Sky Views: English refs in the Premier League need to be shown the red card

Sky Views: English refs in the Premier League need to be shown the red card

Adam Parsons, news correspondent

The English Premier League is the best football league in the world. But it's got a problem.

The players are magnificent. The standard of tactical innovation is impressive. The supporters are often laugh-out-loud funny. The stadiums are superb, with a couple of exceptions (Selhurst Park, I'm looking at you) and, yes, the coverage is high class, across TV, radio, newspapers and online.

But then we come to the referees, and that's where the hiccups start. Because while the Premier League can claim to host some of the most thrilling players on the planet, too many of its refs are, at best, mediocre.

I have a season ticket at Watford - a Premier League club that is blessed with good players, a great team spirit, but not much in the way of stardust. There is a big six in the Premier League, where the gravitational pull of sporting glamour is focused, and Watford aren't in it.


Image: Mo Salah is among the world's best attacking players

Which is a pity, because the big teams are the fulcrum around which the league rotates. They get the most money, the longest highlights on Match Of The Day, more column inches than anyone else and, it seems to me, a lot more love from the people who referee the matches.

One example: earlier this month, having overseen Manchester City thrash Chelsea 6-0, referee Mike Dean decided the end of the game would be a good time to have a bit of fun with City's striker, Sergio Aguero, who had scored three goals.

Aguero came over to fetch the ball, only for Dean to first hide it behind his back, and then roll it up inside his shirt. Cue for a hilarious exchange, and a hearty high five at the end of it. Aguero wandered off with the ball, Dean stood there, looking an awestruck fan.

Image: Sergio Aguero netted a hat-trick against Chelsea and enjoyed a little game with Mike Dean at full-time

Mike Dean is a highly experienced referee and this was no doubt an unfair impression; but the perception lingers that his colleagues don't behave like that with Watford players, or with those from Southampton, Leicester City or any of the other Premier League teams.

And however much they might claim that they treat all teams the same, any regular football fan knows that isn't always true.

Image: Mike Dean is one of the most experienced referees in the Premier League

It's not that referees are actively biased. I don't think any of them turn up planning to favour one side over the other.

It's just that, too often, I see officials who are affected by the occasion and by an expectation of what lies in front of them.

Here's an example.

Image: Teams like Watford don't always get the rub of the green from referees

Liverpool have three players in attack who are remarkably quick and skilful, and their team plays to this strength.

Liverpool's plan is to defend resolutely when they have to, win back the ball and then get it to their attackers as swiftly as possible. It's exhilarating, and it creates headaches for defenders and referees, all of whom are bound to be slower than Mo Salah.

In order to mitigate the problem, some officials now lurk back a little when the other team is attacking, so they won't get caught out by Liverpool's players streaming forward. So they sacrifice having a good view of, for instance, a Watford attack in order to be in a good position for the moment when Liverpool stream forward.

You can see the problem, can't you? If you prepare for the backwash, you don't really deal with the wave. Watford missed out on a blatant penalty against Liverpool because the referee was out of position. The same official was perfectly positioned when Salah et al scored.

Referees need respect. At the moment, they don't get it, because sometimes they don't deserve it.

Why does this happen?

Mostly, I'd argue because referees don't seem to be as fit as the players then control, but also - I would suggest - because they're nervous of being castigated for getting a decision wrong that might then be all over the news.

Deny Watford a goal wrongly, and it's awkward.

Deny Liverpool a goal, and you could change the whole course of the Premier League title.

Image: Referees on the continent handle some of the biggest games in world football

It is, perhaps, human nature, which is why we need the support of video referees, due to belatedly join the Premier League next year. That should cut back on some of the most egregious mistakes, but not all of them.

The fact remains that some of our referees lack dynamism, control and leadership. They get tricked by dives or intimidated by fame.

So perhaps we need something even more radical - referees from other countries.

The Premier League has the world's best players, so why not try to get the world's best referees? There are foreign officials out there who have comfortably coped with the pressure of the World Cup or the Champions League. They understand the rules of the games as well as any Englishman.

Image: Premier League referees will be able to consult VAR from next season

People routinely say there is something special about the way you control English football, that it needs someone born and brought up in the culture of English football.

Poppycock. The rules are the rules. Our teams are dominated by foreign players and Premier League teams have often played each other in European competition with foreign referees in charge. And that has always seemed to go well.

Our football league is a league of nations now, yet we insist on running it with Englishmen.

So, yes a time for change. Let's still develop and invest in the best homegrown officials, train them and promote them.

But let's also open our eyes and arms to the best talent. Referees need respect. At the moment, they don't get it, because sometimes they don't deserve it.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Deborah Haynes - Government silence over ex-British soldier locked up in Dubai. But why?