Clattenburg To Saudi

[Gromit]

The Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has quit his job in England to take up a new position in Saudi Arabia, it has been announced.

I won't miss him.

[chelle7272]

That is good news :)

[yogi-bear]

Hi Gromit

No, won't him either .....plenty of quality referees in the Premiership.

Looks as if he is replacing Howard Webb, who resigned 11 days ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38993655

[yogi-bear]

^miss

I just got in from working, and need a coffee fix :-)

[angie55]

Not sure it is that good news or that there are plenty of good referees in the Premier League. I'm not his biggest fan (think that is the reflection he gets when he looks in the mirror), but this is giving the refereeing profession a bad image at a time when it is more and more difficult to attract referees at the grass roots level.

[Berniecuddles2]

if he could take some of the inconsistent refs with him too!!

[Togo]

Just proving what most of us have always suspected. A referee can be bought.

[Bazile]

You football fans are always complaining about bad refereeing .

Answer = get video review facilities as in common place in nearly all other sports

[Dee-M-See]

Man United will certainly miss him and Howard Webb

[Berniecuddles2]

^^yawn^^

[Togo]

Baz I have been advocating just such for years. RU manages it brilliantly with much more difficult action to review. I have always suspected that FIFA, in particular, are against it because it cuts off one of their so loved "avenues of influence". i.e. It makes it harder to fix results.

[chelle7272]

Agree Bazile, and I think Togo is spot on with the reason it is not already in place.

[angie55]

Surely the difficulty in having video reviews in football is the more fluid nature of the sport? In cricket, the action effectively stops after each ball, so a video review is easy. In rugby union, it's not quite as clear cut, but the ref does use video replays to review certain incidents but the play has stopped. In football the play could conceivably continue for several/many minutes without the ball going out of play or a foul being committed.

[Arksided]

He always went out out way to prove to the opposition that although he supports United he's not bias by most letting decisions go their way. Poor decisions are often made by refs and he's finally made a good one in my eyes... good riddance.