Nevin is one of those rare pundits that seems to just love watching a game of football. Like McCoist. They’re all about the joy of the game rather than moaning about everything. I’m all for that. I used to enjoy his weekly chat on Off The Ball on Newstalk before they went behind a paywall.

Ridiculous. Obviously ex-players are always lobbying for this but they surely they need specialists whether ex-players or not.

High performing clubs hire analysts with PhDs or similar to perform highly specialised roles. Why have a different standard for video refereeing? Get a nerd who can master and improve the tech’s capabilities, knows the laws of the game inside out and can proactively be good at the job as their chosen profession. Rather than relying on people who rose through the refereeing ranks or playing ranks.

“And he used a machete too, Roy?”

“Ah yeah, but the lad’s gone down easy, it’s not a clean cut and there’s still some ligament holding the knee on, it’s soft.”

Mad that this sub seems to be a place of sanity on this. Watching the match I didn’t think for a second it wasn’t a foul. But the more I read the more journos and pundits keep saying it wasn’t? Just read Jamie Jackson in the Guardian and he doesn’t even seem to comprehend why the goal was disallowed. Doesn’t even mention that the keeper’s arms were being grabbed before and during the cross?!?

Am I going totally crazy, but hasn’t that always been a foul? At least in the past few decades? I’m pretty sure in the 1800s it would have been a main tactic, but imagine it was fine still? Surely then every team would just have two players grabbing an arm a piece on every cross if it’s legitimate. They don’t because it isn’t. You can’t grab a keeper’s arms, I mean that’s just fucking basic shit, surely? Am I missing something?

Lordy, I hope that they have the wrong number for him or something.