The Martin Dobson column

I DON'T suppose the controversy surrounding referees and their assistants will ever go away.

Whatever the standard of football or quality of player, more often than not someone, somewhere, will blame the referee for a defeat - and it's not only the managers who are quick to vent their feelings.

Normally mild-mannered fans will suddenly spring from their seats to shout abuse to the man in the middle.

And has it really got to the stage when clubs can dictate who the officials will be?

Apparently, Barry Knight was selected for the recent Bolton Wanderers v Aston Villa Premiership game but, after pressure was applied from the home club, a change was made.

Knight officiated in Bolton's 2000 play off semi-final against Ipswich when he awarded 12 yellow and two red cards against Bolton and three penalties for Ipswich. Maybe they had a point.

Generally though, why is the referee such a vilified character?

Was he always treated with such disdain, or is it just a new phenomenon that goes with modern times?

I met Keith Hackett, appointed in 2001 as general manager of the Professional Game Match Official Limited (PGMOL), the organisation that provides officials for all professional matches played in England.

Hackett was a respected referee in the 1970s and he oversees the development and training of match officials.

He told me: "I feel we have a great number of top class referees and the change to professionalism was exactly right. Even in the short term we will see the benefits.

"But the same old problems, like diving, come to the surface and new initiatives take a little while for the fans and players to interpret."

Since the retirements of Jeff Winter, Graham Barber and Paul Durkin last year, Hackett maintains that Mike Riley and Graham Poll have set the targets for the rest to follow.

Is this the same Mike Riley who was lambasted by the media for his handling of the controversial Man Utd v Arsenal fixture a few weeks ago?

Arsene Wenger openly criticised him but was that just a case of sour grapes from the Arsenal manager after the disappointment of losing their first game in 50?

Jeff Winter suggested it was almost impossible to referee certain games.

He was quoted as saying: "The players and managers have got double standards.

"It's all about winning and sportsmanship has just gone out of the game. What happens if a team is awarded a penalty?

"The manager says he didn't see the incident but the referee was well placed. If the decision goes the other way they are crying blue murder."

David Allison is a full-time divisional manager, under the direction of Hackett, and is responsible for seven of our top referees.

Every two weeks he has a one-to-one meeting with each of them to discuss every game they have officiated during that time.

They will go through match reports and look at tapes to analyse disputed incidents.

He told me: "I wouldn't agree with Jeff that it's impossible to referee some games but I must admit it is becoming more difficult.

"There is simply no hiding place for the referee. The pressures are much greater and you can never take the human element out of the game. Mistakes will be made.

"Before the season we did feel that, perhaps, there had been too many yellow cards for what was best described as minor incidents but we still had to nail potential career-threatening offences like reckless tackles."

Allison officiated in the same era as Hackett and he is saddened that some of the humour has gone out of the game. Now it's all very serious.

"I remember reffing one game and at 7pm there was a tremendous downpour," he added.

"Most of the fans had already paid their money so even though one or two places were waterlogged, I decided the game was on.

"Afterwards one of the players came over to me and said 'The first half was okay, ref, but we struggled in the second half when we had to play against the tide.'"

Even the best sometimes get it wrong.

Allison remembers: "The Aston Villa v Birmingham derby in 1983 was a real battle.

'They were kicking lumps out of each other and on reflection it wasn't a great game for myself.

"After the game an old guy came in with a cup of tea and I must have looked a bit down.

"'Eh, cheer up, ref,' he said. 'It can't be that bad every week. You're bound to get a few postponements.'"