The core essence of Duff and Phelps protests at the SFA judicial panel punishment handed out this week, as they state, is that: “in our opinion do the panel fail to have properly apportioned culpability between the Club and Craig Whyte”.
Yesterday we found out the truth about how Duff and Phelps really think about apportioning culpability between a company and a director.
The Lawyer magazine yesterday reported:
“The administrators are suing Collyer Bristow and Whyte’s takeover vehicle the Rangers FC Group for at least £25m in damages. The firm is accused of conspiracy, breach of undertaking, negligence and breach of trust, with Withey – who acted as the club’s company secretary – complicit in the allegations.”
The Lawyer goes on to say that Mark Phillips, QC, acting on behalf of Duff and Phelps, “told the court that there was no evidence anyone else at Collyer Bristow was involved, but that as Withey had authority to act for the firm, it was liable for the losses flowing from his “conspiracy”.
Get this clear; in the opinion of Duff and Phelps QC, as Withey had authority to act for Collyer Bristow, Collyer Bristow was liable.
Craig Whyte acted on behalf of Rangers after 6 May last year just as the old board acted on behalf of the club before then. These people are using one argument to chase an enormous £25m but using the counter argument to subvert an SFA judicial panel.
The rules of the SFA are clear, Rangers are ‘liable’ for the actions of their directors, as anyone using this argument to pursue £25m should be well aware. These people are shameless.
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jude
no correction required
spot on
Kayal back for revenge!!
Would rather see him rip his head off….
Awe Naw 1314
There was definitley a mention a few days back about either Thomson, or a (Stirling?) based company he works for being due monies…
For the avoidance of doubt, I hope for whatever family reasons Craig Thomson has to miss the game, they come to a healthy conclusion and are taken care of.
HH
THG would return in goal, and would spend the entire 90 mins blessing himself, having replaced the goal nets with a triptych of Pope John Paul 2 ,King John III Sibieski, and the Black Madonna of Chechestowa.
Elbows?
to quote a famous MP
“Our Revenge Will be the laughter of our Children”
especially when we relay the events of days and weeks gone by.
Was McCulloch loaned out to Gdansk on the fly at the weekend?
FES FM for whom Craig Thomson works are owed Stirling £80,874.93 by the hun
Hail Hail
In the final minute, with the scoreline Celtic 9 Hillbillies 0 [ Larsson [6], Sutton, Hartson, Mcculloch og] Neil Lennon himself would come on to take the penalty to give a final score of 10-0, a new SPL record.
A recap
A K Ray, Ross Hall Hospital, Glasgow £150
ADI UK, Preston £7620
AS St Etienne, France £252,212.39
ASL, East Sussex £2514
Acies Group, Edinburgh £2340
Adrian Coll, Balloch £1600
Alan Duncan, Glasgow £1400
Alexander West Property, Glasgow £2807
Alison Walker TV, Bearsden £600
Alliance Video, Surrey £204
Aon Limited, London £14,151
Arena Imaging, Derby £336
Argyll and Bute Council £406.80
Arsenal Football Club £136,560
Astra Hygiene Supplies, Dumbarton £61.27
Audi Stirling £396.05
Azure Support Services, Macclesfield £523,949.71
Azzurri Scotland, Burnley £34.63
BTWShiells, Belfast £2917.39
Barr Environmental Limited, Cummnock £264
Base Soccer Agency, London £52,560
Bauer Radio Ltd (Radio Clyde) £702
Beyard Services, Beith £5559.60
Bhutta’s Newsagents, Glasgow £567.45
Big Think Agency, Glasgow £14,265.60
Blooms UK Limited, Glasgow £70
Brabners, Manchester £12,999
Brentwood Estates, Manchester £42,963.06
Brian Proudfoot, Glasgow £2,802
British Gas £1,562.42
BT £1,292.13
Business Cost Consultants, Glasgow £6,240.60
Business Stream, Edinburgh £9,727.22
CNP Professional, Cheshire £719.96
CRE8, Gloucester £68,406.70
Cairn Financial, London £4,127.60
Cairns & Scott Caterhire, Glasgow £762
Cameron Presentations, Glasgow £8,795.99
Campbell Medical Supplies, Paisley £3,386.73
Camtec, Herts £552
Canniesburn Taxis, Bearsden £269.69
Capital Solutions, Edinburgh £11,423.40
Capito Ltd, Livingston £1,049.69
Carberry’s Coaches, Portadown Co Armagh £1,200
Carnival Chaos Production, Edinburgh £672
Carol Govan, Glasgow £600
Cask Productions, Glasgow £1,980
Cask Sports, Glasgow £2,919.60
Catercare Scotland, Stewarton £420
Charlton Chauffeur Drive, Glasgow £792
Chelsea FC £238,345.43
Childcare Vouchers, London £1,143.74
Chilli It, Chester £416.52
Chris Clarke, Kilmarnock £150
Christine Siebelt, Milngavie £1,100
Citrus Office Solutions, Lancashire £4,304.24
City Electrical Factors, Glasgow £215.40
Clyde Productions, Glasgow £180
Coca Cola £10,133.91
Colin Suggett, Sunderland £741.80
Collstream Limited, Derby £5,779.37
Collyer Bristow, London £40,691.22
Colours Agency Glasgow £1,980
Computer Links, Livingston £2,146.32
Computershare Investor Service, Bristol, £23,855.03
Craig Services & Access East Sussex £900
Culture & Sport Glasgow £10,338.96
Daily Record & Sunday Mail £312
DealBureau Commercial Finance, Southend £10,000
Decco Limited, Glasgow £174.72
Dell Computer Corporation, Berkshire £272.85
Direct Medical Imaging, Lancashire £230
Disclosure Scotland £372
Dominique S Byrne, Nuffield Hospital, Glasgow £160
Dr David A S Marshall, Bridge of Weir £160
Dundas & Wilson, Edinburgh £24,027.84
E.ON £8,827.14
Eagle Consulting, Inverness £40
Eagle Couriers, Bathgate £96.60
Eden Springs, Blantyre £644.64
Edinburgh Audi £5,197.08
Electrical Was te Recycling, County
Durham £18
Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Stirling £9,000
Events Audio Visual, Clydebank £300
Exchequer Corporate Finance , Surrey £4,000
Executive Hire, Harlow £1,060
FES FM, Stirling £80,874.93
FL Memo, London £116.86
FX Signs, Glasgow £15,546.56
G Media Mangement, Cheltenham £995
G4S, Surrey £295,036.24
GTG Training, Glasgow £396
Gareth Neil Design, Glasgow £3,200
Gerry McGeoch, Glasgow £150
Glasgow Audi £1,041.62
Glasgow City Council £5,000
Glasgow City Council (Council Tax) £2,008.21
Glasgow Leading Attractions (The Willow Tea Rooms) £1,525
Glasgow Taxis £TBC
Glencairn Crystal Studio, East Kilbide £354
Gordon McKay, Blackridge £150
HOBS Reprographics, Glasgow £270.15
HSS Hire Service £67.10
Hamilton Brothers, Bishopton £115.56
Hay McKerron Associates, Milngavie £3,600
Hepscott Water Systems, Morpeth £1,190.28
Hrvoje Bojanic Beethoveova, Zagreb, Croatia £2,898.42
Hutchesons Eductational Trust, Glasgow £550
ILC Media, Preston £2,040
IMG Media, Chiswick £180
Impact Signs, Cumbernauld £9,482.79
Integrated Cleaning Management, Hampshire £3,329.19
Iris Chorus Application Software, Devon £5,973.60
Iris Ticketing, Devon £37,210.42
Iron Mountain, Livingston £1,271.16
JCM Business Consulting, Paisley £2,745
JJB Sports £19,390.59
James Gordon (Engineers), Galston £1,437.68
Jewson, Glasgow £930.60
Joe Lennon Picture Framing, Bearsden £840
John Deere, Gloucester £41,191.59
K7X, Ayr, £240
Kalamazoo Secure Solutions, Birmingham £4,017
Keith Hawley, Glasgow £2,600
Kevin Cameron Radio Service, Paisley £600
Kube Networks, Glasgow £7,672.08
L & S Litho, Glasgow £17,035.04
Lothian Power Clean, Larkhall £194.34
LSK Supplies, Glasgow £178.58
Lawrie Furnishings, Paisley £607.20
Limelight Networks , Arizona £2,333.49
Link Seating Limited, Worcestershire £606.98
Loomis UK, Nottingham £2,248.08
Louis Grace Electrical, Glasgow £1,087.84
Lyco Direct Limited , Milton Keynes £2,381.27
MSM Solicitors, Paisley £420
MacGregor Industrial Supplies, Inverness £106.76
Mackinnon Partners, Gourock £200
Manchester City FC £328,248.71
Manea Florin Bucharest £37,500
Mar Hall, Bishopton £5,511.90
Marsh Ltd UK, Norwich £779.10
Martin Dawes, Warrington £654.74
Media House, Glasgow £19,200
MediaCom, Edinburgh £11,544.42
Menzies Hotels, Derbyshire £257.40
Michael Douglas, Glasgow £100
Milngavie Mini Market £413.29
Modular Property Holdings, Glasgow £20,930.22
Motif Promotional Clothing, Glasgow £27.29
Murray Group Holdings, Edinburgh £278,964.30
Nairn Brown (Glasgow) £1,492.50
National Car Rental, Leicester £162.52
Navyblue Design Group, Edinburgh £6,960
Newline Products, Glasgow £7,001
Newsquest (Herald & Times £1,500
Nexo S.A., France £1,799.37
Nicola Young, Glasgow £3,500
Noble Grossart, Edinburgh £18,612
Nordic Scouting, Oslo £20,000
North Glasgow College £11,041.80
OHSS, Edinburgh £234
OfficeFurnitureOnline.co.uk, Dumfires £338.40
Ooyala, California £733.92
Opal Telecom £169.72
Orebro SK £150,000
Oxford Hotels & Inns (Carnoustie) £3,709.96
PR Newswire Europe £300
PTS – Plumbing Trade Supplies, Leicester £30.42
Paramed, Howwood £1,050
Parklands Country Club, Glasgow £500
Parks of Hamilton £7,256
Paton Plant, York £1,450.16
Perform Group, Middlesex £346,097.43
Pineapple Aroundshot, Co Durham £2,316.96
Pineapple Photographic, Co Durham £5,875
Ping Network Solutions, Glasgow £4,020.25
Plum Films, Edinburgh £3,000
Posh Deli, Glasgow £260
Postage by Phone, Essex £510.80
Premier Cash Registers, Glasgow £12,600
Prime Commercial Properties
Management, London £10,805.53
Professional Pre-Season Tours (Libero), Glasgow £60,000
Quick Shift Tyre Service, Glasgow £48
R.F.Brown, Hamilton £1,681.44
RBS WorldPay, Cambridge £180.66
RS Components Limited, Northants £204.95
Rangers Lotteries Ltd, Glasgow £105.80
Reed Business Information, Surrey £2,764.80
Renfrewshire Council HQ £108
Restore Scotland, Paisley £579.74
Rigby Taylor Limited, Bolton £10,762.16
Rodgers Sercurity Systems, Glasgow £342.50
Ross Hall Hospital, Glasgow £770.50
Ross Promotional, Glasgow £1,022.88
Royal Mail £3,262.54
SDL Group, Glasgow £1,350
SG World, Cheshire £577.56
SIR Teknologi, West Sussex £TBC
SK Rapid, Austria £1,011,763.44
STRI, West Yorkshire £17.28
Saffery Champness, Glasgow £31,028.01
Scot-West Business Forms, Glasgow £749.60
Scotprint, Haddington £7,514
Scotrae Productions, Greenock £17,058.94
Scottish Ambulance Service £8,438.40
Scottish Hydro Electric £62,527.30
Scottish Power £302.44
Search Promotional Merchandise, Buckinghamshire £6,240
Shanks Waste Management, Southampton £122.58
Sharon Agnew, Glasgow £460
Shawfield Timber, Glasgow, £786.24
Shell UK £7,637.94
Shields Land Rover, Glasgow £246.75
Shred-it Glasgow £444
Sign Plus, Dunfermline £2,473.22
Signature Industries, London £1,507.90
Simplewaste Solutions, Clydebank £17,626.26
Sinclair Pharmacy, Glasgow £1,909.79
Slater Menswear , Glasgow £688.31
Solutions.tv, Glasgow £2,652
Sound Acoustic Productions, Glasgow £12,000
Souters Irrigation Services, Cumbernauld £456
Spike Multiedia, Giffnock £5,312.50
Sporting iD, Tyne and Wear £144.70
Sportopps.com, Belfast £150
Sports Alliance, Bury £2,006.65
Sports Revolution, London £5,034.52
Stellar Football, London £72,000
Stirling Fire Protection £1,149.30
Stockline Plastics, Glasgow £258
Strathclyde Police £51,882
Striking Imagery, Cumbernauld £113.51
Stuart MacMorran, Clydebank £422.50
Summit Asset Management, Surrey £70,555.88
Susan Thomson Your Sonsie Face, Glasgow £40
TNT £1,255.39
Tabs FM, London, £1,980
Tellcomm Limited, West Midlands £6,435.89
The Arco Group, Hull £443.43
The Brite Bulb, Bishopbriggs £3,209.64
The Burnbrae, Bearsden £1,403.88
The Business & Property Bureau, Bearsden £7,376
The Business Incentives Group, Glasgow £1,893.60
The City of Edinburgh Council £90
The Fees Company, Edinburgh £118.16
The Financial Times £3,480
The Scottish Football League £3,859.92
The Premier Property Group, Edinburgh £103,210.96
Thistle International Freight, Paisley £128.42
Thistle Storage Equipment, Cumbernauld £140.40
Thomas Cook Sport, Manchester £129,216.56
Ticket Team, Netherlands £873.36
Ticketline Network, Manchester £11,668.67
Trade UK (Screwfix) £77.01
Trident Trust Company, Jersey £40,689.90
UK Fast, Manchester £689.78
US Citta di Palermo, Italy £205,513.04
Umbro £1,756.05
University of the West of Scotland £135
Vodafone £204
Voicescape, Manchester £786.84
William Henderson, Glasgow £275
Yuill & Kyle Solicitors, Glasgow £1,486.80
Celtic FC £40,337
Dundee United FC £65,981.49
Dunfermline Athletic FC £83,370.13
Heart of Midlothian FC £800,000
Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC £39,805
SPL £22,500
SFA 11,089.04
HM Revenue & Customs £14,372,042
Ticketus, London £26,700,000
Debenture Holders (various) £7,736,000
Season Ticket Holders (various) £TBC
Employees Various £TBC
Billy’s Bhoy
I doubt it. They play in green and white hoops
Hmmmmmm
So Murray is brought in fur the last game.
Unbelievable…
disnae mak sense to us.
Still…..Laughing Loudly.
I am really, really hoping that Stirling Albion can miraculously escape relegation from Div 2 and that Stranraer get promoted from Div 3 through the play offs…that would mean that Rangers 2012 would alphabetically be bottom of the Scottish League structure on the opening day of next season.
Imagine that – all other 41 teams above them in the league – how symbolic that would be.
Mayo D- I wonder if Keevins will use one of his overused favourite words “sinister”,to describe McCoist’s outing of the 3 man panel.He has put these guys and their families’ at risk now,you only have to see snippets on here from their vile websites to understand that.Strathclyde Police should pursue Dingwall and RM and charge guys who are breaking one of Salmond’s new laws.HH.I blame Neil Lennon myself……..
Carrigan has nailed it. Hugh Dallas has gone. But the son of Hugh is on his way and in the meantime, the Scottish refereeing clique still seems to live in the shadow of Hugh and by the system of Hugh.
Dallas didn’t invent anti-Celtic and pro-Rangers refereeing, but he seemed to have quite a system in place, in which the guys making the ‘right’ calls get a space at the trough and guys who don’t or don’t do it often enough are left vainly trying to squeeze in for a wee while before giving up.
It turns my stomach.
Is hat Paul 67 thats on the list?
Ooyala, California £733.92
Opal Telecom £169.72
Orebro SK £150,000
Oxford Hotels & Inns (Carnoustie) £3,709.96
PR Newswire Europe £300
PTS – Plumbing Trade Supplies, Leicester £30.42
Paramed, Howwood £1,050
Parklands Country Club, Glasgow £500
Parks of Hamilton £7,256
Paton Plant, York £1,450.16
Paul Brennan, Glasgow £18.88
Perform Group, Middlesex £346,097.43
Pineapple Aroundshot, Co Durham £2,316.96
Pineapple Photographic, Co Durham £5,875
Ping Network Solutions, Glasgow £4,020.25
Plum Films, Edinburgh £3,000
Posh Deli, Glasgow £260
So Thomson is owed money by RFC, quite clearly a conflict of interest there and quite right that he should stand down even with the old “family reasons” chestnut
Yet the replace him with someone who little less than a week ago was more or less exposed as a liar by Celtic and Neil Lennon: no conflict there??? Really??
Mark my words, knowing how deranged the RFC support is at the moment (no thanks to their rabble rousing manager) I’ve no doubt he’ll be determined to keep trouble at a minimum; i.e ensuring Rangers win.
Fully expect a few more dodgy decisions on Sunday; up to us then to up our game to beat the ref as well as the Huns.
Dontbrattbakkinanger on 25 April, 2012 at 13:53 said:
THG would return in goal, and would spend the entire 90 mins blessing himself, having replaced the goal nets with a triptych of Pope John Paul 2 ,King John III Sibieski, and the Black Madonna of Chechestowa.
………………………….
Have you just let slip the three panel members on the.Independent Judicial Panel???;
Sorry, meant to add.
One of the main points is that, whether the code is written down or not, the all seem to know what it is. They all know the system. Some play along, some don’t. Most seem to me to play along because the rewards are too hard to resist.
Make the calls against Celtic and you get rewarded. Make the calls for Rangers and you get rewarded. Heads they win. Tails we lose.
Defo don’t want to see Loovens anywhere near the team on sunday. Don’t know if Broony will make it. If he doesn’t I would pick Dylan McGeoch. I know its not like for like but we have to attack attack attack right from the off! No more pussy footing containment of the hun “threat”…lets just go straight for the throat & put them out of their sorry sorry misey.
FORSTER LUSTIG ROGNE CHAZ IZZY BROWN/DYLAN VIC JOE SAMMY HOOPER WATTS ( High on confidence).
We can always bring on Paddy, Commons, Brozak or Stokes if we need to…
Last time I saw, Craig Thompson was a full time referee, first of his kind in Scotland, having chucked his job to pursue his dream of becoming the Greatest Living Referee since Bob Valentine.
Oh dear.
The witch-hunt is going very well over on Follow Follow.
Turns out none of them are taigs and the independent panel is in fact independent. WIth a well respected QC who is an Aberdonian rugby man. The Raith chairman is in fact known to have sympathies with them, as is the retired former journalist.
Good to see the herd mentality that got you in the mess you are in is still going strong.
Welcome to the level playing field you cheating half wits.
Oh and the best irony is they are arranging to boycott Raith as, and I quote “Raith can’t be allowed to get away with their chairmans actions”.
Surely a timposter as that is too obvious….
RL
aye but hat information apart theyre all tim sympathisers
The Big Job Centre Must Stay Open
The Battered Bunnet on 25 April, 2012 at 14:03 said:
”Last time I saw, Craig Thompson was a full time referee”
This is Scotland.
Being a full time referee doesn’t mean you can’t keep your day job.
Bhoycoting wont be difficult as RR will be at least two divisions above them
If you have a minute you might want to take a look at this.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6XXLV85
RogueLeader on 25 April, 2012 at 14:06 said:
Oh and the best irony is they are arranging to boycott Raith as, and I quote “Raith can’t be allowed to get away with their chairmans actions”.
Surely a timposter as that is too obvious….
Hehehe – stupid huns
Ernie
Intrigued. Do expand.
What happened to their “no-one likes us we don’t care”?
Has that been changed to
“No one likes us we do care and we’re a quite offended, who are you and where do you live we’re gonna boycott you. It’s no fair it wusny my fault anyway”
TBB
not quite accurate.
FES agreed to sponsor his career to allow him to become Scotland first full time professional referee
TBB-doolittle posted that any reference to Thomson being replaced,wouldn’t look good,think it’s for a family reason mate.HH.
AWE NAW @ 13 56
” US Citta di Palermo _£ 205,513 04 ”
Some of the Directors of Palermo FC are the last people I would want to owe money to.
” In life one needs pessimism of the reason and optimism of the will ”
Antonio Gramsci CSC —- way down south.
Bob Valentine had a day job, at Timex in Dundee.
He was on a one-man mission to bestow Timexes on referees in other parts of Europe as gifts, either from the company or from Bob himself.
If you want to know how I know, a taxi driver told me. But it was a taxi driver who was on the FIFA list between 1977 and 1987.
Getting it wrong and losing it
June 18, 2007
Email Print
By Dave Roberts
I know it is hard to believe but we referees do have bad days, occasionally. Mine came eighteen months ago in an S-League game between the top two professional teams in Singapore. Poor Craig Thomson, his match-to-forget came just a couple of days ago in the UEFA Under-21 Championships shown live around the world on ESPN.
GettyImages
Craig Thompson played it by the book but at what cost?
This time of year UEFA give their ‘Elite’ officials a rest, the Merks, Cantalejos and De Bleeckeres are allowed to sooth aching legs after enduring punishing Champions League and European Championship campaigns. So the B-list officials get their run out and up stepped Thomson, a Scottish referee obviously keen to impress after living in the shadow of Hugh Dallas.
Israel against Belgium U21s should not have caused any problems, but as the eyes of the world watched on, it did. The problem was typical of what happens to the best in the business; in the best competitions, more of that later.
Thomson’s first yellow card on twelve minutes to Belgium’s Marouane Fellaini was harsh but not too early. There is a refereeing train of thought that a very early card sends out an equally early message to players that you will not stand for any nonsense.
Personally, I cannot subscribe to this as I think you are provided plenty of opportunities in most games to pull out a card, so why go looking for them. After all if you are consistent, as players and managers demand, and give them cheaply you will end up with a sack full.
But alas the bed was made for the Scottish referee and he was about to lie in it. The same player made an even less innocuous challenge just 6 minutes later and instead of common sense prevailing with the muttering of ‘You’ve just been booked and you’re still at it. Stop it, or next time you will be off’ Thompson went by the book. Immediately, the red card cost him far more than he could know.
All respect from those around him evaporated like a snowball in a volcano, he had lost control of the game, and more tellingly himself, on just eighteen minutes. The tackle warranted nothing more than a warning, but somehow his 6th sense failed him at the moment he so badly needed it, foresight.
There are key times in a match when even in these days of black and white interpretation of the laws of the game you have to protect what is in front of you, the match. You have to feel its pulse.
Thomson knew a yellow card for that challenge was not mandatory, but he still pulled it out. His real mistake was failing to consider what effect the card would have on his match control. The thought takes only a split second but it can save your bacon.
He fired too quickly from the hip. You could see his eagerness to pull the cards out, to impress those who need to be impressed. These were the first of ten yellows and one red, well, two red cards if you count the one he showed by mistake to Belgium midfielder Anthony Vanden Borre. Proof, if proof was needed, that he had lost it personally.
This is the reason why in England referees have used an almost circular red card. If you are the type of official to keep both cards in the same pocket, and that is not advised, you can feel which to pull out first but that is another story.
Back to Thomson. Now do not get me wrong here, I’m not for one moment suggesting referees should shirk their duties to make their lives easier. When tackles are reckless they deserve a yellow card, followed by a red if the player has already been cautioned.
After all I write as a referee who sent off a goalkeeper in the 88th minute with his side trailing 6-0. He had committed the so-called ‘professional foul’ denying an opposing striker the chance to make it seven. It was so tempting to agree with the players and coaches that the game was over and I should be sympathetic.
GettyImages
Belgium’s Anthony Borre appeals to referee Thompson after sending off Marouane Fellaini.
What I’m saying is there are many situations, ‘opportunities’ I like to call them, where not everything is black and white. The grey area allows experienced referees to assess what the game and its players need and if that simple assessment dictates whether a card is needed or not, that is good officiating.
What Belgium v Israel certainly did not need was such a petty dismissal by such a senseless officiating. What it produced was typical; a powder keg waiting to explode. Fortunately it did not, though that had nothing to do with the subsequent officiating, but by the self-control of the players. A frightening scenario.
So why did Craig Thomson do it? He probably knew the consequences, but thought being only an U21s match he could go on and control it. I touched on why earlier, ‘pleasing the men upstairs’. The very same reason refereeing in World Cup Finals changes mid-tournament.
Do you remember the farce of France 1998 where referees dished out cards like confetti in week one? Players, coaches and the public rightly complained, even current UEFA president Michel Platini at the time stepped in. After the furore dissipated much more sensible officiating was seen. One or two over officious officials were sent home.
It is also the reason Graham Poll was so annoyed at his ‘three card trick’ in Germany last summer. All referees want ‘a final’ and if the paymaster was to instruct the men in black/ blue/ yellow to say ‘Wear a blonde wig’, the response would be ‘For how long?’
Thomson knew to progress in the tournament he had to do it by the book. If not he would scupper his chances of ‘a final’ and also his progression to UEFA’s Elite List. Think about it; big nights in Moscow, Athens, Paris, Munich in the confederations elite competitions… yes, I would wear the wig too.
The unfortunate thing in all of this is that the referees at this level are great officials but when we come to the big stage the rules change.
The very thing a referee has consistently done to get right there at that very moment is simply thrown away. Special directives are issued before tournaments like this: ‘Clamp down on shirt pulling’, ‘Come down hard on tackles from behind’, ‘Punish reckless play’, referees are driven by the very people who appoint ‘the final’ to officiate in robotic style ‘for the good of the game’.
Almost every time the game suffers in the early stages and referees are then allowed to revert to the very style that has impressed ‘those above’ and normality returns. How do we get round the recurring problem? It is difficult. You see all us referee types have a little thing inside us called ego. Do not believe any one who tries to tell you different. We referee for the ego.
I am no exception. I crave that golden verse at the end of every match, ‘Great game ref!’ I was in my element walking out into the cauldron of Calcutta’s Salt Lake Stadium 18 months ago to referee one of the world’s most hostile derby matches, East Bengal v Mohun Bagan, with all the furore surrounding it, live TV cameras and 110,000 fans in the stands.
Empics
Graham Poll: The infamous three card trick
Right now I desire more than anything to get back to refereeing in the professional game, but alas red tape and bureaucracy in my new found home of the United States bars all but US Citizens and Permanent Residents to officiate in the ‘Pro Game’. No exceptions, no matter how talented, even a fully fledged FIFA badge wearer has to get a Green Card to referee. I am a resident alien, can legally work, pay taxes and buy property, but I cannot whistle in the MLS. There you go, it is all ‘ego’.
And it is that ego that drives top flight referees to do whatever is asked of them to get ‘The Final’.
If FIFA, UEFA, CONCACAF, etc tell their officials to caution every blade of grass that moves, they will. So why not try a novel approach, let us remind the officials of what is expected from them in major tournaments, but let us also encourage the referee to utilise the very natural talents that first brought him to the notice of the governing bodies.
Dave Roberts is a regular part of the ESPN Soccernet Press Pass team and anchor on Sportscenter. He is also an international referee.
good afternoon cqn
look I think its time to own up I was on the three man panel Allistair mentions,my Address
Whitecrook Tim
c/o Celtic quick news
lennondinho
Ta for that. Dont want wee shug snappin the nose off me tonight.Spoke to him yesterday on the Hotline and jokingly said that I hoped thomson would be on top of his game come Sunday as molly weir wouldnt be around to make his decisions for him. Feel such a fool now.
ps It didnt make print, <o)))))
The Battered Bunnet on 25 April, 2012 at 14:08 said:
”Scottish referee Craig Thomson gives up the day job
Craig Thomson, the official entrusted with last weekend’s Old Firm match at Ibrox, has become the first Scottish referee to give up his day job in order to enhance his chances of making it to the pinnacle of the sport.
Optimistic: Craig Thomson believes he can become an elite referee if he dedicates more time to becoming fitter, fresher and more prepared
Thomson, 36, has resigned his full-time post with the law firm of Maclay, Murray and Spens, and has accepted a new position with Forth Electrical Services which will see see him work two days per week.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/scottish-
premier/4031794/Scottish-referee-Craig-Thomson-gives-up-the-day-job.html