Fa Barclaycard Premiership News Update

Fa Barclaycard Premiership News
( 11 November 2008 )

English Premiership football News

FA to act over respect for refs
The Football Association will seek a meeting with the League Managers Association (LMA) in an attempt to respect his campaign on track.

Part of the FA initiative - launched at the beginning of the season - promotes better behavior towards referees.

However, it has been undermined by a series of explosions managers.

"It was disappointing to attend various incidents publicly criticize referees managers recently," said FA director of governance Jonathan Hall.

"The FA will seek to meet with the LMA and managers regarding compliance program as soon as possible and offer a new opportunity to raise concerns."

The FA says its Compliance activities aims to "fight against the unacceptable behavior in our game at all levels - on the ground and the margin."

The latest incident where a manager strongly criticized official match took place on Sunday when Newcastle interim boss Joe Kinnear Martin Atkinson marked a "referee Mickey Mouse" after the 2-1 defeat of Fulham.

The FA is Kinnear consideration of the committee and he could face a charge of misconduct by its actions, similar to that received by Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Manchester United boss was charged after remonstrating with referee Mike Dean at the end of his side winning 4-3 against Hull on 1 November.

The Scot has been given until 19 November meeting.

LMA Chief Executive Richard Bevan attended a meeting of 35 managers at the Arena Coventry Rioch on Monday - and later suggested that better teamwork and communication campaign will help the compliance to succeed.

"The intention is there to support (Professional Game Match Officials Limited CEO) Keith Hackett to try to create a better teamwork," he said.

"It is about creating an environment in which compliance campaign can really flourish."

However, nobody from PGMOL - the arbitrator Executive Board - attended the meeting in Coventry.

And it is understood that the LMA is a representative, probably a former player or manager, the board of directors of PGMOL.

Hall added that managers should be more understanding of match officials but sympathised when decisions go against their team.

"We accept that it can be very frustrating for managers when a wrong decision, but the referee does so deliberately, as players and managers are not deliberately make mistakes," he said.

"It is easy to support staff when a decision goes your way, the real test is the ability to show understanding when a call goes against you.

"There are already various official channels for managers to communicate their views on Arbitration on the Performances and managers are actively encouraged to use these channels rather than criticizing the referees through the media."

Some managers have questioned the respect agenda, including Charlton boss Alan Pardew, but he insists Hall had a positive impact and made a difference at the grassroots level.

"There were some positive signs at the top end of The Game, especially the decline in cases, players harassing the referees," said Hall.

"In addition, it should also be noted that there was only a small number of managers in the league who have chosen to publicly criticize officials on the ground or through the media.

"There was real progress at the grassroots level.

"We will not give up him and continue to strive for improvement at all levels of The Game."
by bbcnews.