	7	4	13	29,17%	16,67%	54,17%	Average
Liverpool	797	389	203	205	48,81%	25,47%	25,72%
Halsey	35	17	7	11	48,57%	20,00%	31,43%	Average
Man City	607	226	159	222	37,23%	26,19%	36,57%
Halsey	23	8	2	13	34,78%	8,70%	56,52%	Average
MU	797	520	165	112	65,24%	20,70%	14,05%
Halsey	32	24	5	3	75,00%	15,63%	9,38%	Over
Newcastle	717	284	192	241	39,61%	26,78%	33,61%
Halsey	30	11	7	12	36,67%	23,33%	40,00%	Average
Norwich	227	68	72	87	29,96%	31,72%	38,33%
Halsey	6	0	2	4	0,00%	33,33%	66,67%	Under
QPR	227	71	57	99	31,28%	25,11%	43,61%
Halsey	No games
Reading	101	31	21	49	30,69%	20,79%	48,51%
Halsey	11	3	4	4	27,27%	36,36%	36,36%	Average
Southampton	531	155	146	230	29,19%	27,50%	43,31%
Halsey	21	10	3	8	47,62%	14,29%	38,10%	Over
Stoke	177	53	54	70	29,94%	30,51%	39,55%
Halsey	18	10	4	4	55,56%	22,22%	22,22%	Over
Sunderland	443	119	112	212	26,86%	25,28%	47,86%
Halsey	23	7	6	10	30,43%	26,09%	43,48%	Average
Swansea	63	20	21	22	31,75%	33,33%	34,92%
Halsey	8	3	3	2	37,50%	37,50%	25,00%	Average
Tottenham	797	307	210	280	38,52%	26,35%	35,13%
Halsey	33	14	8	11	42,42%	24,24%	33,33%	Average
WBA	253	62	64	127	24,51%	25,30%	50,20%
Halsey	22	6	7	9	27,27%	31,82%	40,91%	Average
West Ham	641	210	164	267	32,76%	25,59%	41,65%
Halsey	20	9	5	6	45,00%	25,00%	30,00%	Over
Wigan	291	81	73	137	27,84%	25,09%	47,08%
Halsey	5	0	2	3	0,00%	40,00%	60,00%	Under

First thing is that Halsey doesn’t do games of QPR. He seems to be a bit of a fan of them. So he might feel a bit down these days.

When we look at the table we see some teams doing better than usual. We have Arsenal, Manchester United, Southampton, Stoke and West Ham.  That is five teams and some of them are really surprises. For those in the know it is no surprise that Manchester United is one of the over performing teams.  But the score of Southampton and Stoke is quite frankly surprising. Not that much the fact that they over perform but they almost double their score when he is around.  Stoke and Halsey do seem to make a match made in heaven. Or hell depending on how you look at it. Maybe for the opponents it is hell.

Under performers are Norwich and Wigan. And what an under performance. We do have to be a bit careful because the numbers are only based on five and six games so not that many games to make a final judgement but both teams couldn’t win one game when he was around. But that does look pretty bad for them.

And with two under performing teams and with five over performing teams we have 12 teams who do rather average when he is around.  Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, Reading, Sunderland, Swansea, Tottenham and WBA are all doing as can be expected.

This is a good example that shows that in general the longer you referee the more teams will have an average result. Or a result that is close to their overall average win percentage in all the games they play. The big negative exceptions can be found with the teams he does less often. The reason why he does them only sporadically is not known to me. That is one of those well kept secrets lying around in the office of Mr. Riley. But it sure is strange that those teams who have been around for a while have such a low number of games with Mr. Halsey. Of is Riley keeping him away from those teams?

Your guess is as good as mine.

• So what is wrong with PL refs: a case study Jones
• Match Review: Neil Swarbrick – Arsenal Vs Everton (0 – 0) [16/04/2013]
• The DNA isn’t always purer on the other side of reality. Cesc back? Mr Wenger to PSG?
• PL refs’ case studies: Friend

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
• Royal Arsenal: from the Common to the Manor.  Coming next.

The sites from the same team…

• Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
• The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society