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TERRY-IFICALLY BAD BEHAVIOUR 13-12-07
Jeff Winter
It would be easy just to fill this column with superlatives following the performance against Arsenal.
Hey, maybe this guy Southgate does actually have a clue after all! Even the knockers and the doubters must have been impressed this weekend.
It's still a long way to go but I will reiterate what I have said before - Southgate has the makings of a very good manager and I hope that we get to see the benefits of it.
Hopefully everyone will now get behind Gareth and the team and stop knocking. Then again, knowing the Boro we will lose at Derby and be back in the crap again.
However, I will leave the Boro alone this week and just bask in the glory of a magnificent performance.
Having had so many emails on the following subject recently, I feel that I must respond.
After last weekend Roy Keane suggested that you can't tackle the England captain. Well you can, but I know what he means. Of late he is running riot and it could all have been nipped in the bud.
Last season, my old colleague Graham Poll sent him off and then explained in his autobiography that he felt that the FA let him and all other refs down by not taking firmer action against Terry and his club.
I know exactly where GP is coming from. It probably would have been a little embarrassing for the FA to have to deal with their own "Captain".
At the Boro on Sunday I spoke to one of the country's top journalists. He told me that a few at the FA would not be too disappointed if the next England Head Coach, when appointed, selected a new captain.
JT certainly seems to be a little lawless at the moment. A week ago, his attempted throttling of an opponent went unpunished and this week he forced his head up close and personal into a Sunderland player after the dismissal of Liam Miller.
Added to this is his regular cavalry charges towards referees and the conclusion you must draw is that it is hardly behaviour that you would expect from the captain of England.
As regular users of my website know, I write an article each week for Zoo magazine correcting goals and results when mistakes have been made by officials.
It is dead easy being the ref from the comfort of your armchair but it is all a bit of fun and at the end of the season we will see if those decisions really do even themselves out.
I am often castigated for taking the side of the referee. Well old habits die hard but I do try and give a balanced view. You cannot defend the indefensible but you can put forward reasons and opinions that perhaps explain some decisions.
Of late, however, I must admit that I have been at a loss to explain why some decisions have been made.
The two footed tackles that are not being punished with red cards amaze me and also the growing feeling that big clubs are being given the favour of decisions is difficult to defend.
I don't mind giving an opinion but remember just because I was once a referee, it does not make it my fault that mistakes are being made now. Hey, perhaps I was not as bad as some of you thought!! Ha ha!!
I just wish that referees would be stronger and perhaps, if they felt they had the support of their bosses, they might be!!
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