The Archive

As he reaches the compulsory retirement age for Premiership referees, Barnsley official Stephen Lodge spoke to Mike Ticher about the pressure and pleasures of modern refereeing, the impact of recent law changes and the new career of Neil Midgely 

What has been the single biggest change in refereeing since you came on to the League list in 1987?
There’s far more professionalism, both on and off the field. Far more time is spent on training. Expectations are a lot higher now, mainly because referees have become a household name since the advent of the Sky contract, which has raised the profile of everybody involved. A lot of supporters might disagree, but I think the standard at Premiership level is going up, largely thanks to the in-service training the referees receive and the fitness programmes which are structured for individuals by the FA at Lilleshall. Three or four weekends a year we’re taken away for meetings together where we look at videos and attempt to become somewhere near 100 per cent consistent with each other. The professionalism now is much greater.

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Tuesday 1 The FA pull out of financing the new Wembley, claiming that it could bankrupt them, and ask for government assistance. “It is not right for us to act as sole sponsor of the scheme,” says Adam Crozier. Plans for a new stadium in the midlands may now be revived. Gary McAllister’s fifth goal in as many games helps Liverpool to a 2-0 win at Bradford. Huddersfield move five points clear of the relegation zone in the First Division with a 1-1 draw at Wimbledon (whose fans probably wouldn’t have minded losing). Rushden (and, of course, Diamonds) are promoted to the League after rivals Yeovil lose to a last-minute goal at home to Hereford.

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The job of refereeing is being made even more difficult than before because players and managers increasingly refuse to admit when they are in the wrong, says Philip Cornwall

Anyone who doubts how much pressure referees are under these days needed only to listen to David O’Leary explain just why his Leeds team had failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League, after they came up one point short of Liverpool’s total. It all came back to the fact that in the last minute of their match with Manchester United on March 3, with the score at 1-1, a Wes Brown own goal was disallowed for offside. “Those two points have cost us. One man’s decision has made a big difference to us.”

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Mike Ticher thumbs through some of the classics of ref literature and finds a world of egotists and backstabbers

One of the first referees to write his autobiography (assisted by Kenneth Wolstenholme) also had one of the best stories to tell. At 37, Arthur Ellis was the youngest Wembley Cup final referee when he oversaw Newcastle v Arsenal in 1952, ran the line in the final match of the 1950 World Cup in front of 200,000 at the Maracana and was in charge of the notorious “Battle of Berne” (Brazil v Hungary) in the 1954 World Cup.

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Continuing our series about extinct competitions, Jim Heath glances wistfully back at the Texaco Cup, which briefly gripped parts of Scotland and the west midlands 

The Texaco Cup will always hold a special place in the hearts of Wolves fans whose team were its first winners, exactly 30 years ago. It marked the beginning of a very successful and eventful era for the club, one which only lasted a couple of years but was loads more fun than supporting them now.

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