Referee Watch 2026/27 (12 Viewers)

[badgerbee]

KLP can cry wolf all he wants but he made no attempt to turn and face the ball. Yes, there was "mutual holding" but one player had eyes on the ball and was attempting to play it, the other didn't have a clue where the ball was.

Like Collins and Leeds defender last week.....??......

 

[BuzzBeeSi]

So you're allowed to hold someone as long as you're looking at the ball? Is that an actual rule? No wonder fans are baffled.

 

[Kingston Bee]

Never fully in control of the game, inconsistent throughout. Bought into the diving and faking of injuries by Sunderland, and did not bring anything to the game. Common sense sadly lacking. Has to be one of the worst displays by a referee over the last 3 or 4 seasons at the G Tech. Should not be allowed to ref in the PL again, killed the game.

 

[badgerbee]

Foul count:
19 by us
9 by them

 

[Old B]

Nathan was pretty upset with him for not getting a penalty, does that amount of discussion/appealing actually influence the rest of the ref’s sub conscious decision making for the rest of the match, or was he just quite incompetent?

 

[BuzzingBee95]

He was artocious today.

But to be honest, I'm so exhausted of refereeing performances dominating after game chat. It doesn't even surprise me anymore. It's as though depending on what they give in the first 15 mins you already know how the game's going to go.

It's hard but this season I'm going to do my utmost to put aside their impact on the game (unless it's genuinely derailed it compeltely) otherwise I won't be concentrating on the footy

 

[larrysigny]

I lost track - but did anyone keep a check on the yellow cards he handed out? How many of them did we get?
*usually noted on BBC Sport, but I cant find the number/names there this time.

 

[badgerbee]

I lost track - but did anyone keep a check on the yellow cards he handed out? How many of them did we get?
*usually noted on BBC Sport, but I cant find the number/names there this time.

3 for us (Janelt, Sangare and Yarmoliuk)
2 for them.......

 

[aslan]

So you're allowed to hold someone as long as you're looking at the ball? Is that an actual rule? No wonder fans are baffled.

It's a contact sport. There's a difference between two players "fighting/jostling for the ball" vs a defender having no idea what's going on except making sure an attacker doesn't go anywhere.

 

[Vid]

The linesmen were rubbish .

 

[westendbee]

It's a contact sport. There's a difference between two players "fighting/jostling for the ball" vs a defender having no idea what's going on except making sure an attacker doesn't go anywhere.

So if you’re justifying their soft penalty, what did you think about the challenge on Collins in the first 5 minutes?

 

[katiebee]

Never commented on a ref’s performance before but that was beyond the pale just outrageous. How can the apparently best league in the world have referees of that standard is beyond comprehension.

 

[aslan]

Like Collins and Leeds defender last week.....??......

Or today.
I don't think those decisions were correct either, but you'll be hard pushed to find defending as "extreme" as KLP's today

 

[shaun]

An absolute clown. Given the mount of money sloshing around the Premier League, the level of officials in the league is absolutely staggering.

Clearly the Prem is very quick and the players don’t help with their cheating but surely, the FA can get 10-20 refs from footballers who have retired at League 1 through to National League etc and structure pool of Prem refs who actually understand football?

 

[JANORAK]

An absolute clown. Given the mount of money sloshing around the Premier League, the level of officials in the league is absolutely staggering.

Clearly the Prem is very quick and the players don’t help with their cheating but surely, the FA can get 10-20 refs from footballers who have retired at League 1 through to National League etc and structure pool of Prem refs who actually understand football?

I think it telling that when he blew, I usually hadn’t a clue which way he was giving the decision. Maybe we should rethink accepting our invitation to Diving School?

 

[aslan]

So if you’re justifying their soft penalty, what did you think about the challenge on Collins in the first 5 minutes?

Is it only soft if we're the ones in the wrong?

 

[SmiffyBee]

I used to think football wasn't corrupt but then I saw the officials from Boreham Wood v Carlisle today...

 

[Old B]

Any chance of a “sticky” at the start of the thread, with each ref, GPG rating, opponent and short performance summary, MrFruity the arbiter?, ie,
Oliver, 8/10, Spurs (H), not too much to do, managed the game quietly and effectively
Harrington, 3/10, Leeds (A), big club bias throughout most of the game
Barratt, 3/10, Sunderland (H), lost control, allowed various Sunderland time wasting and fell for their fake injuries, happy to allow fouls on Thiago and Schade, seemed to give them lots if they squealed like pigs.

When we get them the next time we just add to the line.

Have chosen to ignore cup game..

Could do own end end of season awards

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Any chance of a “sticky” at the start of the thread, with each ref, GPG rating, opponent and short performance summary, MrFruity the arbiter?, ie,
Oliver, 8/10, Spurs (H), not too much to do, managed the game quietly and effectively
Harrington, 3/10, Leeds (A), big club bias throughout most of the game
Barratt, 3/10, Sunderland (H), lost control, allowed various Sunderland time wasting and fell for their fake injuries, happy to allow fouls on Thiago and Schade, seemed to give them lots if they squealed like pigs.

When we get them the next time we just add to the line.

Have chosen to ignore cup game..

Could do own end end of season awards

Referee was Tom Bramall yesterday. Regarding your suggestion, who is going to decide on a rating?

 

[LongLostBee]

Is there a better clip of the Antony goal/no-goal? Having seen MOTD it doesn’t really clarify things. Doesn’t really look like the keeper has control of it and his reaction is pretty accepting of the goal.
Or Ballard’s push on KLP before their ruled out goal - that’s not really clear either.

 

[Old B]

Referee was Tom Bramall yesterday. Regarding your suggestion, who is going to decide on a rating?

Sorry for the confusion on yesterday, going from memory, which is not too great these days, hence why I suggested a small first post summary to help when it gets to later in the season. I appreciate its subjective but if he cared to take on the challenge then generally I think Banana sums up the man in blacks performance quite well, maybe a rating could go up 24 hours after a game so that any red mist has cleared ?

 

[HMDBFC]

Is there a better clip of the Antony goal/no-goal? Having seen MOTD it doesn’t really clarify things. Doesn’t really look like the keeper has control of it and his reaction is pretty accepting of the goal.
Or Ballard’s push on KLP before their ruled out goal - that’s not really clear either.

They didn't analyse the Anthony disallowed goal on MOTD which they should have done. It looked uncertain at best that the keeper had the ball fully in control. Seemed like a legitimate challenge

 

[hanworthbee]

KLP can cry wolf all he wants but he made no attempt to turn and face the ball. Yes, there was "mutual holding" but one player had eyes on the ball and was attempting to play it, the other didn't have a clue where the ball was.

We all know that ref wouldn't have given that at Anfield, old Trafford etc

 

[BURFORD BEE]

We all know that ref wouldn't have given that at Anfield, old Trafford etc

That's not the point. We have to be more savvy. We get very little from refs abd certainly don't need to give them further excuses for bias

 

[Justheretoread]

The ref was crap. The penalty was correct.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day etc.

There is no way that the keeper had the ball under control for our “second”. He also looked like he gave the goal before disallowing it several seconds later.

But the randomness and delaying of the decisions really got me. There was one free kick to them, second half near the halfway line, that he took several seconds to give and he also seemed ready to play on and moved his own positioning to face the new direction of play. Presumably Xhaka or someone screamed at him and he changed his mind as that seemed to be his MO.

I think you’ll struggle to find a worse performance by any individual - player of official - this weekend in the league.

 

[A Real Mysteron]

Is there a better clip of the Antony goal/no-goal? Having seen MOTD it doesn’t really clarify things. Doesn’t really look like the keeper has control of it and his reaction is pretty accepting of the goal.
Or Ballard’s push on KLP before their ruled out goal - that’s not really clear either.

Their goal was ruled out for the offside player blocking the keeper’s view.

 

[Judio1999]

I am guessing this was his first ever PL match

Looked like a rabbit in a headlights with his blowing the whistle randomly

 

[Judio1999]

Their goal was ruled out for the offside player blocking the keeper’s view.

That explains why the VAR asked the ref to go to the monitor for what we had to guess was just an offside

 

[FunkyZeus]

The ref was crap. The penalty was correct.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day etc.

There is no way that the keeper had the ball under control for our “second”. He also looked like he gave the goal before disallowing it several seconds later.

But the randomness and delaying of the decisions really got me. There was one free kick to them, second half near the halfway line, that he took several seconds to give and he also seemed ready to play on and moved his own positioning to face the new direction of play. Presumably Xhaka or someone screamed at him and he changed his mind as that seemed to be his MO.

I think you’ll struggle to find a worse performance by any individual - player of official - this weekend in the league.

Definitely one instance where the ref wasn't going to blow for a free-kick, but the gesticulating and protests by one of the Sunderland players meant he did eventually blow and give them free kick.

Inconsistency (or lack of) did my head in. Thiago being wrested to the ground infront of the south stand trying to hold the ball up and turn on it - nothing given. Then on the opposite side the Sunderland player backs in to one of our players and collapses - free kick given...!

 

[TW1Bee]

I am guessing this was his first ever PL match

Looked like a rabbit in a headlights with his blowing the whistle randomly

No was fairly regular last season and has done us before (if you get what I mean !). Very telling shake of the head to himself as he walked off the pitch yesterday.

 

[LongLostBee]

Their goal was ruled out for the offside player blocking the keeper’s view.

I know that…but I’m interested in whether that’s irrelevant as Ballard appears to throw KLP to the floor to enable him to shoot. Unfortunately, as usual, the coverage is sh*t and doesn’t show it.

 

[badgerbee]

No was fairly regular last season and has done us before (if you get what I mean !). Very telling shake of the head to himself as he walked off the pitch yesterday.

Was that before or after all the handshakes and congratulations he got from the entire Sunderland bench/back room team??!!!

 

[To Bee Someone]

Refs like him spoil the game..Sunderland's tactics throwing themselves to ground doesn't help but if you know a ref is compliant, you continue doing it. The irony of Sunderland pushing their luck with stoppages and he then tells Kelleher to hurry it up when he has only just picked up the ball.
Took far too long for that VAR. It's not a goal. Even if we had that disallowed that for us, I'd accept it. Anthony's one I think is another one where if that is Haaland or Havertz doing that, the goal is given. Actually it's the sort of goal we'd concede against any team and it's given.

 

[Jezybee]

Mr Bramall set himself up for failure as no one in the whole ground knew what a foul was. Several instances where everyone was ready to play on only for a peep from his Mitre thunderblaster. Other times everyone expected a whistle only for the ref to stand there looking gormless.

By the end both sides had no idea what would be given, leading to the comical situation where all the players stopped expecting a whistle, then carried on when none came, only to be stopped again once he blew five seconds later.

Through probability, and VAR, the big decisions ended up being correct. However, he had no football empathy or instinct, which translated into a justifiable sense of incompetence. Like he was refereeing a football match by applying the laws of a different sport.

 

[mattbee]

I do a bit more than just give throw-ins when I'm on the line to be fair. I also run sideways...

Joking apart, we have microphones and we talk to each other. Constantly. We have way more involvement than you think we do.

The amount of communication between me and my Assistants/4ths even if we haven't got Comms is quite astonishing too, but not many people really know detect it as it's one of those things you don't see until you know what you're looking for.

Ultimately the referee is the gaffer, and Assistant Referees/4ths are there to assist not insist. If ref says "Thanks, but I'm doing this" then that's on them. We've all been there when our boss has done something we've advised against, you just have to park it and move on to the next decision.

I've been thinking of starting a thread about what it's like as an official operating on the Semi-Pro/Pro Game to give a bit of insight to those who are curious... Not to 'defend' anything - just more to give an idea of what you don't tend to see goes on.

So yesterday in the dying minutes when Sunderland put in a long throw and our near post defender gets a massive shove off the ball and a clear foul in front of the assistant refs nose, he probably communicated it to the ref who wasnt in a great position and the ref decided it was fine. The won a corner which luckily resulted in nothing. The assistant definitely didn't just ignore it, they are constantly communicating on the old mics.

 

[big neil]

The thing that gets my goat is the way he marched off like an android at the end as if he didn’t care despite the whole ground giving him a proper earful.
They must be taught to behave like that, then presumably collapse in tears while punching himself in the face back in the changing room.

 

[shaun]

Absolutely awful performance.

 

[mattbee]

The thing that gets my goat is the way he marched off like an android at the end as if he didn’t care despite the whole ground giving him a proper earful.
They must be taught to behave like that, then presumably collapse in tears while punching himself in the face back in the changing room.

But do you think he will be negatively assessed for that performance, I would highly doubt it.

 

[BuzzBeeSi]

What about these throw-ins... I was led to believe there was now a time limit on them of a few seconds. But they were taking 20+ seconds each time?

What about going down injured / with cramp... I thought you now had to go off the pitch?

It seems that all the good work in the World Cup has been undone. But that is FIFA so maybe I'm wrong and those new rules don't apply to EPL.

 

[Hippobee]

The thing that gets my goat is the way he marched off like an android at the end as if he didn’t care despite the whole ground giving him a proper earful.

Not being awkward, but what would you expect him to do?

Cup his ear to the West stand?
Give high fives to everyone?
Wave to all 4 stands as he runs off?

 

[big neil]

Not being awkward, but what would you expect him to do?

Cup his ear to the West stand?

Maybe look a bit like he knew he’d had a bad day at the office rather than marching off as if he’d had a blinder.
Probably coached into them by Howard Webb.

 

[Themepark]

So yesterday in the dying minutes when Sunderland put in a long throw and our near post defender gets a massive shove off the ball and a clear foul in front of the assistant refs nose, he probably communicated it to the ref who wasnt in a great position and the ref decided it was fine. The won a corner which luckily resulted in nothing. The assistant definitely didn't just ignore it, they are constantly communicating on the old mics.

I think there’s an some form dig/layer of sarcasm here in my general but I can’t be quite sure…

I haven’t seen the game yet as I had my own one to focus on but I certainly will be.

 

[Themepark]

What about these throw-ins... I was led to believe there was now a time limit on them of a few seconds. But they were taking 20+ seconds each time?

What about going down injured / with cramp... I thought you now had to go off the pitch?

It seems that all the good work in the World Cup has been undone. But that is FIFA so maybe I'm wrong and those new rules don't apply to EPL.

There isn’t.

FIFA opted to go hard line with the new law about Throw-Ins/Goal Kicks but domestic leagues have gone with as the law says.

My personal approach along with most others around my level and up are only counting down when we would normally hit the whistle and go “hurry up let’s go”. If players are slowly walking to the ball in order to waste time (I.E winning 1-0 on 87 minutes) countdown also starts whether or not they have the ball. You know what you’re doing.

It’s different if there’s a set piece being set up from a throw for me - using a bit of footballing nous goes miles. Someone will still shout the count for us from the crowd/bench though and go on about consistency but that’s a lack of understanding more than anything.

 

[Old B]

Second half in front of the south stand, definite foul on Schade, nothing given, five seconds later KLP or VJ on one of theirs and he blows, Vitaly goes nuts at him again! How VJ kept himself under control at the ineptitude and inconsistencies is a praise to him in itself.

 

[Themepark]

I don’t know why this took as long as everyone says it did to decide. You could see it in real time on the highlights.

Unless they were thrown by the GK reaction of “ffs” and acceptance opposed to “ref/lino he’s in my way!” - either way looked fairly obvious to me immediately

 

[mattbee]

I don’t know why this took as long as everyone says it did to decide. You could see it in real time on the highlights.

Unless they were thrown by the GK reaction of “ffs” and acceptance opposed to “ref/lino he’s in my way!” - either way looked fairly obvious to me immediately

I think you just have to manage expectations when you go to a game. Someone reffing in a park yesterday will have had a better performance than Bramall, nothing elite about them.

 

[Themepark]

I think you just have to manage expectations when you go to a game. Someone reffing in a park yesterday will have had a better performance than Bramall, nothing elite about them.

One of my biggest things is "What does football expect?". It's a key part of my pre-match instructions to my assistants. We aren't here to be clever and slurp an extra mark from the observer, we're here to deliver a game of football...

 

[whyteleafebee76]

Any chance of a “sticky” at the start of the thread, with each ref, GPG rating, opponent and short performance summary, MrFruity the arbiter?, ie,
Oliver, 8/10, Spurs (H), not too much to do, managed the game quietly and effectively
Harrington, 3/10, Leeds (A), big club bias throughout most of the game
Barratt, 3/10, Sunderland (H), lost control, allowed various Sunderland time wasting and fell for their fake injuries, happy to allow fouls on Thiago and Schade, seemed to give them lots if they squealed like pigs.

When we get them the next time we just add to the line.

Have chosen to ignore cup game..

Could do own end end of season awards

Barratt was awful....... it was like he was reffing a completely different game.

 

[KenCootesNephew]

I've been thinking of starting a thread about what it's like as an official operating on the Semi-Pro/Pro Game to give a bit of insight to those who are curious... Not to 'defend' anything - just more to give an idea of what you don't tend to see goes on.

I'd certainly be interested

 

[Gee Bee]

I’d have gone with the Denis Law chat to a ref
“If I called you Cnut I’d be sent off”
Ref “yes”
“If I just thought you were Cnut you couldn’t send me off?”
Ref “correct”
“Well I think your a Cnut” and ran off