I actually thought he was a very good ref throughout his career, but badly went off the rails in the past 2 years. I think the pressure and scrutiny severely got to him, and a lot of that was brought on himself.
He seemed to revel in the fame and recognition. Like Halsey, he wanted to be one of the lads. Sometimes refs can't win, if they are too strict like Ellery people say they don't understand the game, if they try and fit in with the players they get accused of egotism and wanting to be the stars. Of course the best ground is the middle one, but its easy to stray either way.
He wasn't a bad ref, but by the end he wasn't a good one either.
[cite]Posted By: Carter[/cite]The best referees are the ones you don't notice.
Referee's are not meant to be ringmasters, he could always politely refuse to speak to the media
thing is i don't recognise any refs!!
the bloke always says oh no blah blah is ref today and have not a clue who he is going on about!!
I just think they will get some right and some wrong and thta is what makes the game interesting!
[cite]Posted By: Carter[/cite]The best referees are the ones you don't notice.
Referee's are not meant to be ringmasters, he could always politely refuse to speak to the media
Very true, but i'm pretty sure that refs have to do post match tv stuff same as players and managers.
I think Poll was a good ref- never got over the 3 yellows, after all, if he wasn't completely under the microscope before that incident, he certainly was afterwards.
My old CASC branch actually had a Q&A session with him- he gave up 2 hours of his time for nothing, came and talked to us( about 40 people) very openly and certainly was very eloquant and entertaining.
I'll never forget that a very young Graham Poll was the referee for our cup replay at Wolves where Matty Holmes was almost killed by that a**e Kevin Muscat. He also managed to send off Mark Bright in the same game for a nothing foul on the Wolves goalkeeper. I have, personally, always hated him since that game.
[quote][cite]Posted By: StanmoreAddick[/cite][quote][cite]Posted By: Carter[/cite]The best referees are the ones you don't notice.
My old CASC branch actually had a Q&A session with him- he gave up 2 hours of his time for nothing, came and talked to us( about 40 people) very openly and certainly was very eloquant and entertaining.[/quote]
40 people? You must have been seeing quadruple at the time! Very interesting evening though and as you say he gave his time for nothing.
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He seemed to revel in the fame and recognition. Like Halsey, he wanted to be one of the lads. Sometimes refs can't win, if they are too strict like Ellery people say they don't understand the game, if they try and fit in with the players they get accused of egotism and wanting to be the stars. Of course the best ground is the middle one, but its easy to stray either way.
He wasn't a bad ref, but by the end he wasn't a good one either.
Referee's are not meant to be ringmasters, he could always politely refuse to speak to the media
thing is i don't recognise any refs!!
the bloke always says oh no blah blah is ref today and have not a clue who he is going on about!!
I just think they will get some right and some wrong and thta is what makes the game interesting!
Very true, but i'm pretty sure that refs have to do post match tv stuff same as players and managers.
I think Poll was a good ref- never got over the 3 yellows, after all, if he wasn't completely under the microscope before that incident, he certainly was afterwards.
My old CASC branch actually had a Q&A session with him- he gave up 2 hours of his time for nothing, came and talked to us( about 40 people) very openly and certainly was very eloquant and entertaining.
My old CASC branch actually had a Q&A session with him- he gave up 2 hours of his time for nothing, came and talked to us( about 40 people) very openly and certainly was very eloquant and entertaining.[/quote]
40 people? You must have been seeing quadruple at the time! Very interesting evening though and as you say he gave his time for nothing.