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"People say the best referee is the one you don’t notice, but that’s not always the case," says one of the game’s most popular referee Howard Webb who now functions as the technical director of the Professional Game Match Officials Board.
He made a special appearance in the Monday Night Football studio as he was quizzed by Sky Pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville. The 43-year-old spoke about the thinking behind the referees in the Premier League while shedding light on some of the controversial decisions from the last few weeks.
Webb’s thought on simulation
When asked about how referees perceive simulation, Webb said, “There was a reduction of 30% in simulation last season from the previous season and this season has been consistent with the last so far, with seven cautions for simulation. It’s an issue the whole game has taken care of. No one wants to see an act of simulation.”
“Managers have condemned their own players when that’s been evident,” he adds. “There are occasions when the referee misses the offense, when he doesn’t see what happened, he gets fooled. There are other occasions when they choose not to caution because there’s an element of doubt about whether it was a dive.”
“You’re asking referees to accuse a player of cheating and you need an element of certainty to be able to do that. But our evaluation of our officials, which takes place on each and every game, suggests instances of a referee having to make a judgment of simulation or not have actually reduced.”
On how to discipline players in big matches
“Sometimes you have to be busy from the first minute because the game demands that,” Webb explained. “People say the best referee is the one you don’t notice, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes you have to be seen and heard for you to be in control and you have to step your involvement up.”
“Yes, sometimes the atmosphere in the stadium is more hostile and excitable than other ones and you know that’s going to affect the participants, so you need to be that calming influence in the game. The important thing is that the referee on the day is consistent through the 90 minutes.”
Webb had announced his retirement from refereeing in August after being one of the game’s top referees for 25-long-years. He has refereed over 500 Premier League matches, with him being the first referee to officiate in the finals of both the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup in the same year back in 2010.
Over the time, Webb has been targeted many a time for being a little “partial” toward Manchester United. But have they benefited the most from his decisions?
Here is an analysis of all his decision against Premier clubs as we list out the clubs who boast the best record with Webb as the match referee.
