Blowing the whistle on referees' pressures
It would appear that officials are getting more tabloid coverage than the average player at the moment, none more so than my mate Graham Poll.
As you may recall, Graham refereed Tottenham v Chelsea the other week and ended up having to send the England captain John Terry off.
I was his fourth official that day and witnessed at first hand the pressure exerted on him by the game and the calm manner in which he responded.
There have been many commentators jumping to assumptions as to how Graham managed that game but I can assure you he used skills in communications that we would all use in the workplace to ensure people’s discipline was kept in check.
After the dismissal of John Terry, he thought he could sit in the technical area of Chelsea, but as many of you will know, this is not allowed and I had to use my management skills to persuade him to go straight to his dressing room without causing any further scenes.
This was a truly difficult game, being shown live on TV, but one that will make Graham and myself even stronger in the future.
Last weekend saw me at the new Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal. They played Liverpool and I acted as fourth man to one of the rising ‘stars’ of officials, Mark Clattenburg.
The game was Mark’s first big test after returning from injury. It was also the Arsenal manager’s first game since his much-publicised incident with Alan Pardew, the West Ham manager, the previous week.
Thankfully for me both managers were on their best behaviour and posed no real threat to my resolve, however not so for Mark.
After 75 minutes he went down with cramp in his calf and had to receive treatment. I was stripped for action and ready to take his place, and with a full house of 60,000 spectators and a live TV audience, I can honestly state there were certain parts of my anatomy that were fairly tight!
Luckily for both of us Mark carried on and I could once again enjoy the surroundings that I found myself in – and what surroundings they are!
All spectators have an uninterrupted view, there are numerous hospitality boxes, the pitch is an absolute dream (flatter than my front room carpet!) and for security and safety the players and officials drive into an underground car park and then gain direct access to the dressing room area.
If you get the opportunity go and have a look, you will not be disappointed.
