Referee’s are a part of football that everyone likes.
Yes, they do because without them (especially in Scotland) discussions and debate simply would not exist.
It is widely accepted that the standard of refereeing in our game is not up to scratch. It is also widely accepted that regardless of what team you support, we all believe refs have it in for our team.
Referee’s get the simple decisions in Scotland wrong. It is one of the bug bears of all football fans in this country which makes this comment from former FIFA referee Keith Hackett all that bit more bizarre.
Speaking to Football Insider, Hackett said, “I rate Bobby Madden as a referee.
“I think he’s done really, really well for Uefa and you can tell that by how many games he’s had, over 100 in 51 countries. He’s a really safe pair of hands who Uefa trust so it will come as a bit of a shock to Uefa.
“Maybe there is a tinge of disappointment that he wasn’t considered for the World Cup. There may also be that other pressure, and I faced it, and that is I don’t think he’s full-time with the Scottish FA.
“I found increasingly in my career that getting time off work to do games became a real problem. I once did to Stuttgart against Feyenoord and had a board meeting the next day and was told I would get fired if I missed it. I had to charter a private jet out of my own pocket.
“These are the pressures on referees. In addition, there is pressure on the family. It’s all-consuming being a referee.
“I respect fully what he’s done. The Scottish FA need to look at this, the pressure on international referees is enormous therefore they have to go full-time.
“He’s a very experienced official. We’ve seen him make Old Firm games with Celtic and Rangers look easy because of his personality. This is why I like Scottish referees, they are not robots, they’ve all got personality.”
Ok, I’m not sure what games Hackett has been watching but I’ve not seen a Glasgow Derby yet that Madden has made ‘look easy’ to referee.
Take the Scottish Cup semi final for example. That was a game where both sets of fans believed Madden had a shocker and it takes some doing when you have both sets of supporters agreeing with a refereeing performance.
Completely bizarre comments.
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I watch open goal sometimes on you tube and you see that clown Madden contributing but yet he doesn’t have to discuss decisions he makes during a football game, unbelievable.
How can this be acceptable when decisions he makes impact a game but the standard no comment is acceptable, he is one of the worst refs I have seen but backed up by his colleagues, absolute joke