At the start of the season Webb said this. Refs booked a few players (very selectively) for waving “imaginary cards” but it was wildly inconsistent, even in the same match. Then they seemed to stop.
Like most things with Webb, he’s saying things for publicity but nothing will actually change.
And so they should.
Yeah because THIS is the problem
Seems like an unfair attack on Italian players.
There should be a blue card for when the refs make a bad calls. It would be used extensively but…
It’ll be the same as anything, they’ll do it to players they don’t like in an instant but if it’s a player they’re matey with they’ll let them do what they want.
I don’t get the anger around waving imaginary cards. Such a minor issue. Is it so different from saying “that’s got to be a yellow ref”?
Seems a bit hypocritical.
The fact that they couldn’t achieve consistency on this from the beginning of the season tells you all you need to know about the quality of officiating in the PL.
I remember about ten years ago when they actually introduced the the rule. Enforced it for a week or two then and then the same again this year.
Do anything but punish the refs when they make a mistake
Referees and their lickspittles like Dermot Gallagher in the media have sometimes talked about “oh well I thought about blowing for a penalty but the opposition’s lack of protests made me think to play on”
Yet here we have Webb (one of the shittest/easiest influenced referees in the PL era I might add) asking players NOT to protest or ask for decisions. You have players getting booked instantly for waving cards yet season ending horror tackles being waved on and good goals being disallowed. And of course sometimes they randomly ignore the wave card rule and let some players off with it
It all comes back to English refs being fucking useless, not one of them is UEFA or FIFA standard, sack them all and import good refs from abroad to match the levels the PL aspires to in terms of stadiums, players, managers etc. Can’t have the Greatest League In The World if these tossers are deciding matches and indeed titles due to blunders of officiating. What other professional body needs to write apology letters to affected clients(clubs in this case) every week due to their malpractice? Why are these wankers still here?
Howard Webb is a clown trying to herd a litter of clowns.
I would like to compel Howard Webb to fuck off
I think they need to implement a card or flag system for the managers in the style that NFL coaches get here in the states. Each half they get to challenge one call they disagree with. But, if the ref’s call stands, there would be some punishment for the challenging team (maybe a yellow for the manager and the possibility of being sent off if they lose both challenges). If the ref reverses their call, advantage gets played to the team who challenged the call (offside call gets reversed, yellow/red card challenge gets overturned, penalty given, etc).
I think penalizing players who “wave an imaginary card” is definitely something that needs consistent enforcement, as others have already mentioned. But, that goes along with all the officiating. Consistency is the request from fans.
Howard Webb compels referees to wave cards at imaginary fouls.