What Other Referees Think Of Appointment Of Jon Moss For FA Cup Final

 

RustyRef: "Just playing devil's advocate here as I have no idea of the reasons for the appointment, but if you had broken a rule at work and been disciplined for it would you expect to be at the top end of the bonus pool at the end of the year or receive employee of the year award? Probably not, so is it right for people to assume that a referee who committed an irregularity and was disciplined for it should then be rewarded with the biggest domestic accolade a referee can get at the end of that very same season?"
___________________________________________________________________________________ 

Jon Moss has been appointed to referee the FA Cup Final 2015.
Given his close relationship with John Colquhoun (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mobgate-5.html), we sincerely hope that Theo Walcott's ongoing contract talks don't impinge on the occasion - Walcott is only in the team due to the inept performance of WBA last weekend (Colquhoun holds considerable sway at Albion).

He has refereed Arsenal 9 times - every game a victory and surely giving this game to Moss is stretching the credibitilies of fans too far... 

There are rumours in the refereeing community that Moss is being moved aside after this game over MOBGATE and that this will consequently be his last match. 
We'll see...

NB 10 Arsenal matches refereed by Moss, 10 wins, 22 goals for, 2 against, 4 pens/reds in favour, 0 against. In the FA Cup Final, Arsenal 9 fouls/0 bookings; Villa 15 fouls/5 bookings (with Cleverley, Delph and Hutton being key); Arsenal denied 0.5 of a penalty and Villa 1.50; although it would have been interesting if Moss had sent off Agbonlahor for repeatedly calling ref a "fuckin' cheat" while on a yellow.

More importantly, there are suspicious betting patterns exposed in MOBGATE on a number of these 10 matches including yesterday's FA Cup Final.
 
Here are some statements from referees both professional and amateur from the Rate The Ref website.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Exeter_Ref: "I've certainly not seen an appointment so badly received."

Reading Fan: "Perhaps the most ridiculous appointment in the history of football? Ludicrous... I would count as least 4 referees who have had better seasons than Moss and not had a cup final before (Oliver, Taylor, Clattenburg, Swarbrick.) And for the future I think the likes of Kevin Friend and Craig Pawson are more likely to be up to the standard...A dark day for refereeing this in my view."

Reflector: "The other question is, if not Clattenburg, why Moss? Some of us feel that he has been extremely fortunate with both the frequency and quality of some of his PL appointments, particularly this season when some of his performances didn't appear to warrant them. Personally I would say that he struggles to get in the top half of the merit table of the SG (and that is being somewhat charitable) so how does he land what used to be regarded as the most prestigious appointment in our domestic game? I don't suppose we shall ever know but most of us I am sure have our own opinions. Finally, lest anyone should wonder, I had it in mind to write this when I first heard about the appointment and before reading Moss's record in Arsenal games!"

Reg: "Pathetic appointment. Lets reward the worst referee of the season with the FA Cup final. Sends a great message out that does."

Whistleblower: "This is, in my opinion, one of the most extraordinary appointments in English senior refereeing that I have ever known."

Replied to by Reflector: "As always, Whistleblower puts it splendidly and I agree with every word. I hope I am wrong but am not so confident that the truth behind this strange episode will ever become known. If indeed skulduggery is at work, I suspect ranks will be tightly closed and the real truth may never be known."

Babyref: "Totally flabbergasted."

Whoknows: "...it could be that Moss's face fits rather too well. Who knows? It reminds me of an appointment over 2 decades ago when a very mediocre referee had the final. He was very much 'in' at the inner sanctum. So it's nothing new, but it demeans the FA when it is so obviously an appointment not based on merit...The pathetic uncertain Mr [Keren] Barratt. Certainly." 

AJB95: "...on form, consistency of decision-making, performances in big games, he would be well down the list. Poor in every big game he's had, and has been below average in many of his recent games.
What does this show to referees like myself working my way up? That the biggest occasions don't got to those who deserve them? That inconsistency is rewarded with success?"

Plym_Nick: "this is the message that it appears to be sending to up and coming referees : don't try and be the best , try to be someone important's best mate , or at the very least nod and smile at the right people. Competence and ability ? IRRELEVANT!"

Nemesis: "Many people criticize many of the bigger clubs for devaluing the FA Cup, with their team selections and priorities. The FA, or whoever made this appointment, has also done so.... Moss has been awarded a top honour which, by any objective judgement, he was not deserving of. You expect all referees and ex-referees, in this case a better official than Moss, who have not benefited from the same largesse as Moss, to line up and applaud. I don't think so."

DommerOFK: "If your face doesn't fit or someone up on high has an agenda against you then give up?"

YeahWes: "Would Jon Moss be considered strong enough to referee Chelsea v Man Utd? If not, I suggest he shouldn't be refereeing the Cup Final."

RefFan: "I believe the official announcement referred to Jon's 'consistent' performances over the season which I, like many others, would take issue with, although I guess some would contend he's been, at best, consistently average."

Hendo: "...I wish him all the best, part of me still harks back to those refs of yester-year who never got an FA Cup Final but who, in my humble opinion, were as good if not better than Jon."

Dave26: "While I congratulate the team on their appointment the whole appointment has surprised me somewhat and I find it bizzare, Moss has made plenty of errors and bad calls this season."

DeanisBest: "I guess Arsenal will be delighted with the appointment. Nine games Mr Moss has officiated the Gunners, they have won all nine. Staggering statistic."

Acme Thunderer: "Ridiculous in my view."

NotARef: "The FA Cup Final is a reward for long and loyal service? Give me a break."

Locoman: "A truly staggering appointment ,simply because he has not been anywhere near good enough for this honour,no fault of his this and hopefully,it will go well.Whistleblowers' accurate appraisal of this puzzling business is spot on."

Life of Riley: "Firstly, congratulations to Jon Moss and team. But then, really, what?! Wow."

Referee152: "...I am shocked."

Locoman (2): "I have just heard three respected sports writers discuss this appointment on Sky's Sunday Supplement and its fair to say the three were universally puzzled by it. Two comments among many were that he is top of the howlers league this season and that he has had a particularly poor season so I'm afraid it does appear to be be yet another case of Buggins turn next!"
___________________________________________________________________________________

At another level, here are the views of former pgMOB referee Mark Halsey (he received abusive messages referring to his cancer issues for being open and honest):

"People say I've put undue pressure on Jon Moss before the FA Cup Final. That wasn't my intention and I think Jon's a decent lad but if he's good enough to get a prestige Wembley game, why isn't he deemed good enough to ref a high intensity Premier League match?

I think this is Jon's fourth season on the select list but he still hasn't been given a Manchester derby, a Mersey derby, a North London derby or, say, a Manchester United v Liverpool - games where referees are under the fiercest scrutiny.
That's not Jon's fault, he doesn't pick and choose his games but it speaks volumes that the powers-that-be haven't given him a massive Premier League match yet reckon he's ready for a game watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world.
I don't expect Jon to turn round and say, 'Sorry chaps, I don't think I'm ready for this one.' Of course not. He should rightly be proud of being selected and I hope he goes on to have a great game.
But part of me reckons he'll be feeling a little bit sheepish that he's got the Cup Final so early in his career. Privately, he'll know this should have been Mark Clattenburg's time."

© Football is Fixed 2006-2015

Follow us on Twitter @FootballisFixed

Spectacular 'Maletas' In Serie A

Napoli players and officials stand accused of threatening AC Parma players in order to persuade them to lose in Sunday's Serie A game between the two teams.
Parma, already relegated, had nothing to motivate them, whereas Napoli needed the points in the race for Champions League places - they would have moved one point behind Lazio and two behind Roma if victory had been achieved.

The Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante will disclose on Wednesday what Gonzalo Higuain said to him during the game. He claims that his revelations are unique and should have no place on the field of play during a competitive football match.
Higuain is alleged to have said to Mirante as they squared up: ""what do you want? You are already in Serie B."

"I was there and I heard what was said after the game," Parma coach Roberto Donadoni told Sport Mediaset. "Having people tell us we should lose just because we're bankrupt and already relegated is disgusting and shameful.
"It wasn't just Higuain, but a few others said the same on the field during the game. When you hear something like that from a director, though, it's a real tragedy.
"This is all incredible. I don't want to name names, as if I have something to say to these people, I'll do it to their faces."

At the end of the season in La Liga, senior figures in Spanish clubs arrange for maletas stashed with cash to be distributed in attempts to ensure appropriate performance by teams that have influence over their clubs' destiny e.g. the opponents of fellow title-chasing or relegation candidates.

This grey market activity is a form of matchfixing - the outcomes of games being potentially affected by money.
The 41 people being investigated over the Real Zaragoza/Levante May 2011 and the pending trial into the shenanigans at the end of last season are examples of this impact of money on integrity.

And the money does not just travel around in maletas - the betting patterns on the end of season matches last season in La Liga between Valladolid and Granada were suggestive of insider trading.

So Football is Fixed then...

NB On Tuesday, Higuain was fined €10,000 for "severely insulting the opposition goalkeeper" and Rafa Benitez, the Napoli manager, is banned from touchline for Cesena game for shouting "shit Italian football" to camera at full-time.

The Offside Game

We recently pulled out of a potential project with Tax Justice Network's The Offshore Game once we realised that their repeated offers of contractual consolidation and participatory strategies were undermined by an absolute lack of trustworthiness in the negotiating process.

The Offshore Game are an NGO-lite advocacy group of dubious meritocratic structure - the prime player in the project is one George Turner - a man who thinks Rangers have won the European Cup, who is unaware that SkyBet sponsor the Championship and who, in an act of son-of-Boris-Johnson buffoonery, chose to be sloshing down posh wine in French chalets when the project was launched in The Guardian newspaper in April.
The launch was three months late and was removed from the paper after just one day.  

After we concluded our arrangement, the other party in The Offshore Game (Alex Cobham) posted an article on Twitter referring to the support of whistleblowers by the Tax Justice Network http://www.taxjustice.net/2015/01/16/will-antoine-deltour-become-prisoner-conscience/comment-page-1/#comment-28692.

We responded.

"Comments by Tax Justice Network (TJN) on the rights of whistleblowers would carry more weight if TJN practised what they preach.
As a whistleblower in the football industry, I was astonished at the behaviours of TJN derivative The Offshore Game (TOG) when it came to issues of my security. The interaction was abusive, impacted negatively upon my security profile and negotiations were at no point carried out in good faith.
TOG is simply NGO-lite with minimal integrity in structure."

Our comment was removed.

Not fit for purpose.

Whistleblowing The Whistle Blowers And Whippers

Premier League referees are to football what jockeys are to horseracing...
... their mansions can never be explained by their legitimate earnings.

Of course, the biggest impact on any football match is the referee.
And the biggest impact on any horserace is the jockey.
And the biggest impacts on any Premier League football match or British horserace are the betting markets.

Yesterday in 7 Premier League matches there were 7 penalties and 6 red cards.
This is 1.86 match-changing decisions per game.

In La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga combined, there have been 14 games this weekend with a total of 2 penalties and 1 red card.
This is 0.21 match-changing decision per game.

Not only were many of the EPL decisions dubious, incorrect or, in the case of Mike Williamson, "deliberate", but these calls were made at 9x the rate of the other primary European leagues.
Their penalty should see them sent off to pasture.

And yet the pgMOB insist on using the same referees repeatedly (even within the same window)...
... Clattenburg was ref and Mason 4th official for Villa v Everton and their roles are reversed for Hull v Arsenal.

Rubbish league.
Rogue refs.
Rotten to the core.