But it’s not really my point.

If you want to punish Styles, that’s fine. He didn’t have a good game and everyone knows it, and yes, Charlie, referees have to be accountable for their actions.

Styles isn’t a young referee; he’s been around the block a few times. He’s been working Premier League games since 2000, and has been a FIFA referee since 2002. What is the end game for him being demoted to League Two? He doesn’t need any more experience, he doesn’t need the extra paycheck.

The only thing you’re doing by demoting him is embarrassing him and when he returns to the Premiership, you can bet that he’ll be an easy target for players and managers.

As I said, I would agree that he should be disciplined for the game he had. I don’t think that discipline needs to be made public though, I think it can be kept in-house, and it’s not necessary to send him down to League Two; there’s no point in that. If you want to discipline him, just don’t schedule him this weekend in the Premiership. Nine other referees are in the pool to replace him, so you could take Styles out quietly without embarrassing him.

Sit Styles down for a weekend, discuss what he needed to correct and can work on for future games, but don’t send the guy down to League Two. He’s a very experienced referee and this just makes him look amateurish and incapable in the public’s eye, when this isn’t the case. Every referee has a bad game once in a while, just like every player does, and you don’t see Premiership players loaned out to League Two teams after a bad performance.

“Mr. (Mike) Riley, take yourself and your big nose right off the soccer field and don’t come back, thanks. He has no business being a Premiership referee if he’s going to be as inconsistent as he was today.”

There are people out there who would say the same thing about Rob Styles as you did Mike Riley.

One of the penalty appeals United didn’t get — the trip in the area — was 50-50. But the other one should have been a no-brainer. Styles missed a blatant, no-doubt-about-it handball in the box.

This isn’t a Sunday beer league, it’s the Barclays Premier League, and there’s a hell of a lot on the line. Had United dropped all three points to Blackburn, Brad Friedel (who was fantastic) would have found himself sharing headlines with Styles for completely bottling that call.

I’m all for respecting officials, but I’m also for making sure the officials on the pitch are qualified and capable of *consistently* doing the job to the best of their abilities. Clearly, this isn’t happening with some officials. As the newspaper article you’ve quoted points out, Styles has already been sanctioned by the FA once this season for a poor performance.

If the FA is going to hold players and staff accountable with this new respect initiative, it has to hold the officials accountable as well. Not doing so creates a double-standard, where officials will be perceived as right even when they’re obviously wrong, and before you know it we’ll end up right back at Square One when another player goes ballistic on a ref.

If this accountability for one’s actions (or in Styles’ case, inaction) means he has to “lower himself” to work a League Two match, then so be it. The officials can’t have their cake and eat it too.

As for this issue. Surely there is a championship match he can officiate? Heck, I’ll take him in the middle at Leicester this weekend.