canarydan23 4,060 Posted March 16, 2015 This utterly useless, arrogant, incompetent specimen has probably cost us more points than any other individual in football.In 2007, suspiciously also against Derby, his appalling performance gifted Derby the victory. It is probably the worst refereeing performance I can recall. And that includes Andy D''Urso''s joke appearances at Carrow Road, Chris Foy''s circus versus Sunderland in 2013 as well as Eddie Ilderton in League One v Tranmere.He is also the referee that in 2005 allowed Southampton to retake a missed penalty BECAUSE A SOUTHAMPTON PLAYER ENCROACHED INTO THE AREA.December 2012, he officiated Norwich v Wigan. We won, but it was in spite of another typical Lee Probert performance; he was atrocious and wandered around the pitch with his smug, arrogant smile on his face.He gifted Man Utd a penalty at Carrow Road last year. Whilst we lost the game 4-0, the penalty was late in the first half and was Man Utd''s first goal. Perhaps clutching at straws a bit, but had a competent person been in charge and the penalty was refused, who knows what could have happened for the rest of the game, and season.Add last weekend''s joke of a performance and you''ve got something of credible conspiracy theory. Probert is a binner.Still, we ask for consistency in our referee''s and on that front Probert excels. He is easily the most consistent referee I have ever seen. It''s just a shame he is consistently appalling.The FA have got a handle on it though, right? Nope. This joker was given the FA Cup Final last year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,655 Posted March 16, 2015 My heart sank when I saw that Probert was the ref on Saturday as I''m certainly no fan of his and I too remember that game in ''07 when he basically allowed Billy Davies and Derby defendeer Darren Moore to referee the game.However I didnt think he was "that" bad on Saturday, he didnt get any really big or controversial decisions wrong. I''m torn between whether the worst refs I''ve seen this season are ones who are down from the Premier League for the day or the "up and coming ones". Thhat young lad who refereed the Wigan is the low tide mark that I''ve seen this season ...and if that''s the style that they are being taught to manage games then we may aswell knock the game on the head over the next few years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Syteanric 1 Posted March 16, 2015 [quote user="canarydan23"]This utterly useless, arrogant, incompetent specimen has probably cost us more points than any other individual in football.In 2007, suspiciously also against Derby, his appalling performance gifted Derby the victory. It is probably the worst refereeing performance I can recall. And that includes Andy D''Urso''s joke appearances at Carrow Road, Chris Foy''s circus versus Sunderland in 2013 as well as Eddie Ilderton in League One v Tranmere.He is also the referee that in 2005 allowed Southampton to retake a missed penalty BECAUSE A SOUTHAMPTON PLAYER ENCROACHED INTO THE AREA..[/quote]I remember this... under the laws of the game he should have booked the player but the kick needs not be retaken.http://www.wfms.org/Other/Football/FIFA/law14.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ellis206 0 Posted March 16, 2015 Actually thought he was one of the best refs I''ve seen in a while. Allowed the game to flow well and didn''t really get any big decisions wrong for me, possible foul on Ruddy but it was impossible to see even on all the replays. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Smith 2,290 Posted March 16, 2015 Obvuously got the decision wrong for their goal which i would say was a "big" decision given it cost us two points.I also thought Martin could have got a second yellow when he kicked their player in the head and Martin himself was the victim of a studs in the chest tackle that i thought could possibly have been a red.I think for me what frustrating about Probert is that he''s inconsistent even within the same match. He started off letting a lot of fouls and tackles go but then by the end was blowing up for anything and everything. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Highland Canary 76 Posted March 16, 2015 Thought he had a better game than most we''ve seen this season Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul Spector 0 Posted March 16, 2015 Certainly not the worst we''ve had this season.Thought I do agree with the comments about the inconsistency within the game. Let a lot go in the first half, but giving fouls for similar challenges as the game went on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lake district canary 4,518 Posted March 16, 2015 Between himself and the linesmen, probably got the two big decisions wrong. Should have sent Martin off for his dangerous tackle for which he should have got at least a second yellow - and should have disallowed their goal. On both those he may have been unsighted - but then that is what so called "assistant referees" are supposed to be for.................... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Branston Pickle 3,598 Posted March 16, 2015 No LDC, he set a precedent in the first half by not booking their guy in a similar position - to have given RM a second yellow would have been incompatible with that so in this instance it was fair enough: the players should be able to rely on the consistency of a ref. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crabbycanary3 994 Posted March 16, 2015 "Wasn''t the worst". I thought he was supposed to be about as good as we are ever going to get this season.................Also, between them LDC, they didn''t see the pull back of Jerome towards the end of the game. We all thought it was a nailed on penalty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0 Posted March 16, 2015 I am of the opinion that there are very few if any good referees left. Much of the blame lies with the FA and the head of the referees. They want referees to be one of the boys and call players by their first name or nick name.A referee should be an independent official standing apart from any club representative but they get abuse from players and mangers alike (Mackay asking for Norwich players to be booked whilst his players feigned injury during the Wigan game). Had the FA stood up against mouthy players and managers perhaps we wouldn''t be having these problems.Look at Rugby referees they call a player by his No or position not placing themselves where they have to judge between mates.The admission by Halsey (whilst he was refereeing that he phoned Ferguson beggars belief.The sight of a referee with his arm around a player or a player with his arm around a referee should be stamped out immediately but no lets make the referee one of the boys.It would be nice to see referees that make mistakes taken out of the game for a period instead we see Mariner (last season) send off the wrong player and get rewarded with a cup semi final. Many high profile mistakes have been made recently with little redress.Lets have a few more Collina''s you wouldn''t argue with him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ray 111 Posted March 16, 2015 Whatever you think of him, he did us a favour by taking a lenient view of what should of and could of been a second yellow for Russ Martin! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
city4eva 202 Posted March 16, 2015 [quote user="Ray"]Whatever you think of him, he did us a favour by taking a lenient view of what should of and could of been a second yellow for Russ Martin![/quote]seeing as russel martin is a liability most games, i was hoping he would be sent off as he should have been Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crabbycanary3 994 Posted March 16, 2015 quote user="Ray"]Whatever you think of him, he did us a favour by taking a lenient view of what should of and could of been a second yellow for Russ Martin![/quoteA favour, yes, but that doesn''t make him a ''good'' ref in the eyes of the rest of the footballing world, only Norwich fans. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GJP 79 Posted March 16, 2015 I''m pretty sure Ray is aware of that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crabbycanary3 994 Posted March 16, 2015 GJP - what I was getting at, was that we all want good Refs. Refs that make mistakes against any side, isn''t a good thing. But I''m sure you are aware of that Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Feedthewolf 4,789 Posted March 16, 2015 [quote user="GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary"]My heart sank when I saw that Probert was the ref on Saturday as I''m certainly no fan of his and I too remember that game in ''07 when he basically allowed Billy Davies and Derby defendeer Darren Moore to referee the game.However I didnt think he was "that" bad on Saturday, he didnt get any really big or controversial decisions wrong. I''m torn between whether the worst refs I''ve seen this season are ones who are down from the Premier League for the day or the "up and coming ones". Thhat young lad who refereed the Wigan is the low tide mark that I''ve seen this season ...and if that''s the style that they are being taught to manage games then we may aswell knock the game on the head over the next few years.[/quote]Agree that the Wigan ref was the worst we''ve seen, he was pathetically weak. However, Michael Oliver looked way out of his depth for a couple of years and now you''d be hard pushed to find a better referee in the country.As for Probert, I think he''s a poor referee who isn''t good enough for the top flight, but in honesty he had a decent enough game on Saturday. In general the standard of refereeing has gone downhill in the last decade, and I agree with other posters on this thread that referees should be more authoritative and less friendly. People like David Elleray (a schoolmaster at Harrow, I believe) acted like they owned the place, and players knew they''d get little or no leeway and acted accordingly. Referees need to be given the freedom to clamp down on backchat and gamesmanship, and the players will soon learn that if they try to take liberties they''ll be back in the dressing room with an angry manager and team-mates to explain themselves to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ray 111 Posted March 16, 2015 Crabby,Probably doesn''t make him a good ref in the eyes of many Norwich fans either, I wasn''t suggesting it did but he did us a favour though, irrespective of what city4eva thinks of RM. Which is obviously contrary to what, Lambert, Hughton, Adams, Phelan, Neil and Strachan think of him. Can''t please all the people all the time I guess. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites