Should officials say sorry to fans?

[Legend10]

When officials are seen to have gotten crucial match changing or deciding decisions horribly wrong should they, and/or the referee's association apologise to the supporters of the wronged team?

After all it is the paying customer at the gate who pays their wages and shouldn't they be held accountable to supporters for their performance?

You work your nuts off all week to earn money to go to the game and on many occassions travel many hundreds of miles to do so, and of course sometimes sacrificing spending money and time on more needy things to follow your team. And on many occassions for what? For the officials to effectively get it wrong and condem your team to defeat, in such instances should they not come out and apologise for their mistakes to the paying punter?

A good example would be Webb apologising to Spurs last year for his howler at Old Trafford but he never apologised to the travelling money spending punter. They are just expected to swallow the refs fuck ups and get on with it. isn't it about time that officials acknowledged who pays them and show them the respect of explaining themselves and apologising when they fail to perform properly.

 

[Teemu]

Meh, yes and no, refs should in general be more prepared to admit mistakes, as should players and managers for that matter, but I mean whatever, we spend the whole game calling them a wanker, I don't expect them to have to stand up on a stage with a microphone after the game saying 'Guyyyys I'm really sorry can I still be your friend?'.

Once we start demanding apologies from everyone it starts getting a bit petty, it is nice when a ref admits a mistake but we can't make too big a thing of it otherwise it'll just be like a mother making her child say sorry through gritted teeth when they don't mean it!

 

[nldnboi]

Yes they should, then they should give permission for fans to pelt them with rotten fruits/vegetables in any other game they referee in.

 

[Legend10]

Meh, yes and no, refs should in general be more prepared to admit mistakes, as should players and managers for that matter, but I mean whatever, we spend the whole game calling them a wanker, I don't expect them to have to stand up on a stage with a microphone after the game saying 'Guyyyys I'm really sorry can I still be your friend?'.

Once we start demanding apologies from everyone it starts getting a bit petty, it is nice when a ref admits a mistake but we can't make too big a thing of it otherwise it'll just be like a mother making her child say sorry through gritted teeth when they don't mean it!

As far as I'm aware the ref at the Bristol City Palace game didn't apologise to Palace fans who had made a 200 mile round trip to see there team lose in the main because of him. On top of that some of their ticket money would have been used to pay him!

He should apologise to them for his incompetence, no?

 

[dontcallme]

Yeah sure why not, as long as every striker who misses a chance, every keeper who drops an easy shot, every defender who makes a mistake and every manager who makes a poor tactical decision also apologise.

Time to man up and stop blaming the refs for every poor result. We could have had a penalty against Chelsea but they deserved to win and blaming everyone else is what children do.

 

[Teemu]

As far as I'm aware the ref at the Bristol City Palace game didn't apologise to Palace fans who had made a 200 mile round trip to see there team lose in the main because of him. On top of that some of their ticket money would have been used to pay him!

He should apologise to them for his incompetence, no?

In an ideal world he would yes, but my point is there are other things to worry about. If a referee comes out after a game and says he made a mistake and he's sorry then fair play, we're all human; if he doesn't, especially after such a high-profile mistake, then yes it's a bit cowardly, but we shouldn't be chasing up referees days after a match just so he can issue a belated and non-genuine apology.

 

[spurs]

Has the ref of the head of refs ever apologised to a non-top 4 club?

The problem with the current set up is that if the ref makes a decision that hamrs the top 4, then they know they will be made to look like an idiot in the media all week but if they give a decision that harms the smaller clubs - people say "well they would have lost anyway". No matter how honest a ref is, I can't believe that subconciously the ref won't favour the bigger club.

 

[Legend10]

Yeah sure why not, as long as every striker who misses a chance, every keeper who drops an easy shot, every defender who makes a mistake and every manager who makes a poor tactical decision also apologise.

Time to man up and stop blaming the refs for every poor result. We could have had a penalty against Chelsea but they deserved to win and blaming everyone else is what children do.

I'm not remotely talking about yesterday or the Chelsea game so I'll let you continue talking about that.

I'm talking about far more obvious and blatant balls up by officials not calls that could go either way and are in the main subject to opinion.

I'm talking about things like the Bristol Palace game or the Watford Reading game or the Mendes goal. Occasions where the referee's association have come out and apologised to the managers but never as far as I'm aware have they made apologies to the paying customer and I think this shows a disregard for the very people who fund the game.

I'm not talking about decisions of interpretation I'm talking about major fuck ups. I think it would help build some sort of connection between fans and officials as right now its as bad as I can ever remember it.

 

[Teemu]

Officials should be encouraged to admit their mistakes, but isn't that just pretty much true for any walk of life? To be big enough to admit when you've done something wrong? I don't really see what can actually be done only than light encouragement, if you force someone to apologise it becomes petty and meaningless.

 

[raf18]

a poss problem is that it means they are admitting they were wrong. If they apologise for every mistake, people will add them up and it will just put more pressure on the refs making the most mistakes.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Only if we were to also give them the respect and praise they deserve when they get the tough calls right. We applaud skill like Defoe's bicycle kick against United, so why not a tight offside shout or good penalty call (yes, I know, but the point could be made).

I would genuinely like to see a show on SkySports (or wherever) that focused on Refs performances over the weekend. Refs can go on as guests, talk about why they made certain decisions - it is fact that fans know only a minority of the rules of the game, so it would be informative as well as hopefully entertaining.

It would need to focus as much on the good as the bad - like MOTD, etc - and have the aim of showing the actual work done by refs and their assistants every game.

It would also mean these snivelly men get more media exposure but that might work in our favour as they would not be so keen to grab the spotlight during the game, apart from for the right reasons. They'd also earn a bit more money from their appearance fees.

 

[KentuckyYid]

There wouldn't be any need for apologies, or even any match changing fuck ups if they powers that be bit the bullet and brought in video replay technology. It's going to come one day that much I'm sure of so it might as well be now.

When it is finally in place it will create a level playing field for all, and most certainly cost the big 4 (who ever that might be at the time) undeserved points...

 

[Lanh]

Only if we were to also give them the respect and praise they deserve when they get the tough calls right. We applaud skill like Defoe's bicycle kick against United, so why not a tight offside shout or good penalty call (yes, I know, but the point could be made).

I would genuinely like to see a show on SkySports (or wherever) that focused on Refs performances over the weekend. Refs can go on as guests, talk about why they made certain decisions - it is fact that fans know only a minority of the rules of the game, so it would be informative as well as hopefully entertaining.

It would need to focus as much on the good as the bad - like MOTD, etc - and have the aim of showing the actual work done by refs and their assistants every game.

It would also mean these snivelly men get more media exposure but that might work in our favour as they would not be so keen to grab the spotlight during the game, apart from for the right reasons. They'd also earn a bit more money from their appearance fees.

Best idea of the lot! :clap:

 

[Legend10]

Great idea Bill and certainly initially a programme I would watch.

I think something should be done as the relationship between officials and fans seems to be at an all time low and there is a real perception of aloofness. Such a show or something similar will go someway to breaking this down and give officials a chance to say to fans 'yep, we fucked up'. I think fans would appreciate this.

At the moment they and the ref's association will make the occassional apology to managers and players but fans are just left to stew, which can't be right seeing as they are the wage payers.

I really support your idea and think it would help breakdown some barriers.

 

[Kendall]

It would make no difference. We'd still be calling Howard Webb a prick.

 

[mil1lion]

A ref saying sorry doesn't mean shit to me. Whats done is done. If anything the players should say sorry for being such overpaid primadonnas. The refs get plenty of things wrong, but the players make their lives so much harder. Football lost its soul a long time ago, its more about winning at all costs than it is about pride now. They can shove their sorry for all i care.

 

[Kendall]

agree. plus I think we've had the rub of the green recently with pens not being given against us. BAE in particular has handled a few times imo.