RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Hearing referees on Monday Night Football will show why they’re worth protecting 

There was a recurring scene that played out when I covered Swansea City games a few years ago. I always liked the press area at what was then known as the Liberty Stadium — it wasn’t too penned in, wasn’t too far removed from fans, had good views, and a lovely old boy would invariably stop for a chat on his way in and out. It was usually about the referee and tended to end with: ‘Give the bleddy idiot a four.’

Thing is, there would be as many days when he was wrong as right, just like the bleddy idiot. But there was no fun saying that, so it became a weekly exchange and weeks became months became years.

There was no malice, because he had none in him, and anyway, it was just a part of the landscape we all know: football has a lot of rules, not many of us could pass the exam unprepped, certainly not me, and sometimes a spot of scapegoating can be good for the soul. 

It works for fans. Works for managers and players, too. And referees are the easiest of scapegoats — they have cards and flags but no voice, no third dimension, and no avenues to present a more human front. Who is the w***** in the black? ‘No idea, mate, so pile in.’

Which is why Monday Night Football on Sky Sports will be flavoured a little differently tomorrow. They’ve got a decent game to show, Leicester against Liverpool, and such is the time of year there’s a lot on it. But something else will play out in the margins and it is significant in a different way, because Howard Webb, the chief of refereeing in the English game, will be on the panel.

I think that letting the referees voice their opinion will only be a good thing for the sport

There’s a fascinating reason attached to that — for the first time, we are going to hear matchday audio from conversations earlier in the season between Premier League referees, their assistants and the VARs. 

Webb, one of the best referees of his era, will then pick apart some of the most contentious decisions, explain how they were made and the processes behind them. If it plays well, it is likely to become a regular theme from next season.

Obviously, it won’t be a voyage of colour and thrills — it can be a dry area. But Webb’s contribution, and more pointedly his use of in-game dialogue between officials, is important and an intelligent move, both for its insight and what might be achieved by the dismantling of that fourth wall.

Indeed, it is baffling that active officials have been kept quiet for so long by the game, gagged for the purposes of preserving integrity, when the unwitting consequence is that their silence has contributed to the general crisis around refereeing today. Would they be so exposed to abuse if there was more understanding about what they actually do? 

Webb’s motivations are no doubt tied to that question. From conversations I’ve had in the last week, it is clear Webb, as the head of the PGMOL, the body who run elite referees, has been a driver behind his participation on Monday Night Football. 

It is his project. Transparency is the word he uses — see what referees do, how they reach their decisions, the frenzied environment they operate in. Who is the w***** in the black? ‘The only one here who knows all the rules, possibly.’

The need for a reputational reboot feels reflective of just how grim it has become for a referee to do their gig. It has never been easy and they will never be popular, which isn’t necessarily the desired outcome here. It is more that the toxicity at all levels needs to be addressed, and there is no clearer example in professional football than the recent case of Jurgen Klopp and Paul Tierney.

You’ve seen the incident by now, but it is worth recapping that aside from Klopp’s aggression to the fourth official, John Brooks, he said this about Tierney, the referee: ‘We have our history with Tierney. I really don’t know what this man has against us. He has said there are no problems but that cannot be true.’

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp aired his frustrations with fourth official John Brooks during his side’s 4-3 draw with Tottenham last month

He was charged for implying bias and no wonder. Who is the w***** in the black? The guy who doesn’t like Liverpool but gave penalties in their favour in the last two games he had them.

Klopp apologised with his back against the wall, but the damage was done. Just as it has been done via smaller cuts in so many games. On that, I went over Opta’s figures for player bookings for dissent on Friday, and they showed 76 yellow cards through 347 fixtures this season.

It is already more than the three completed campaigns that went before, which tells you about the direction of travel. 

We also know how much bleaker it is at the grassroots — 293 officials out of 927 who responded to a BBC survey had been physically abused by spectators, players or managers — and it is easy to draw a line from behaviour at the top of the pyramid to that at the bottom.

In turn, the vast exodus of referees at the bottom, with 11,000 quitting from a pool of 33,000 in the space of five years in this country, will hurt the game at the top. 

It is the kind of vicious cycle that binds the baseless ravings of a giant in Anfield to the use of bodycams by £20-a-game referees in Sunday leagues.

As a package, it is why new efforts to spread enlightenment are so needed. A key area where Webb’s plans must surely focus, aside from the education of spectators, is on humanising the referees. 

Putting a voice to the names, starting tomorrow, will help massively in that regard. Showing a personality — a living and breathing person capable of rational thought — even more so.

Throughout 347 fixtures this season, there have been 76 yellow cards handed out for dissent

In my view, a progressive next step, currently blocked by FIFA and only trialled on isolated occasions, would be the live broadcast of what is caught on their mics and supported by bodycam footage. 

The swearing is held up as one obstacle, but it will identify and embarrass the worst offenders when it comes to dissent.

In doing so, it will show the fuller picture of what goes on. It will show the nonsense. It will show referees are worth protecting. It will also show the mistakes on all sides, and the reasons why the guy in black isn’t a w*****, or maybe even those for why he is.

At the very least we might even learn something.

Haaland wins but Kane stars 

I voted for Erling Haaland as the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year, along with just about everyone else. 

His 35 Premier League goals in a great team made it an easy call. 

But it also throws a kinder light on Harry Kane — scoring 27 amid the farce at Tottenham is almost otherworldly.

Harry Kane’s impressive 27-goal tally has been outshone by Erling Haaland’s dominance so far

SafeSport lose track of safety 

After an 18-month investigation into multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, the US Center for SafeSport has found one of the world’s leading sprint coaches, Rana Reider, had an intimate relationship with one of his athletes and that there was a ‘power imbalance’ in the dynamic.

They have also decided that merited only one year of probation. Based on what I previously learnt from UK Athletics, for whom the American, 52, once worked as a coach, he faced complaints in 2014 of being involved with an 18-year-old British sprinter, 26 years his junior. 

Putting all those numbers together, you are inclined to wonder how well SafeSport used their time.