Birmingham City Vs Tottenham | Clean sheet

Date of Game: Saturday 30th January 2010

Home Team: Birmingham City | Away Team: Tottenham

Referee: Stuart Attwell | Linesman: Mike Mullarkey & Darren Cann

Summary: No major refereeing incidents in the game's key moments. Clean sheet in Attwell's first game monitored by me.

View full match highlights

Cheers,
WB

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Chelsea Vs Birmingham | No major refereeing incidents

Date of Game: Wednesday 27th January 2010

Home Team: Chelsea | Away Team: Birmingham City

Referee: Steve Bennett | Linesman: Martin Yerby & Stuart Burt

Summary: Only the second ever 'clean sheet'. Meaning from the highlights I've seen, there were no game-changing, debatable refereeing decisions.

If you were at the game or have seen extended highlights and think I've missed something, drop me an email or tweet me and I'll do my best to track down a clip of the incident and update the site. Alternatively, post a comment below and open up the debate to a wider audience.

Cheers,
WB

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Birmingham City Vs Manchester United | Fletcher sending off

Description of incident: Fletcher was sent off for two bookable offenses. The first was for a tackle from behind on Bowyer. The second for a trip on Jerome.

Date of Game: Saturday 9th January 2010

Home Team: Birmingham City | Away Team: Manchester United

Referee: Mark Clattenburg| Linesman: John Flynn & Paul Simpson

Decision Type: Red card | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 2/5

Affect on Result: Arguably none, potentially denying United an extra man in the final push and obviously in games to come when Fletcher will be banned. | Winner: Birmingham City | Loser: Manchester United

Players Involved: Darren Fletcher (Man Utd), Lee Bowyer & Cameron Jerome (Birmingham)

Summary: The first yellow was an obvious one. Fletcher came straight through the back of Bowyer - right decision. The second was definitely not a yellow card offense. Fletcher was stretching for the ball and barely caught Jerome, it wasn't a dangerous tackle, he had little time withdraw his leg from the tackle due to being off balance and it was a clear attempt for the ball.

Cheers,
WB

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Birmingham City Vs Manchester United | Scott Dann own goal

Description of incident: After a quick game of pinball inside the Birmingham penalty area, the ball dropped to Evra on the left hand side of the box. He drilled it across goal towards Park, Scholes and Rooney but Dann stretched to reach the ball before all of them unfortunately diverting it into his own net in the process.

Date of Game: Saturday 9th January 2010

Home Team: Birmingham City | Away Team: Manchester United

Referee: Mark Clattenburg | Linesman: John Flynn & Paul Simpson

Decision Type: Offside | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 4/5

Affect on Result: N/A | Winner: Manchester United | Loser: Birmingham City

Players Involved: Patrice Evra, Ji-Sung Park, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) & Scott Dann (Birmingham)

Summary: There was the suggestion by Mark Lawrenson on Match of the Day that because it was an own goal, it no longer becomes an offside decision. And, allegedly, this was also Mark Clattenburg's view. This is a ridiculous argument as Scott Dann only put it in his own net due to the presence of the 3 Man Utd players. The reason allowing the goal is the right decision is that no Man Utd player was offside anyway (Ridgewell was playing them on). Alex McCleish may have been right when he said it was the right decision, wrong reasons. However, whatever the reason it was the right decision to over-rule the linesman's offside flag.

Cheers,
WB

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Birmingham City Vs Manchester United | Park penalty shout

Description of incident: Trying to find space for a shot, Park raced past Carr inside the Birmingham penalty area and went tumbling as the two players came together.

Date of Game: Saturday 9th January 2010

Home Team: Birmingham City | Away Team: Manchester United

Referee: Mark Clattenburg | Linesman: John Flynn & Paul Simpson

Decision Type: Penalty | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 1/5

Affect on Result: N/A | Winner: Birmingham City | Loser: Manchester United

Players Involved: Ji-Sung Park (Man Utd) & Stephen Carr (Birmingham)

Summary: Easy decision. No penalty. Enough said.

Cheers,
WB

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Manifesto: Judging Premier League Referees' Descisions

I've decided to start reviewing the most critical decisions made by Premier League referees.  Those that have a direct affect on the outcome of the game; offside, free-kick, penalty, red card & goal line decisions.  Consider that an inclusive rather than exclusive list.

This is not spawned out of any particular dislike for referees or any perceived injustice against the team I support, I will be looking for the good as well the bad.  And it will extend, where necessary, to decision of the linesmen (or, officially, Assistant Referees - but that is the last time I will refer to them as such) and 4th officials.

Rather than looking to publicly lambaste referees on a weekly basis, my gut feeling is that I'll demonstrate what a difficult job they have, how often they actually get key decisions right and how, even with hindsight and slow motion video replays, it can still be difficult to come to a definitive conclusion.  Don't get me wrong, I am as big a critic as anyone else when I'm watching a game so I'll just as happy if my gut feeling turns out to be wrong.

The analysis will be restricted to Premier League games only, looking for any patterns that may emerge from the performance of referees.  This will become more apparent when reviewing the 2010/11 season in full however, I hope to provide some insights into the 2009/10 season even though I am kicking off in January 2009.

As a bit of a warm-up, I took a look at the FA Cup games that took place yesterday (Saturday 2nd).  And if this is anything to go by, my gut feelings will be proved right as we see a really good day for referees:

1. Reading vs Liverpool | David Richardson | Linesman | Not flagging Kuyt offside when he dummied Gerrard's shot for Liverpool's goal | Decision:
   
2. Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham City | Steve Bennett | Referee | Awarding a penalty to Forest for a foul on Anderson | Decision:
   
3. Middlesbrough vs Man City | Stuart Atwell | Referee | Not giving a penalty to Middlesbrough & booking O'Neil for diving:
1. No penalty | Decision:
2. Booking | Decision:
4. Everton vs Carlisle | John Flynn or Darren Drysdale (TBC) | Linesman | Flagging James Vaughn offside when he "scored" his second | Decision:
5. Everton vs Carlisle | Jon Moss | Referee | Awarding Everton a penalty for a foul on Agard | Decision:
6. MK Dons vs Burnley | Anthony Bates | Referee | Awarding Burnley a penalty for a foul on Fletcher | Decision:
7. MK Dons vs Burnley | Michael Murphy or Ian Smedley (TBC) | Linseman | Not flagging Fletcher offside when scoring Burnley's second | Decision:
8. MK Dons vs Burnley | Michael Murphy or Ian Smedley (TBC) | Linseman | Not flagging Morgan offside when he scored MK Dons' consolation goal | Decision:
9. Aston Villa vs Blackburn | Howard Webb | Referee | Awarding a penalty to Blackburn for a foul on Reid | Decision:
10. Aston Villa vs Blackburn | Howard Webb | Referee | Sending off Diouf for a (truly awful) foul | Decision:
11. Aston Villa vs Blackburn | Howard Webb | Referee | Awarding Aston Villa a penalty for a foul on Carew | Decision:
12. Tottenham vs Peterborough | Lee Mason | Referee | Awarding Tottenham a penalty for a foul on Rose | Decision:
13. Fulham vs Swindon Town | Anthony Taylor | Awarding Fulham a penalty for a foul on Johnson | Decision:
14. Blackpool vs Ipswich Town | Eddie Ilderton | Referee | Awarding Blackpool a penalty for foul on Omorod | Decision:
15. Blackpool vs Ipswich Town | Eddie Ilderton | Referee | Sending Evatt off for Blackpool | Decision:
16. Blackpool vs Ipswich Town | Eddie Ilderton | Referee | Sending Edwards off for Blackpool | Decision: (but it was a foul)
17. Preston NE vs Colchester Utd | Colin Webster | Referee | Awarding a penalty to Preston for a foul on Parkin | Decision:

So, onto the real thing - kicking off with mid-week analysis of any key decisions in Stoke vs Fulham on Tuesday and Arsenal vs Bolton on Wednesday.

And this will be, by a massive distance, my longest post ever.

Cheers,
WB

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