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... and the community shield (or whatever they're naming it this year) is the week before the Prem starts... mufc VS Leicester isn't it?

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Where I'm going, I don't need roads

Good! I expect to see alot of players missing games this season.

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How many matches will be abandoned for lack of players before the FA chicken out of this rule?

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Sky Sports 'Sources' state Sam Alladyce is to become the England Manager inside 24 hours

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Apparently Pogba to United is done as per L'Equipe. 120m Euros. Lot of money for someone benched for Moussa Sissoko a month ago.

I do hope they stand firm on this. Perhaps they should get in a few rugby referees...

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Where I'm going, I don't need roads

Do you think it's the referees that bring discipline to Rugby or the players simply having some idea of respect towards authority?

Both. Footballers wouldn't mouth off to the referee's if the consequence was a red card.

They can use video technology from next season, so it should go well. Managers can get sent off as well, so I think they'll reign it in when Mourinho has a 5 game ban 3 games in.

Sam Alladyce officially the new England manager... & Steve Bruce in talks with Hull over leaving the job (for Sunderland?)

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On this, why does the FA not cite players, as they do in rugby, if an offence is seen by the world on video but not acted on by the referee him(her)self? I get so frustrated when I see a replay of someone, say, elbowing another but, because the referee did not take action, there is 'nothing they can do.'
To further that, why shouldn't the match officials watch a replay of the match and decide themselves whether they should have taken action on certain incidents, and pass their recommendations onto a citing committee, or some such thing? These people are human, and will not always make the correct decision on the spot. Give them the benefit of (post-match) replays, such as we viewers have.
Edited for shocking grammar

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Where I'm going, I don't need roads

Steve Bruce is out at Hull

David Moyes is in at Sunderland

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That's essentially what the new rule allows them to do. Why the rules have taken so long to be implemented is beyond me. In Serie A they've been handing out retrospective bans for diving since at least 2011 (maybe longer, I've not watched it intensely since Football Italia ended).
I think some of it might be about not questioning referees' judgement so as to not undermine their authority, but that approach hasn't made them officiate better, so it was largely a waste of time.

Manchester United, Man Cuty, Chelsea all looking strong. The Manchester Darby will be quite a ticket, I bet.

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I'd rather die than be overtaken.

Man Utd don't have the squad to challenge for the title I don't think. an injury to Pogba or Ibrahimovic and they have real issues of squad depth.

Serie A potentially making a comeback. Juventus are real strong, Inter Milan have done very well this window thanks to their new Chinese owners, and AC Milan is due to finally get a much-needed change in ownership via Chinese owners of their own (if that deal ever gets done!).

Unfortunately, Frank McCourt, former disgraced owner of my hometown Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, just bought Marseille. This guy is good at turning teams into one thing and one thing only: his own personal ATM.

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"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."
Jean-Pierre Sarti

Serie A could come back, but it needs more than team owners. Wealthy owners need to be followed by massive TV deals.

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Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. [Lord Acton]
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Yeah, but that will come with time. First, they need to attract and create star players, plus do well in European competitions. The wealthy owners will make that a little easier.

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"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."
Jean-Pierre Sarti

Very quickly, I hope. Referees are becoming far too sensitive.

You've got a bunch of amped up, competitive sportsmen charging around for an hour or two. They're going to get frustrated at decisions. Referees just throwing more cards around is just more frustration.

Why shouldn't players be allowed to vent? And managers?

And why is 'offensive language' such a big deal? Again this is the typical rulings of sheltered people who don't understand normal people. People swear, big deal. Its a word. Nobody dies.

I suppose where you work, you're used to people questioning your judgement and telling you to "f**k off you're wrong!"? That's what football referees are expected to put up with. It's completely disrespectful and it shouldn't be allowed. It doesn't happen in rugby, where not only do you respect the referee's decision but you also call him "Sir".

Let's not try and compare my US based, multinational company, HR-to-the-eyeballs, office job to high level sports. It's just a silly comparison.

In my work I don't have 50,000 fans booing me if I make a simple mistake, or need to worry about newspapers following me around, or keep getting catfished on Instagram, or get bought and sold at a moment's notice. Poor footballers.

Maybe referees should learn to man manage and not allow games to spiral out of control? Any half decent one can use their man management (& cards, where appropriate) to prevent themselves being swarmed on every foul and keep players out their faces.

I also still fail to see the difference between "utter nonsense, you're wrong" and "for f*ck sake".

While I agree it may not be right to compare mundane jobs 1:1 with high-profile jobs because the pressures are different, what doesn't change is respect. Everyone expects and deserves basic respect at their workplace, no matter what the stakes are, financial or otherwise.

The referee runs around for the same amount of time on the same pitch, having to make decisions that can sometimes decide matches and championships (and the bazillions of cash that goes with it), and is probably more frustrated than any individual player because he has to put up with the lousy antics of TWENTY TWO prima-donnas, and their managers/support staff/teammates on the touchline. I still don't see a ref screaming obscenities at a player or anyone associated with them.

Why should shouting obscenities be assumed a part of a high-performance workplace? Or do you mean to say there are no decent, respectful people in high-performance workplaces?

As for your argument about the uncertainties of a footballer's life, that's got nothing to do with being disrespectful. The quirks of the business (they willingly signed up for) are well-compensated. They get paid more money in a week than a regular Joe would make in 10/20 years, and if they don't like it, they're free to become a nondescript respectable regular Joe themselves.

Nothing to do with the profile of the job, just the energy involved in the job. Someone could be a very high level project manager where things are planned months in advance.. or someone could be running around, amped up on testosterone and bumping chests. Why shouldn't they be allowed to vent when something doesn't go their way? Why are referees beyond reproach from players and managers?

The quirks of the referee business (they willingly signed up for) are well-compensated. They get paid far, far beyond the average wage and if they don't like it they can go back to being lawyers and teachers.

Good referees are respected anyway. People who are poor at their day job generally aren't.

EDIT - btw, the footballers does come down to respect. Dumped in to 2nd strings, told you no longer have a job, told to uproot your family and live in another country because we just bought someone better than you despite teh fact you have 3 years left on your contract...

Funny, how you think swapping a few words and throwing my own argument back at me rudely somehow validates your position. Or do you think that's how football 'fans' should behave too?

They all sign up willingly for their high-pressure jobs and are compensated handsomely (I'll take your word on refs salaries, though I'm willing to bet it's not even in the same universe as a footballer's wage), but that doesn't give them the right to act like savage cavemen when frustrated. If you want players/managers to be allowed to vent, why not the refs? Why does the onus of being professional fall to them, when a bunch of amped-up brats are goading them with obscenities? You think it's justified to abuse a ref because he got a decision wrong, how about players who willingly play-act and generally act like jerks? Why do they get a free pass?

Both sides (players and officials) should be held to the same standards of acceptable behavior, and if they can't handle it, they don't belong where they are. I don't think anyone wants to see a footballing match where it's officially a verbal/physical free-for-all.

P.S. A footballer getting treated badly by his own club has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Their peeve is with the club and they're free to sort it out with them. I wonder why we don't see more instances of players openly abusing their clubs and managers when treated badly? Probably because there are REAL consequences of doing that, as against abusing a ref which usually gets them nothing more than the proverbial slap on the wrist, sometimes not even that?

If you think swapping some words around is really so rude, then maybe we should end this debate here because you're clearly going to be more sensitive than I am.

Referees aren't in the same universe but they are still very well rewards at an elite level. I don't want a verbal or physical free for all - what I believe is good refs prevent this from happening. You have guys like Mark C turning round a few seasons ago because players tried to swarm him when discussing a big issue with his assistant and simply told them to go away until he was done. Again though, a big part of this is the use of 'offensive language'. I still maintain there is a strange fascination with language rather than what is actually being said.

"Aw f*ck off ref and "C'mon ref.." both mean exactly the same thing to people of different backgrounds. Why should one be penalised and one not (if they even are)?

We don't see instances of players lashing out at clubs because its not in the heat of the moment. The players after the game very rarely lash out at the refs either.

Expecting respectful behavior is not being sensitive, it's being civil.

I guess we should stop this here, because I clearly believe in respectful behavior in a professional environment under all circumstances, while you believe abuse is justifiable based on perceived performance and people feeling the need to vent. To each his own and you're as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. I hope you can continue this genuinely interesting argument with someone a bit less 'sensitive'.

The point that seems to have been completely missed is that most of the abuse that referees and linesmen get is not because they got a decision wrong but because they got it right and a player didn't like it. Imagine if staff that you were trying to manage continually challenged every one of your actions/decisions simply based on their dislike of them, even when you're quite obviously right.

Linesmen get that mostly.... but the Ref's, the abuse is mostly down to them getting simple clear cut decisions wrong. Ref's demand respect, but they should also give the players respect by doing their job properly.

train the Refs better, give them the tech they need and you'll see the majority of the player reactions disappear.

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Training is an interesting part of it. After the infamous Di Canio shove, referees were trained to not shove a hand/card in someone's face.

I do think, overall, the English referees are an objective and forward thinking bunch who don't just demand respect and also know how to man manage. I wish we could say the same for the Scottish bunch who close ranks and lash out at any criticism, even the constructive and justified type.

the EPL refs just make the decision and if you don't like it, or it's clearly wrong.... tough. That doesn't help build respect between officials and players/teams.

I have to wonder if the FA should make the ref reports public, or at least have the officials publically state why they made certain decisions. (AKA, why Costa got away with the hack on the Keeper in the first Chelsea match of the season). make the officials accountable to the public. That way, even if you don't agree with the decision, you can see WHY they made it.

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The referee has to make an on-the-spot decision without the benefit of multiple angles (though I do think the linesman / assistants should step up more in this respect). If he / she does not clearly see an offence it cannot be given (even if the cameras show otherwise).
I do believe that reviewing the match with the benefit of other angles would be useful; perhaps this may give rise to making better use of the assistants.
In any case, it does not warrant the reaction that is has become commonplace with footballers who are paid far more than the referees and make their own mistakes during matches also.

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How about players stopped trying to con the refs every chance they get, so the refs could probably have more time and mind-space to focus on the actual incidents? Not saying it will take away any/all refereeing errors but there's just too much going on the pitch these days that has nothing to do with 'playing football'.

Easy to point the finger elsewhere, but nobody wants to admit they're part of the problem.

Then the refs need to start giving fouls and penalties where players stay on their feet and don't appeal. If the player tries to stay up then the ref will almost certainly ignore the foul.

Mark Halsey's recent comments go some way to explain why they don't make referee reports public (although the PGMOL dispute his claims).

Personally, I think the PL likes having bad/inconsistent referees, because it keeps the brand front and centre of the sports news.
Howard Webb giving you a free kick on edge of the box after you got uppercutted on the six yard line at Old Trafford kept the sport on all the back pages. Mike Dean celebrating a Spurs goal in the North London derby a few years back did the same, as did Andre Marriner sending off Kieran Gibbs for an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain handball when Chelsea beat us 6-0.

I don't disagree, I'm just saying there's far too much nonsense going on to distract the ref. A lot of players have got this down to an art so much so most people can't tell in one look if an incident is genuine. FIFA/UEFA and member nations are of course being anal about not providing technical assistance to on-field refs, because the drama brings in the $$$$. The TV folks would hate it if there were no controversies, wouldn't they?

Greed greed greed greed greed. Need I say more?

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Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. [Lord Acton]
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Follow me @asphalt_world

Given what's happened at FIFA and UEFA these past few years, I was expecting something to crop up in the domestic game. And the fact that it was the England manager who was the first exposed, makes it all the sweeter!

Clubs, managers, players, agents, third party companies - they're all at it. Nothing surprises me anymore.

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#KeepFightingMichael

How is Rondon onside for his first against Swansea tonight? His head (the part of him that he scored with) was nearer the goal than any part of any defender except for the goalkeeper.

Well then.... WELL THEN!!!!! Here comes the Champions League!

Bloody hell, don't think I've been so nervous watching a match for a long time.... CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!

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