Friday 21 November 2008

Methane breathing referee

Steve Tanner from Somerset is tomorrow's referee. He replaced Graham Poll on the FIFA list and is widely suspected to be an arriviste from the same methane breathing planet as Poll. His use in the Premiership confirms this.

He has a poor record for incompetence and bad decision-making, in particular for continually slowing up the game with unnecessary free kicks. One comment about him is, 'Steve does tend to like a card or five so expect a Referee that continually stops play as he doesn't seem able to use man management.' Normally easygoing managers have been driven beserk by his decisions.

Enjoy the game.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you are being harsh on Steve Tanner,Wyn.

He was given a game at Anfield & was also awarded the Arsenal v Wigan Carling Cup Tie.I saw the latter game & his performance was fine.He would not have been given these games if there were performance issues.

He has refereed 10 games so far this season & given 30 yellow cards which is not excessive.He has also dished out non-controversial red cards to Alex Bruce & Darren Purse who are hardly paragons of virtue.

Incidentally in the game he red carded Purse,Tanner did not caution any other player.

He dished out 7 yellows in the Blackburn v Sunderland game but has not issued more than 4 in any other game.

He certainly hasn't awarded goals that went wide of the post or given a penalty on the advice of an assistant who was in the other half of the field.

I think we sometimes judge referees on how we want them to officiate rather than how they are instructed to by Keith Hackett.

When the opposition are as physical as Sheffield United will be a strong or 'picky' referee will be to Charlton's advantage.

If Charlton do not win tomorrow it will not be because of the referee.None of us are expecting a spectacle so I doubt that Tanner will spoil that either.

I rate him as the best referee to visit the Valley this season.

Wyn Grant said...

These Friday afternoon reports on the referees are not meant to be taken too seriously. They are a bit of light relief. Nevertheless, I did an internet trawl on Tanner and I picked up much more negative comment than I do on most referees. On some it is difficult to find anything at all. That may be because he is more prominent. I don't expect the outcome of the match will be decided by the referee. Often it is the linos who are more of a problem with that bizarre offside decisions (one of which cost us dear in our relegation season). At least we won't have a referee like we did at Leamington who couldn't keep up with the game, couldn't control it (leading to a mass brawl) and looked as if he was about to qualify for a bus pass. I know, we rely on these people to get a game at all. But I sometimes do wonder about the sort of person that is attracted to the role.

Anonymous said...

About 3 or 4 years ago I watched a game in what was then the South Western League and on one occasion the ref asked the keeper if the ball had crossed the line for a corner,so far behind play was he and the lino! Like you I watch plenty of non-league football and the standard of some of the officials beggars belief.

I know a guy who is on the League list who rates Tanner highly,hope I don't have to eat too much humble pie tomorrow!

Anonymous said...

not good enough