Refs: "You've been done!"

01 February 2003

According to an article in The Sun or Saturday, top referee Philip Don has admitted that Albion have been getting a raw deal from referees. Don admitted he has called the game's 24 elite referees together to review some of the decisions that have gone against the club and has discussed the situation with their secretary, Dr John Evans. Dr John is quoted as saying

"We made our own video after the Newcastle match, where we were denied what appeared a clear penalty and Newcastle benefited from a debatable back-pass decision. Mr Don was quite sympathetic and said from viewing the videos he'd noted a number of incidents where he thought we were unfortunate."

The article goes on to mention retired top-class referee Mike Shelley, a lifelong Baggies fan, who has also made complaints to Mr Don and his organisation, saying that poor decisions have cost Albion as much as ten points this season. Shelley stated:

"There must be a temptation, conscious or otherwise, to avoid aggravating the top clubs, who have most influence over which referees get the best marks. Upsetting clubs like West Brom may not matter - they could be back in the First Division next season but you know the likes of Manchester United are staying put."

Will it make any difference? Is it too late anyway? Unfortunately, TV replays were of no help in deciding whether Jason Roberts' sending-off on Saturday was correct or not - so the jury's still out.

Previous Stories:

  30 January 2003:  Transfer humiliation

  23 January 2003:  Sneekes calls it a day

  22 January 2003:  Oops Udeze

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