Lemme guess… Owen, Carragher and Neville?
For fuck sake
Was gonna joke about how his mate Michael Owen has probably already secured himself the job but he might not be a bad shout to be fair, can’t be biased if none of his many ex clubs claim him as one of theirs
If they are ex-players that have no association or played for any English club, then I don’t see why not. Can’t be worse than what’s happening now.
No bad ideas in a brainstorm but usually you don’t run with the first idea from a brainstorm.
We really need an Amazon Prime All or Nothing series dedicated to the PGMOL, just so we can really get in close as we watch Howard Webb David Brent-ing his way through life.
Christ, yea lets make sure to bring in people who have long and deeply ingrained biases, that’ll improve things.
Create accessible training for future referees, have it pay very well, have exclusivity clause (if that’s legal) and hold them accountable.
Say 40k for every PL game. If you perform poorly you lose your spot and go down. Now you get 30k per game. Perform well you can be promoted.
Omg, Zlatan please
I like it.
It’d have to be lower league players in order to meet their wage demands, and to remove suggestions of bias.
Special guest refs would be a good idea.
Sure this process will not be biased at all just like those so called independent panels we keep hearing about.
Good luck finding footballers suited to this job
I’d imagine likes of Owen and Neville being “considered” for it, after all it’s all about being mates with Webb. Surely even United fans like yourself know how stupid that idea is. Same goes for any other ex player, specially who’s not bright enough to be a manager/coach/director by now.
Just bring a truly independent panel that’s not picked by PGMOL itself, like their current one and make them both accountable under FA. It’s not that complicated.
Go for a broad selection of ex players of different positions and managers, ideally those who have not played/worked together, who also have no current professional affiliations with clubs. Along with ideally past evidence of having the ability to be objective when assessing a situation. Its rare but you will see players acknowledging controversial calls that go against them as correct, i feel this is a pretty valid proof of some form of integrity towards the game and would be able to add to the conversation about rules.
Right now we have many pundits [normally ex-players] with varying opinions on the rules, but there are some rules that they do all agree on as being bad for the game. These are new rules that haven’t always existed in football that were created by people who don’t have the same experience of the game as players who have played at the top level. I think getting them in to help with var is not the best decision right now as they have different opinions of the current rules. Maybe it would be smarter to have them as consultants for when Howard Webb and co want to set the rules for the new season. Once the rules are set you cant argue bias as everyone is playing off the same rules. Maybe after doing this have the players also consulting with var as a separate entity, to help create a interesting dynamic for the “separation of power” as mentioned in a comment below, something else i think could help with avoiding errors
I actually think that having a former pro on the VAR team is a worthwhile idea, but it does present its own issues.
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Bias may be harder to account for.
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What ex-pro is going to want that job? It would have to be an ex-player who played low down in the league system and even then, I doubt many would like the job.
Players that spent their whole careers in Scotland could be the answer to both of those.
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I don’t understand how professional playing experience will help.
Being a referee is pretty objective. There are rules and you make judgements based on those rules.
Being an ex-player doesn’t mean you’ll make a better decision than normal people.
I can’t see any top players going for this. You get a shit ton of abuse and the pay isn’t worth it if you’re rich. Maybe some league 1/2 guys.
As long as said player doesn’t have an ambassador role for X club.