That's a little cart leading the horse there don't you think? He's a quirky referee who from what little I've seen of him, has been very inconsistent in his decision making, and extremely consistent in his derisory attitude to players and unclear communication of decisions.
Lauding him because his style may or may not have had an influence on other referees is a significant logical leap for a start, and also comes across as very generous given that even you have to admit he's having a poor tournament. I'm far from convinced that he should be highlighted as an example to follow - much closer to the opposite in fact!
What I'm saying is that his display in The Champions League Final was one of the best Refereeing performances I've seen in many years
Anyone who has the potential to do that on near enough the biggest stage has to be given immense credit
I accept that he has a chequered record over the years and he's had a poor tournament. However, I'm personally confident that 'the suits' were influenced by that game to the extent that there's causality regarding instructions given to Referees in these Euros
We know that Referees (in the EPL and any other Tournament) don't officiate as they'd like to, rather they collectively follow mandates from their employers to achieve consistency. What we've seen is the Referees taking more control of games by not allowing themselves to be influenced by players buying soft free kicks all over the park. We've also seen the efforts of players to control the game dismissed by Referees from the very start. It was only three or four games in when I called it...
see post 22 ... That's how marked the change was and the style has persisted throughout
Now I/we don't know the exact mandates given to Refs for the Euros, I/we can only surmise what was said and where it came from. However, I/we can say that it came from somewhere... and I'm confident the ECL Final was a big factor (such was the success of that game and the short time sice it happened)
Evolution... he ain't the best Ref in the world, he'd get his head taken off on Hackney Marshes, but he did step out of the shadows with his own style and I think some of his 'extreme methods' have positively influenced the game. We rarely, if ever, see a Referee do things so differently. That's why we rarely see aspects of 'their' game prevail