Martinez lodges complaints about match officials

, 18 January, 34comments  |  Jump to most recent
Manager contacts PGMO chief, Mike Riley

Roberto Martinez has contacted Mike Riley, head of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, to make an official complaint regarding "six or seven" decisions which he believes have negatively affected Everton's season.

The Catalan has been irked especially by decisions in the recent away matches at Manchester City, Newcastle United and West Ham.

Martinez lodged a complaint about the performance of Referee Andre Marriner in Everton's 1-0 defeat the Etihad Stadium last month where Eliaquim Mangala escaped a red card for a dangerous tackle on Samuel Eto'o, Ross Barkley was unfairly booked for "diving" and Phil Jagielka was penalised for a soft challenge on James Milner that led to the winning goal from the penalty spot.

Meanwhile, Kevin Mirallas was denied a penalty by Neil Swarbrick at Upton Park in the Blues' ill-fated FA Cup replay last Tuesday, with match official only awarding a free-kick outside the area for an infringement that was clearly inside the box.

"I have contacted Mike Riley about it," Martinez said. "They accept there's been an honest error made, but there have been too many now. I always feel the referees are part of the game and the error of the referee makes the game what it is.

"That's part of the debate for fans, but it's tough to take when you've got six or seven big calls which didn't go your way and could have been so different and the scorelines could have changed.

Article continues below video content


"I'm a bit romantic on that and I still believe over the course of the season, they are going to level up. So watch this space for the next six games!"

Quotes sourced from Daily Express



Reader Comments (34)

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Colin Glassar
1 Posted 18/01/2015 at 23:58:51
Refereeing standards have deteriorated to such a degree this season that I think Sunday league refs should be shipped in to solve this. They can't be any worse than Marriner, Mason, Atkinson and co.
James Flynn
2 Posted 19/01/2015 at 00:20:32
Good stuff, Roberto.
Joe Clitherow
3 Posted 19/01/2015 at 00:43:09
One thing he has got spot on. Well done for this.
Ernie Baywood
4 Posted 19/01/2015 at 01:29:53
No doubt in my mind that the Mirallas call at West Ham was no mistake. It was an official who didn't want to give a penalty.

Personally I didn't think it was a foul. But if you call foul then you give a penalty ~ you don't get to make up new rules because you're shit scared of dealing with it properly.

Mistakes I can handle but cowardice and favoritism I can't. There's been a bit of everything for us this season. About the biggest impact we've made in games has been getting referees demoted.

Peter Barry
5 Posted 19/01/2015 at 01:33:52
Many are tempted to say 'what goes around comes around' regarding bad refereeing. However, the preponderance of 'bad' decisions that the 'Sky 4' always seem to get in 'their' favour makes that statement seem very dubious.
Tim Greeley
6 Posted 19/01/2015 at 01:57:33
Cool. Showing some fight himself.

Doesn't change some awful of the awful displays, but we'd all feel better with the 2-5 or so extra points some of these calls have cost us. Didn't even bring up the fuckin' disgraceful Stoke dive which I thought was maybe the worst of them all.

Ian Jones
7 Posted 19/01/2015 at 06:35:32
To add balance, Roberto perhaps should include the decision to give a free-kick against John Stones in the replay recently for hand ball or Alcaraz for hand ball earlier in the season.
Phil Sammon
8 Posted 19/01/2015 at 07:07:18
Two ways to look at it. Roberto is either looking to apportion blame anywhere other than his own doorstep. Or he is leaning on referees like so many successful managers have done before him. Personally, I'm just pleased to see him complaining for a change. It's about time he showed he has a little aggression and fight in him.
Matt Traynor
9 Posted 19/01/2015 at 07:15:31
As a club, for years we've always been shafted by officials, and done bugger all about it. I recall Moyes losing his rag after the Clattenburg Derby Debacle, and immediately being slapped with an FA charge. Then, mysteriously, this charge was quietly dropped.

Esteban Fuertes (Derby), scored his only goal, a winner, against us. Kicked out for having a dodgy Spanish passport. Any team with any aim of being at the top would have demanded the 3 points awarded to them, or at the very least a replay. We just dropped our kecks as usual.

These things don't even themselves out over the course of a season, as Peter Barry #5 alludes to. Also it is not about the decisions we benefit from Ian Jones #7 – that is for the other teams to bitch about. The fact is we've had a string of these bad decisions go against us, and our "leader" on the pitch is like a Trappist Monk.

None of this detracts, as correctly pointed out by many, that we've been utter shite for most of this season. But it's nice to finally see someone at the club pointing it out. Even Mark Halsey, who I always thought was a decent referee, has called for the ineffective Riley to be replaced by Howard Webb... (hmmm!)

Ernie Baywood
10 Posted 19/01/2015 at 08:24:36
Ian Jones #7. Refs will make mistakes and the Stones handball (I thought it was harsh anyway) would have been nearly impossible to call. I can write that off as an error.

The Mirallas incident was different. He had a perfect view and it was well inside the box and he chose to call it as outside the box to avoid disagreeing with his assistant.

Colin Glassar
11 Posted 19/01/2015 at 09:10:29
Until all 20 managers/clubs get together and demand a complete revision of refereeing standards and the introduction of technology to allow the 4th official to have the final say, then we'll continue to see these morons ruin games with poor decision-making. A case in point being the offside decision against Spurs on Saturday. All four officials should be demoted to League 2 for that.
Iain Love
12 Posted 19/01/2015 at 09:02:11
I really can't understand why the 4th official can't have an active role, all of the incidents above could have been dealt with with his or her intervention.

It would also stop players fouling when they thought the ref wasn't looking.

Brian Hennessy
13 Posted 19/01/2015 at 09:20:18
Colin, that Spurs "offside" was one of the craziest desisions I have seen in ages. Thankfully it didn't affect the outcome of the game, unlike the Mirallas penalty not given against West Ham.

The Stones "handball" should never have been given, he was far too close to get his body out of the way.

Chris Gould
14 Posted 19/01/2015 at 09:17:27
This is one of the first things Martinez has got right this season. He and our captain make it too easy for officials to shaft us because they don't complain. The irony is that the way they behave is how I'd like all managers and captains to behave, but until everyone else is forced to fall into line, I'm afraid it just makes us easy targets.

Rugby Union has it spot on. Refs explain decisions for all to hear and if they get any backchat the offender gets punished immediately. Not sure why football doesn't follow suit.

If refs had more protection and were afforded more respect then they may perform to a higher standard instead of being shit scared to make tough decisions, especially against the top teams.

Chris Gould
15 Posted 19/01/2015 at 09:30:43
And as rightly pointed out, if the 4th official was given a few seconds to watch a replay, then we wouldn't have any of these problems at all. The only problem would be at what point the ref stopped play to have the video watched, and how play would then be resumed.
Ray Roche
16 Posted 19/01/2015 at 09:30:46
Like most fans, I can accept a genuine mistake, one made in the heat of a fast flowing game. However, the FA have the tools within their grasp to eradicate such mistakes. They have TV replays which a fourth official can view in as much time as it takes for a referee to call back the play when he, for instance, allows the advantage rule but then decides that there IS no advantage so stops the game.

Everyone makes mistakes. Refs, players, all of us. We could forgive a referee for making a genuine mistake if the fourth official could be allowed to correct it. But I think the FA have a problem with admitting that their officials make mistakes.

It's no good to us that Papa Cisse got a three-match ban for an elbow in OUR game that leads to a ban from him playing against our rivals.

James Marshall
17 Posted 19/01/2015 at 09:49:58
Exert some pressure, make a noise. Good on him. It's about time he showed some fucking balls.
Bruce Moxham
18 Posted 19/01/2015 at 10:12:42
I find this embarrassing. Roberto sounds more like Arsene Wenger the longer times goes on: refs are against us, injuries, teams don't want to play proper football against us... blah blah blah.

Take some responsibility for the shit we're in.

Paul Smith
19 Posted 19/01/2015 at 10:24:20
Colin, I think when decisions are that bad refs should serve a 1- to 3-game ban depending on severity of mistake. Then when they come back, they start in lower leagues for a bit and promote the best refs from The Championship. This would hopefully stop the bias to top teams for fear of being demoted.
Ernie Baywood
21 Posted 19/01/2015 at 11:03:05
Paul I don't agree entirely. If you want honest decisions out of refs then you don't threaten them with demotion. It's probably the worst thing you can do. You end up with a situation where refs are shit scared of being tried by the media and subsequently demoted... That happens when they make a mistake that harms a 'big' club and it becomes big news.

If you harm a club that doesn't attract that attention and doesn't make that sort of noise... well that's an easier way out. Our lovable neighbours even got a public apology from a ref – nice clear message that if you make a bad decision that harms them then you're professionally screwed.

The answer for me is to bring in video evidence to HELP referees. FIFA seems to think it will undermine referees but how good would it be to see a ref say "I didn't see that too well, off to the video"? Instead of referees claiming to have seen everything (who could see everything on a pitch?).

Nigel Gregson
22 Posted 19/01/2015 at 11:05:47
Definitely the right thing, but too late. The refs don't give an inch to 'nice' teams, but will bend over backwards for odious sorts like Keane, Mourinho etc. He should make this noise during and around games.
Brent Stephens
23 Posted 19/01/2015 at 11:15:03
Ernie #21 - excellent point about punishment versus support.

Ray #16 "However, the FA have the tools within their grasp to eradicate such mistakes." It's the "tools" we're worried about, Ray! No more, please!

James Stewart
24 Posted 19/01/2015 at 11:58:07
Nothing is going to improve refereeing-wise until technology is introduced. I don't understand why it isn't already. All other sports use it. Referees have been atrocious this season and not just against us but it is an impossible job at present.

There should be a 4th official watching the video monitor who can be called on when there is a big call to make. The delay would be minimal.

Paul Burns
25 Posted 19/01/2015 at 13:11:22
DonÂ’t know where that hogwash came from about things evening themselves up by the end of the season. The whole premise of there being a higher entity going over incidents on a telly is frankly ridiculous and they obviously do not even out.

WeÂ’ve got to be more proactive in putting pressure on referees, sad but essential, otherwise weÂ’ll continue to be on the sharp end of the diabolical decisions we find ourselves on the end of, season after season.

Paul Dark
26 Posted 19/01/2015 at 13:35:26
Football is corrupt to the core in this country.
Anto Byrne
27 Posted 19/01/2015 at 13:41:22
I had to laugh when Spurs had their third goal ruled out for offside. Replays clearly see the player in his own half take the ball and run forward netting into an empty goal as Sunderland had pushed every man and his dog up forward. So it's not just Everton on the receiving end of poor decisions.

They say decisions even out over the season, Man City had a soft penalty given to Arsenal so that evens up the soft one they got from us. I also notice that Redshite penalty count is down compared to last season perhaps 20 free shots at goal is a tad high? As ever we hardly get them unless stonewalled directly in front and just about to score.

Until they bring in a third umpire to look at contentious decisions on video, then nothing will change. But this is the only way to bring back some honesty into the game. It's now an openly tactical ploy to get the opposing player booked by playacting.

Modern players would not have a clue if they had to play the likes of a 1972 Leeds Utd team, even Arsenal used to put it about back then. It was a tough hard game played by men, now it's played by a bunch of ponces. Makes me sick watching the shit.

Tim Greeley
28 Posted 19/01/2015 at 14:17:36
Not that I'd ever take Newcastle's side in anything but what about that handball on Saturday!?? The Southampton defender did everything but catch the ball but no call!?!?

I think Soton is getting some media darling calls.... also if it had been Man Utd or RS who took the shot, the defender would have been red carded, suspended, excommunicated and then deported.

Dominic Pitt
29 Posted 19/01/2015 at 14:55:50
The only time I can remember a ref being got at by a Toffees manager was the "Mike Riley is a Man Utd fan," statement by David Moyes, pre FA Cup semi-final nearly 6 years ago.
Kunal Desai
30 Posted 19/01/2015 at 15:07:24
If I could choose one referee which should either lose his job or be demoted to the Championship, it is Lee Mason. This clown is of the highest order and it's obvious every time he referees our matches that there is intent from him to give us absolutely nothing at Goodison. I've never witnessed such bias on more than one occasion from any other ref than this idiot does.
Ian McDowell
31 Posted 19/01/2015 at 18:10:16
Domininc I remember that because United should have possibly been awarded a penalty for a foul by Jags if I recall. If Moyes hadn't of said who knows if it would have been given.
Steve Brown
32 Posted 19/01/2015 at 18:16:56
Great, about time we started standing up for ourselves. When we were successful in the eighties, we played great football. But we could mix it on and off the pitch as well.

I think we have become everyone's pushover, especially with opposing teams who take a physical approach to win over us. Plus refs who know our players wont be in their face on the pitch or the manager off it if they a) disallow a clear penalty appeal b) allow persistent fouling c) bottle a penalty decision. I am not saying we have not had the rub of the green on a couple of occasions, but we have a lot more in the debit column this season and in previous years.

John Pickles
33 Posted 20/01/2015 at 11:46:42
I wonder if Mike Riley will counter with an official complaint regarding "sixty or seventy" decisions which he believes Roberto has made which have negatively affected Everton's season.
Norman Merrill
34 Posted 20/01/2015 at 15:07:07
My memories of Mike Riley, when he was the man in the middle , really sums up the situation?
The Blind leading the Blind
Andy Meighan
35 Posted 20/01/2015 at 15:55:53
WeÂ’ve had dodgy decisions gone for us this season, NaismithÂ’s goal against Arsenal being one. He wants to stop feeling sorry for himself and get us out of this mess were in. Unfortunately, heÂ’s not the man to do it.

The clown should have come out and castigated Mirallas for that farce against WBA... but no, he apparently came on Sky and said "Well, Kevin’s been in good form..." – What? One game against West Ham???

The man knocks me ill with his fucking inane comments and I personally canÂ’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.


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