I would not swap jobs with Bristol's Fifa referee Steve Tanner
There are lots of jobs in football that have serious appeal, others are less attractive but there is one role that I would not touch with a proverbial barge pole.
The following are all hugely attractive:
Player - tried and tested, liked it but would prefer today's pay scales.
Manager - decision-maker-in-chief, you get loads of 'stick' but it's probably worth it.
These positions have less appeal:
Assistant manager - tried that one too, it didn't float my boat.
First-team coach, physiotherapist and kit man - the truth is I would not really fancy any of them.
So to the one that has absolutely no appeal whatsoever. You have probably guessed it - the man in black, the referee.
This week has further strengthened my opinion.
Refereeing is without doubt one of the hardest jobs in football and I think the advent of professional referees was a good thing, fitness levels have improved but human error still prevails.
Rather than bash the referees on a post-match basis I think the powers that be should work on ways to make my most unwanted job in football more attractive.
When I played referees and players actually conversed. The exchanges were explicit, humorous and at times near-the-knuckle but there was a mutual respect.
Geoff Twentyman
A former top-flight referee told me he never gave a goal, awarded a penalty or sent a player off unless he was 100% sure he was right.
Any doubt meant no goal, no spot-kick or no early shower. It is a solid, common sense approach which would, at source, eradicate many of the recurring problems.
I wish all referees adopted such a straight forward philosophy. Regrettably I sense some are all too happy to brandish the cards and court controversy.
This week Frank Lampard was sent off erroneously at Anfield in a crucial game, the red card was rescinded much to referee Mike Riley's public humiliation.
Also, Cheltenham striker Damien Spencer was red carded after scoring a hat-trick.
It looked like a fair tackle from a big strong guy. The man in black Kevin Friend thought otherwise and sent him off.
This decision was overturned and once again the referee must be feeling embarrassed.
Had Messrs Riley and Friend adopted the rule of thumb judgement outlined above they would have saved themselves considerable grief.
So how else can we help? Referees should be encouraged to use their assistants and fourth officials more often. Too often they seem to use them for little more than throw-ins. The view from four pairs of eyes must be better than from one. A slight delay on the really big decisions would be acceptable.
Goal-line technology should be brought in. Goals decide football matches and with the huge amounts of money involved in the game these days it's the one factor where human error should be eradicated.
When I played referees and players actually conversed. The exchanges were explicit, humorous and at times near-the-knuckle but there was a mutual respect. I firmly believe today's players would also prefer to have such lines of communication.
I firmly believe that referees must retain overall control. There will always be human error but with some sensible adjustments the game could be better for everyone - referees, players, manager and fans.
I am talking evolution here not revolution. You never know if things change I might well fancy taking up the whistle!
Geoff presents the 'Twentyman Talks Back' football phone-in at 1900 GMT on Fridays on BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Somerset. If you missed the latest programme, listen to it now.
What's your view on Geoff's article ....
Just read your fantastic piece on the website. I agree with you completely.
I'm a judge in gymnastics. It's not quite a football referee, I agree but there seems to be to be some correlation here.
In judging a gymnastics routine, you have a split second to view what the gymnast is doing and to make a decision on whether or not an error has been made and after the routine is finished you then tot up your score. Referees in football don't have the advantage of another few judges who see the same things that you're seeing. (or of course a crowd or a tv audience) In gymnastics, there are often six of us, and that's our advantage. A referee is out on the pitch on his own with only the assistants, who don't get used to the extent that they should be.
Anyway, there's my tuppence worth, and here's a shout to all those who have done their best to get matches on this weekend with no avail. Fair play to those who slog their guts out on behalf of us fans.
Cris in Bemmie
I am convinced that unfortunately the job of the referee and their assistants has become increasingly more difficult due to the decline of respect they are shown by players, managers and fans alike. This is further undermined by so called 'expert' media pundits. The referee and his assistants are human and as such will always inject varying degrees of inconsistencies in their decisions. The referee will make a decision of an incident that he/she has seen with honesty and with integrity. As a schoolboy player (30 years ago) myself and my fellow team players knew this and accepted this fact. We knew that the referee made mistakes - as we would do, but we would never have dreamt of challenging ANY decision given by the officials.
I still enjoy watching football immensely but find the 'antics' of many spoilt, over-paid players and managers rather pathetic and sad. I agree mostly with the comments that you make but I do feel that care needs to be taken not to undermine decisions made by the officials. I draw your attention to the comment - 'Had Messrs Riley and Friend adopted the rule of thumb judgement outlined above they would have saved themselves considerable grief.'
Even if Mr Riley and Mr Friend made a decision which they might have not have given if they had seen the incidents again, we must accept that they gave an honest decision on an incident that they saw only once and in their honest opinion deserved the action which they took. After all, they have to make that instant decision and aren't in such a privileged position to analyse the incident from numerous angles nor are they given an unlimited amount of time to consider what action to take!
I hope that, for the sake of the game, officials will begin to be respected for the great job that they do. After all, if we didn't have those officials we wouldn't have the game which many of us so enjoy!
Julian Ridler, Whitchurch, Bristol
Geoff I could not agree more with your comments. I think the players need to look at the number of mistakes they make during a game before criticising the man in black!
Ian Johnston, Frome
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