Graham Poll

[glasgow sheep]

I see he has a whole programme devoted to him tonight, now infact on BBC1 with Gabby.

[Nespa]

Must admit i thought he was a complete tool! but doesnt seem that bad!! under alot of Pressure!!

 

.....but why could he say why he sent McFadden off but couldnt when it was John Terry!!??

[cgs1706]

Egotistical git or just a twat?

 

Egotistical twat.

[Drew Peacock]

Must admit i thought he was a complete tool! but doesnt seem that bad!! under alot of Pressure!!

 

.....but why could he say why he sent McFadden off but couldnt when it was John Terry!!??

 

Not sure mate, but i think he was well and truly hung out to dry by Moyes on that one.

 

Well, i changed my views on him last night. Thought he was a bit of a wanker before, but the stuff he had to deal with for doing his job from the media and the like was totally unbelievable.

 

Obviously he had a nightmare at the Croatia V Australia game at the world cup, but the reaction he got in the press after that, and the games following when he was back in the Premiership, was pretty unbelievable.

 

Good guy IMO, who the media made out to be otherwise.

[bucky_loon]

He's on 5live just now, seems to making some good points...

[sheep_shagger]

Referees have got a hard job but sometimes it seemed as if he was inviting more and more criticism on himself.

[BTR]

Never saw the programme but I always thought he seemed to come across OK, always seemed to try to joke about with players and things rather than stand aloof like most other referees. Players tend to have more respect for refs who stay on their level. Of course he's made mistakes (World Cup howler of course), but probably none more than any other ref.

[Drew Peacock]

After McFadden chased him 40 yards and shouted "You f*cking Cheat" at him, he sent him off, which is fair enough IMO. I would also choose to believe Poll about what was said over McFadden as opposed to the player himself.

 

It then showed the back pages of most of the papers the next day with headlines like "The Thing form Tring ruins things again" or words to that effect, decrying Poll for sending off McFadden. Three f*cking pages in one paper about how useless Graham Poll is and how he just sent off McFadden to spoil the game for everyone.

 

Bloody nosense - another case the media's love for breaking people more than making them unfortunately. I doubt that would have happened but for his horror game at the World Cup - yes, it was a beauty of a mistake he made, but he wasn't the first to f*ck up and he certainly won't be the last.

[K-9]

Egotistical twat for me. Always had to be centre of attention in every game he refereed (badly).

[sheep_shagger]

After McFadden chased him 40 yards and shouted "You f*cking Cheat" at him, he sent him off, which is fair enough IMO. I would also choose to believe Poll about what was said over McFadden as opposed to the player himself.

 

It then showed the back pages of most of the papers the next day with headlines like "The Thing form Tring ruins things again" or words to that effect, decrying Poll for sending off McFadden. Three f*cking pages in one paper about how useless Graham Poll is and how he just sent off McFadden to spoil the game for everyone.

 

Bloody nosense - another case the media's love for breaking people more than making them unfortunately. I doubt that would have happened but for his horror game at the World Cup - yes, it was a beauty of a mistake he made, but he wasn't the first to f*ck up and he certainly won't be the last.

 

As much as the papers took that incident way too far, i would still believe McFadden.

[BobbyBiscuit]

Never saw the programme but I always thought he seemed to come across OK, always seemed to try to joke about with players and things rather than stand aloof like most other referees. Players tend to have more respect for refs who stay on their level. Of course he's made mistakes (World Cup howler of course), but probably none more than any other ref.

 

I think that presents it's own problems as well, as he'd said that players of one team told their manager that Poll was calling John Terry "JT" during a match. The manager complained as he was being over familiar and he had to stop it. Poll agreed that he shouldn't have been so "pally".

 

I have to say that I've never liked Poll, but he came across quite well last night. However, as much as some of the criticism was way OTT, he has to accept that people will get on your back if you make extremely bad mistakes as he did, it's the nature of his job and it would have been extremely naive of him to think he wouldnt get any stick.

 

Fans singing "World Cup, and you f*cked it up" is hardly unbelievably personal slaggings, is it? Fans sing songs about players wives and which orifice she prefers "it" in, and the players just get on with it.

 

Poll should dry his eyes. He was a pain in the arse as a ref, hardly ever let the game flow and it always appeared he wanted to be the centre of attention.

[Guest TenementFunster]

I agree pretty much with all of what you said BB.

 

Had McCurry been so pally with Barry Ferguson we'd . . . er, oh wait . . .

 

Had McCurry made a howlers like Poll we'd . . . oh wait . . .

 

He knows the job and the stick that potentially goes with it. He made a quite a few errors it would seem and whilst some of the criticism was a bit much and personal he has to remember he was plying his trade in the best league in the world.

 

It should be borne in mind he is a professional ref and doesn't have to have another job unlike our refs, so really that leaves him very, very little latitude for mistakes.