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The terrible weather that hit the country had an effect on the Fratton Park pitch that was left flooded in places and certainly not playable under any circumstances. Hall didn’t see it that way and allowed the game to go on even though he was putting players at risk and having fans pay for a game that could never be of any quality worthy of the admission charge.
Sadly the two managers Cockney Spiv Redknapp and Micky Adams kept quiet until it was all over and then surprise the losing manager Redknapp complains and the winning manager Adams says everything was fine.
The simple answer was that it was not fine and the game should not have gone ahead. Hall should be taken to task for this but it really is water off a duck’s back for this man. Just over four years ago in almost identical conditions he allowed a game between Burnley and Macclesfield to go ahead at Moss Rose. This game, as last week’s should not have gone ahead.
As much as we don’t like to see games off and in particular late postponement someone clearly needs to explain to Hall that matches should not go ahead at any cost.
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It does though all go back to the lead up to the World Cup and the much-publicised disagreements with Roy Keane that saw the midfielder take no part in the finals. Keane has since made a number of attacks on McCarthy and recently, with some demanding his re-instatement, said that he would not consider returning until McCarthy was gone.
He has somehow got the press on his side and between them they have made life as difficult as possible for the Irish boss to the extent that this week he finally decided enough is enough.
Who they will get as replacement remains to be seen but the likelihood is that the replacement will struggle to be as successful as McCarthy. That being the case they will have no more than they deserve.
The departure of Scot Adam Crozier continues and again it has been very much high on the list of nominations. Most have turned their attentions though on the Premiership and its 20 member clubs and insisted it is their greed and nothing else that has caused Crozier’s departure.
Football has always been run by some pretty spineless creatures and once again at the FA we saw Chairman Geoff Thompson fail to support his Chief Executive at a crucial time. He should have been giving him total support as the offensive little man from Chelsea Ken Bates decided to launch a public attack on Crozier but no, in true FA style he remained silent.
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They don’t give a damn, they offered nothing other than token support to the Football League in their fight against Carlton and Granada when help was needed.
Three of them are going to be losing their places at the end of the season, it might just be in their best interests to start taking a look outside their greedy little league and see what has happened recently to others who have left.
The game needs to regain strength in all areas but the top league will continue to damage everything around through their completely selfish attitude.
Although referee Hall won the top award there were also nominations for three other referees who came very close to making the top three. Mark Cooper is courting controversy on an almost weekly basis and this week got another major incident completely wrong when he sent off Crewe’s Richard Walker at Wigan.
Then there was Paul Danson who, after a quiet night card wise at Grimsby, sent off a Peterborough player within 15 seconds of the start, a decision Stan described as crazy.
But then there was Dermot Gallagher who has been accused by many as favouring Spurs throughout the Worthington Cup tie on Wednesday. Although on a television re-run things didn’t look quite so bad he was without doubt always keen to give any benefit to the Premiership side.
That’s it for this week as Hall becomes the third referee to pick up the award this season. Keep a look out over the next week and send us your NOMINATIONS by midnight next Thursday when the 14th winner of the season will be announced.
The winners so far:
Week 1 – Roy Keane (Manchester United)
Week 2 – Jeff Winter (Referee)
Week 3 – Football League’s Football Disciplinary Commission
Week 4 – Alex Ferguson (Manchester United manager)
Week 5 – Luton Town supporters
Week 6 – Barry Knight (Referee)
Week 7 – Burnley FC Showboaters
Week 8 – Tony Livesey (Editor Sunday Sport)
Week 9 – The Directors and Owners of Franchise FC
Week 10 – David Sheepshanks (Ipswich Town Chairman)
Week 11 – David Davies (Football Association)
Week 12 – George Boeteng (Middlesbrough)
Week 13 – Andy Hall (Referee)