Matt Maher: It's not only inexperienced referees who make mistakes
There is no doubt Thomas Bramall dropped a clanger by blowing his whistle before Morgan Rogers put the ball in the net at Old Trafford last Sunday.
But as Villa boss Unai Emery acknowledged in his post-match press conference, it is not only referees who make mistakes.
The visiting team’s players and their manager must also accept their responsibility for the dire performance against Manchester United, which contributed to their defeat and failure to qualify for the Champions League at least as much as any officiating error.
Neither is it only inexperienced referees who blunder. Villa’s complaint to the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL), the body responsible for selecting which referees officiate which matches, focused on Bramall having taken charge of just 11 top-flight matches this season, fewer than all but one of the 10 men in the middle of last weekend’s final round of fixtures.
Yet experience by no means reduces the likelihood of mistakes, as Villa themselves should know.
Back on Boxing Day, Emery was left furious at Anthony Taylor’s decision to send-off Jhon Duran for what he perceived was a stamp on Newcastle defender Fabian Schar.
Central to the Villa boss’ frustration was Taylor failing to review the incident again on the monitor. In a similar way to Bramall being too hasty on the whistle, the accusation against Taylor was he had not given himself enough time before making a decision which, considering Villa went on to lose the match 3-0, also had big ramifications in the final shake-up come May.
Taylor, of course, is no novice. In fact, no referee took charge of more Premier League matches this season than the 46-year-old, one of two English referees selected to officiate at the last World Cup.
If there is a complaint, it should be aimed less at Bramall’s inexperience and more a rule book which gave no chance of his error being retrieved.
Play might be dead, by law, when the referee blows his whistle but in this case the ball was on its way toward an open goal. Nothing was going to happen to prevent it crossing the line.
Under such circumstances, it does seem daft the rules don’t permit some common sense to be applied. For Bramall and PGMOL, it would have saved a whole heap of trouble.
