Sorry- I meant Salisbury.
Oh really. I never knew that. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never really understood why a referee wouldn’t stay on the FIFA list when moving like this. It isn’t like Jared Gillet suddenly became a worse referee because he moved from Australia to Liverpool. I said the same thing when Ali Faghani moved to Australia from Iran.
Because, for better or worse, FIFA badges are by country And countries have a cap. Why should the refs working their way up be bounced down the ladder because someone wants to move to the country (which could be someone who never would have been able to get that far up the ladder in the destination coI try.
But there's no real good reason he couldn't have been put in England's top flight. That's a circular argument.
SG2 is the highest that a referee moving from abroad has ever been placed as far as I am aware. Bobby Madden was a FIFA referee but was only put in Leagues 1 and 2, and I know of other FIFA referees who have come in as L3 or even L4. There's a world of difference in refereeing in the EPL and the A-League , the standard of football is vastly difference. If he had been put in SG1 and had a nightmare PGMOL would have been blamed, and it could have even destroyed his confidence and English career before it had even got going.
Or he could have taken to it like a duck to water (as he seemingly has every time they've actually tried moving him up a notch in England) and not spent 4 years treading water just to get back to the games he should have been doing in the first place.
That doesn't take away from the pretty much indisputable fact that the standard of football in the SPL and A-League is probably more aligned to the Championship than Premier League. If a FIFA referee from, as an example, Gibraltar moved to England, Spain or France, do you really think they would be placed in the top division? Absolutely no chance in my opinion.
www.bbc.co.uk
Fairly clear that Madden in part credits a drop in the standard of football as a factor in why he struggled to engage with it. Believe him or not, or argue that he deserved to be at that level - that's still a direct quote when asked why he's retiring early, because the football and the support structures around it were that much worse than he was used to. We know that for a fact, whereas your assumption that Championship football would have been too difficult for him is nothing more than speculation.
What did he expect, he must have watched English football and known what the standard was like? Although I'm not convinced that the top of league 1 is a whole lot different to the bottom of the SPL standard wise. I just don't buy that argument, a higher level referee should always be able to breeze lower levels, so if he is saying he struggled due to the lower standard of football that fully backs my argument.Retiring Madden 'frustrated' with English system
Referee Bobby Madden is retiring a year early after growing "frustrated" with the English system.
Fairly clear that Madden in part credits a drop in the standard of football as a factor in why he struggled to engage with it. Believe him or not, or argue that he deserved to be at that level - that's still a direct quote when asked why he's retiring early, because the football and the support structures around it were that much worse than he was used to. We know that for a fact, whereas your assumption that Championship football would have been too difficult for him is nothing more than speculation.
As for Gillet - going from doing 4 consecutive A-league grand finals in 40-50k seater stadiums and various internationals to the PL where average attendance is around 40k? That's not a wild step up in scale and he was also almost immediately trusted with PL VAR duties. I don't really believe anyone had any doubts about his ability or fitness and he's clearly proven capable over time - which is why it feels like unnecessary hoops and hurdles. And they're still ongoing because yes, despite being put in SG1 2 years ago, I said 4 years because if you look at his games he's still not getting any real prime appointments.
And does being SG2 plus a PL VAR really give you much more free time than being SG1? And if that really were a concern, why would he accept promotion after 2 years? That's clearly again just baseless speculation.
Random hypothetical referee Dave from Gibraltar has nothing to do with this, at no point did I say we should just throw any FIFA badge referee into Old Trafford. Decisions can be made on a case-by-case basis at this level, but PGMOL/the FA being overly-cautious is actively harmful because it will deter quality referees from making the move they otherwise might. If Szymon Marciniak needed to move to the UK next season, would you make him take the Gillet route?
