once again the victim of an incompetent official

[Bri w]

Bowyer, an undeserved bad rap from his younger days?

He holds the record for the most yellow cards in the premiership. I like the way the guy plays but you can't get away from the facts.

Im a leeds fan and remember when Bowyer and Woodgate got arrested for assulting someone out side of Majestic's in leeds. They were torn apart by the media and even leeds fans brushed passed the mention of thier names. Woodgate was smart, he got his head down and let his football do the talking (and fecked off for a few years). What isnt well known is that Bowyer was cleared of the charges during the trial and it was Woodgate who faced the charges. Even so Bowyer wasnt too smart he continued to get punnished on the pitch for his overly aggresive way of playing, he then left for West Ham and was again in the media the next season for leathering Keron Dyer during a newcastle match = more bad press.

I too like how he plays and like any Roy Keane, Stevie G, Robbie Savage if he isnt on your team you hate him but have him on your side and wins tackles by reputation alone. One thing your stat doesnt show Bri is he's played in the prem his whole career, those stats only started been counted part way through the careers of players like Roy Keane, Robbie Savage no longer plays in the Prem and hasnt for a few seasons, look in that list and players just below him and above some of the notorious "dirty players" such as Mr Keane and you've got Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, George Boateng, Patrick Viera none of those players get the same rap as dirty players but only a couple of players in that top 10 have made more appearances than he has..... so far

[tinpants]

Originally Posted by specialone

Tim, being a brummie fan, I'd like to point out, why blame bowyer? What's he supposed to do? Put his hand up and say sorry ???

We've had more of the instances against us than for us, so I don't feel at all bad about this one.

Bowyer gets a bad rap for his exploits in his younger days but the facts are he shows a lot more commitment than 70% of football players around these days IMO.
Look at the top top players at the big clubs if you wanna see cheats, they are the biggest culprits.

Being a Gooner myself, it pains me to say this, but I have to agree with the above comment about his commitment.

Bowyer is a good pro, altho not alot of talent! He used to be abit like bobby zamora at west ham, give 100% and always fully committed but just didnt have the talent to do much. Blackburn will be one of the 3 to drop me thinks

Video ref is what is needed, and bookings for obvious dramatic diving. Football atm imo is a joke.

I would love to see you do a better job and make the decision and never make a mistake becuase you would be sodding perfect at.
though does incompetent just mean an offical that happens to make a judgement against your team or just makes a mistake.

you should come and join Celtic's board they love the officials as much as you do and also broke the whole game up here - you'll fit in well - LOL

Originally Posted by Quedos

I would love to see you do a better job and make the decision and never make a mistake

I gotta agree with Q there, they do have a damn near impossible job to do. They've got to watch the game with out actually watching the game if that makes sense. To know if a player is offside the moment a ball is played requires them to be looking in 3 or 4 places at once, throughout the entire game.
1 - the player with ball,
2 to 4 - Every player on his team in the opositions half and in front of the player with the ball.

Lines men have a harder job than the ref IMO, they're expected to be faultless 100% time and get torn a new one should they make a mistake. Still agree with Tim though, its bloody enraging when they get it wrong and it doesnt go in your favour. Especially when your in a relegation battle, because just about everything seems to go against you then.

[Bri w]

Why can't Fifa, and the FA/Premiership adopt the available technology that would go a large way to putting an end to dodgy decisions.

A dodgy decision can see a club relegated, ultimately costing it millions. Its people's livelihoods, and someone's business, and in some cases the share price that suffers because of dodgy decisions. One dodgy decision, even for a mid table club could cost 3 places in the final league table and cost the club £3million, and that becomes even more if the club is relegated.

[timwilky]

There is no reason why technology cannot be used apart from the likes of Blatter, Platini and the rest of the corrupt officialdom that runs the game are scared stiff the money pits will dry up. It works well for Rugby, any doubtful call and the video ref can give a judgement and everybody can see why. Despite there being big screens at premiership games the clubs are not allowed to replay anything in case it shows the ref was wrong.

Refs are supposed to be professional, their desisions as Bri says, can and does cost millions. So why with the amount of money involved cannot the game make a decision for itself and say we are going to ensure that the right call is made. It wouldn't slow the game down, it would only be used when a refs decision is called into question. Instead players spend an age arguing etc.

Im in favour of the goal line tech, but not a video ref. Not unless you were limited to the number of times a season in which you could call for it to be used. Otherwise you'd have every ref of a critical game refusing to make the judgement call and instead refereing to the video ref after every tackle and every off side appeal etc no matter how bias you are, you cant get away from the fact that it would slow the game down if that were the case.
If each team were limited to 20"appeals" a season then that would make it fairer, it would mean that only a player who KNEW he was on side would make the appeal. Similarly only a player who knew he'd got the ball or knew he'd been fouled would request it. Same as egg chacing though, it should be an anonamous person in a room locked away and only the verdict should appear on the stadium screen, not the event.