Scott Oldham Review

This is really a shout out to @reids to ask if he'd like to make a simple compilation of the referee's performance.

This ref could go down in history as being one of the worst referees at VR of all time, so it would be good to maybe see it in the cold light of day, if that status is deserving.

A couple of standouts to me were the foul on Bayo, after the Stoke defender slipped and Bayo was going to be through on goal. He was clearly brought down and it was a potential red card as he was the last man. The referee didn't even give a foul.

The dropped ball by Hamer, was that a push on him or a fumble? We all know he missed the obvious foul on Bayo that led to Bayo's harsh red.....although Bayo did foolishly react, so the red was perhaps harsh but maybe justified.....although the first offence should have been seen so the subsequent action would not have taken place.

There were many, many fouls not given, which always seemed to benefit Stoke, and the distribution of yellow cards was very uneven. Everything seemed to be going Stoke's way in the managing of the game. I just wonder if that was indeed true or a case of mass hysteria, of which I was part of too.

To add some balance and to make it clear I do not think Oldham was a closet Stoke supporter, there were two good penalty shouts for Stoke in the second half. Both times I thought (because of his apparent bias) he would give, but didn't.

 

The part of his performance that said he was not up to our was how often he was in the way of play. The ball hit him at least once and he was getting in the way of players. Positioning must be one of the basics of being a ref and he could not do that.

There was also a period where he seemed to completely lose control, after the red, where he missed the most obvious handball I have seen in a long time.


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Like someone said on the main match thread, I thought he was fine for the first half hour or so. If I had to pinpoint the moment he lost the plot it was the yellow card he gave to Kone. The high boot call was harsh but probably right by the letter of the law, even though Kone was in control of and advancing with the ball and the Stoke player just jumped in the way. But to book Kone too showed a lack of understanding of the game and the players on both sides seemed to sense it. Hence he lost control and never really regained it.

As you say, the hysteria takes over a bit and the crowd reaction, while fun to be part of, was a mix of spot on sometimes and at other times pretty silly in response to some genuine 50/50 calls. I thought Stoke were far more streetwise at winning freekicks than some of our players - Martins, Asprilla and Kone in particular are often fouled but atrocious at showing it and making it impossible for the ref to say no. Often they flop to the ground in a completely unconvincing way.

Suspect he went home pretty disappointed in him own performance, whatever we think.

 

It's hard to know what goes on in the mind of a referee......he might even enjoy the notoriety......"look it's all about me"......I know Michael Oliver operated like this on his climb up the ladder. But for me, a good referee is one you don't notice.

For an entire stadium to be so anti an official then we all know something is not right. That just doesn't happen, so there was something wrong in his performance for sure. Right from the start walking out with the two teams, he didn't know where to stand and Hoet had to tell to walk to the far side of the pitch. He just wasn't up to the required standard, and I hope he is seriously looked at by his bosses and his performance reviewed.

 

5 minutes after that we should have been given another corner but neither the ref or the linesman gave it.

 

Kone's foot wasn't even high though, if I recall correctly it was at knee height max. McNally had just dived head first in to the challenge low to the ground (and even then didn't reach the ball), that's the only reason Kone's foot came anywhere near his head.

 

Definitely not biased. Just incompetent and arrogant. Wanted to be one of the lads to start with, and let as much go as possible, trying to make light of any appeals with a knowing laugh. When it became apparent that he needed to act, he tended to get things wrong and he hated being questioned. As Wycombe said, his positioning was poor, which also undermined his authority.

A referee who wants to have a strong presence and allow the game to flow is fine by me, and clearly that’s what his body language suggested to start with. But there’s a fine line between having that strong, authoritative presence, and being dictated to by your need to be right in all circumstances. A referee can make the wrong call from time to time and still have a good game. This guy didn’t cope with his own mistakes.

As wfc4ever mentioned, he also felt the need to overrule his assistants early on (at least twice as I remember). His calls may or may not have been correct. But I think it was another method of showing his authority which backfired. The other officials can also have fragile egos to throw into the mix and add to the mess. VI got himself booked. Was that because of the 4th official or the referee? Showing a card to a manager is classic posturing in my opinion. Must be very few occasions when that’s really necessary.

 

Im pretty sure as well that Kone withdrew his foot before he came close to McNally. But could be wrong on that.

 

I think I said this on the Shoutbox, but it might have been one of our staff who said something but couldn't be identified - so VI gets the yellow card as a default.
As you say though, unless it's an Arteta style rant then it can often be difficult to see why technical area occupants get themselves in trouble

 

On the Kone high boot I'm only going on my recollection from watching live. Happy to concede I'm wrong if it wasn't even a foul. Though the point really is even if the ref thought it was, it should never have been a yellow in the context it happened.

 

Sadly the WyScout feed is the raw footage (so no replays that you'd get with "broadcast footage" aka the footage we see on Hive Live etc). It's possible to clip up the worst bits but we're missing a lot of context without the closeup replays etc.

 

No worries mate. Whatever you can do would be much appreciated. Just the moments that riled the fans to keep a record of how he performed.

 

He's already posted the video of the whole 90 minutes

 

He's one of those refs who believes he cannot be wrong and refuses to listen to anybody. There was a point in the second half where Hoedt, as captain, asked to speak to him and he flat refused to even entertain the idea. He was awful and appreciate I'm biased but I'm struggling to remember anything worse

 

There have been many anti-Watford referees over the years. One of the worst offenders is Kevin Friend. But Rob Styles, Roger Milford, that Luton tw&t who always wears orange, Michael Oliver (in his early days), Andy Madley, Lee Probert, Jeff Winter and Graham Scott are all in the hall of shame.

 

Thank you, I was trying to remember the name.
Rob Styles was the worst in my memory. Watford v Blackburn 20 odd years ago. Down to 9 men I think. GT was manager and he was appalled, like everyone in the stadium apart from Blackburn. Unbelievably poor referee. That definitely felt biased to me at the time.

Was Probert the one who bought Bournemouth’s antics and sent Angella off in something like 11 minutes? Terrible decision, still rankles.

 

Yes, Probert was that man. Think it was in the first minute the Angella sending off.

 

Certainly not anti-Watford, probably couldn't give a **** about our club but my word he was absolutely awful.

 

I disagree about some of the list but Styles was persistent, every time he came to the Vic he would send one or two off.

 

I still rate Atwell as the worst. Refs make mistakes when decisions are arbitrary and sometimes they get fouls wrong or award dodgy penalties. But to award a goal when the ball went wide and when no opposition player was celebrating etc was, and I’m sure always will be, the worst decision ever seen at the Vic.

He’s barely improved now either imo.

 

I think he sent Page and Helguson off in the first half and we lost 1-0 but I might have misremembered.
But Styles was absolutely awful, think it was 5 reds in 4 games at one stage, or similar.

 

11 minutes? It was 26 seconds…!

Overturned on appeal.

 

The yellow for handball followed minutes later by the non yellow for handball in exactly the same place. That one was quite simply moronic.

 

What about nothing even being said to the Stoke player who threw the Watford player to the ground towards the end of the game so he could take the free kick quickly. A little shove out of the way would of been acceptable, but you can't just throw people to the ground and not even get spoken too by the ref.

 

Rumour has it he arrived at the ground all Billy Big Bo110x and demanded some extra complimentary tickets for friends he’d invited along. He took extreme umbrage at being told he could have the usual quantity but would have to pay for any others.
Then the game started…

 

Very interesting. I wonder what Watford will report.

 

I was alluding to Styles and the Blackburn fiasco…

 

Oh, that's a shame. Sorry I misunderstood.

I recently had a WhatsApp request for help from a relative. To show it was genuine, he ended with "BTW, Rob Styles is an arseh*le".

 

Where? I hear people talk about a safe but not sure whether it’s just referring to the red helmet ?!?

 

Now come on Scott, I’m not going to tell you that am I?

 

You've not mis remembered. Page off for a professional foul, where he made a simply wonderful tackle. Rookery up with applause for it quickly turning to disbelief that he'd given a foul then vitriol at the red. Shortly after HH, who was also TBF a bit riled up, slipped coming in for a challenge and slid into a Blackburn player. Perhaps these days it was a reckless foul but was so clearly an accident. Styles instantly pulled the card out.

The Stoke ref was just quite poor. Maybe just a bit of pressure as it was his first game. There were numerous times he got the handling wrong and the consequences were worse than he expected. The Bayo red was because he didn't stop for the foul. In his head he thought playing on was in

 

Careful chaps. This guy could be an undercover internet detective.
Definitely all relates to the red helmet.

 

Is it bad I thought that was Harry Hornet for an amusing couple of seconds?