EPL Talk » stuart attwell

Ashley Cole Can’t Keep His Mouth Shut While Liverpool Is Overpriced

Johnathan Starling — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:28:34 +0000

So we have another Premier League footballer in trouble with the law. Chelsea defender Ashley Cole early Thursday morning decided after a night out doing charity work, that he would decide to have a little too much booze and then get into a one sided yelling match with the police. The police won when they arrested him on drunk and disorderly, letting him go after only paying an eighty pound fine.

So what does Chelsea do here? According to Chelsea’s club rules, they can fine up to two weeks wages (in Ashley Cole’s case, a nice sum of 164,000). The Times is reporting he’s been fined the max, The Sun though is saying Ashley Cole is going to be let off the hook because Hiddink doesn’t want to make an example of Cole.

The eighty pound fine from the police was probably paid in petty cash from Cole’s pocket. With the FA Cup on Saturday, Ashely wasn’t going to play. What does that mean? Well it means, depending on the source you want to believe in, Ashley Cole got away with only paying eighty quid. Maybe Fabio Capello for punishment could keep him out of the England squad for a while. Then again, that might not be punishment for someone on 82,000 a week.

The other big story involves sale talks gone bad with regards to Liverpool. It would appear that the 500 million pound price tag put on the club by Hicks and Gillett is just a little too high. High enough that the talks have come to a screeching halt.

Considering the circumstances right now, I tend to agree with the Kuwait group. The economy is atrocious, and the two co-owners don’t exactly see eye to eye. If there was any big club where you could pull off a low-ball offer, right now Liverpool is it.

So what should Liverpool go for? In this situation, I don’t see the club being sold for a penny over 350 million pounds. At that price, don’t expect the club being sold anytime soon.

Other Stories
Can Everton please catch a break? The latest player out the rest of the season is Victor Anichebe. He’ll be undergoing exploratory surgery on his right knee.

Sepp Blatter has opened his mouth again. After claiming the strength of the Premier League is damaging other domestic leagues, Blatter then stated that he has Sir Alex’s support of the 6+5 rule. I wonder if Ferguson will confirm that in public, because I haven’t seen it.

Friday is judgment day for Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson. He’ll find out from an Icelandic court if he has more time to sell West Ham United. Even then, June would be the next deadline. The problem will be finding someone who will pay 200 million for the club. Considering the situation Gudmundsson is in, he’ll be lucky to get 75.

Mark Hughes is warning Man City’s players to qualify for Europe…or else. Or else what Hughes, you’re looking for a new club while City’s owners eye up Arsene Wenger? While we know Wenger isn’t going to leave Arsenal for Manchester City, it did make Cesc Fabregas over react by saying he’d quit Arsenal if Wenger left.

Well the Stuart Attwell fallout has begun. This weekend he’ll be the fourth official between Bury and Rochdale in League Two. He’s also facing the ire of columnist. Nick Szczepanik feels that Attwell’s rapid rise has set him up for a big fall. Paul Wilson asks if Attwell is the worst referee in Premier League history?

And finally, Richard Scudamore insists that the 39th game overseas will happen. Just shut up about it please! This is one of those ideas that is fine on paper, but horrific in execution.

Ronaldo v Taylor and the LMA Makes Recommendations About Refs

Johnathan Starling — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:02:05 +0000

So the big story that will be blown out of proportion from United’s 2-1 victory over Newcastle is the war of words at halftime between Cristiano Ronaldo and Stephen Taylor. Nothing too serious, Ronaldo calling Taylor a rubbish footballer and Taylor in grand reply going ‘well you are ugly’ like some high school girl would say to another in the middle of a junior high spat. Why this is a story I’ll never know.

So the League Managers’ Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association have got together to come up with some recommendations about referees. I have to say some of the recommendations aren’t all bad. The main ones include setting up a way of formalizing complaints and feedback between club and ref, and having the top two divisions use licensed referees with video analysis after every game. You can read the rest of the things recommended here.

Harry Redknapp is telling his Spurs players to lay off the booze, even if they stay in the top flight. I wonder if that comes with random BAC checks?

Who would have thought it would be James Beattie heading Stoke City’s fight for survival?

Fulham are opening up contract talks with Brede Hangleand to make sure he stays a Cottager. Good idea.

Here’s the latest red top Manchester City fodder. Spending 100 million quid to sign Messi in the summer. Remember the source on this one folks.

Thank you Jose Mourinho for stating the bloody obvious when you say Manchester United will win the title.

West Ham will be without the services of Valon Behrami for the rest of the season.

And finally, Gianfranco Zola and Steve Bruce have two totally different observations about the refereeing of Stuart Attwell. One backs him, the other says he’s not ready. I’ll let you figure out which one said what.

Guide To 2008/2009 Premier League Referees

The Gaffer — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:30:18 +0000

They’re the men in black that you love to hate, but someone has to do the job. Here’s EPL Talk’s guide to the Premier League referees for the 2008/2009 season (click on the referee’s name to view his photograph):

Martin Atkinson. Premier League ref since 2005. Age 37. On August 13, 2006 he took charge of the FA Community Shield match at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Liverpool and Chelsea.

Stuart Attwell. Premier League ref since 2008/2009 season. Youngest ever Premier League referee at 25 years of age.

Steve Bennett. Premier League referee since 1999. Age 47. Bennett was involved in some controversy when he refereed the Manchester United versus Liverpool Premier League encounter on March 23, 2008. He sent off Liverpool’s Argentine Midfielder Javier Mascherano for a second bookable offence.

Mark Clattenburg. Premier League ref since 2004. Age 33. He became a FIFA referee in 2006, at the age of only thirty, reaching this distinction earlier than any English referee in living memory.

Michael Dean. Premier League ref since 2000. Age 40. He was originally appointed to referee the 2006 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium on May 13, 2006, but the Football Association took the unusual step of replacing him with Alan Wiley after concerns were raised about his ability to be impartial towards Liverpool, who are based near Dean’s home town in the Wirral.

Phil Dowd. Premier League ref since 2001. Age 45. He was heavily criticised by Wigan’s then manager, Paul Jewell, and their owner, Dave Whelan, following his performance in the club’s Premiership match with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on February 11, 2007.

Chris Foy. Premier League ref since 2001. Age 45. On February 3, 2008, Foy removed the Fulham mascot, Billy the Badger, from the playing area for breakdancing on it during their 2-1 home win over Aston Villa.

Mark Halsey. Premier League referee since 1999. Age 47. His first match in the EPL was the 1-1 draw between Wimbledon and Coventry City on August 14, 1999.

Michael Jones. Premier League ref since 2008/2009 season. Age 40.

Andre Marriner. Premier League ref since 2005. Age 37. He was given his first Premiership match on 13 November 2004 – the 4-0 home win by Charlton Athletic over Norwich City.

Lee Mason. Premier League ref since 2006. Age 36. His first ever match in that league as man-in-the-middle came on 4 February 2006, when Middlesbrough lost 4-0 at home to Aston Villa,

Mike Riley. Premier League ref since 1996. Age 43. During the first half of the home match against Newcastle on 30 April 2007 Kingsley Royal, the Reading club mascot, was sent from the field by the referee for standing too close to the pitch.

Keith Stroud. Premier League ref since 2007. Age 38. He was ‘trialed’ for the Premier League, being given the match on March 17, 2007 between Middlesbrough and Manchester City at the Riverside Stadium.

Rob Styles. Premier League ref since 2000. Age 44. On August 19, 2007, Styles refereed the Premier League game between Liverpool and Chelsea, where a controversial penalty was awarded by him to Chelsea Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez was quoted as saying that the decision was ‘unbelievable’. “That decision is impossible to explain, it was the invisible penalty” said Benítez after the 1–1 draw.

Steve Tanner. Premier League referee since 2007. Age 37. On January 1 2008 he was added to the FIFA list of referees, replacing Graham Poll, allowing him to referee in international and continental competitions.

Peter Walton. Premier League ref since 2003. Age 48. His first ever Premiership match in charge was the 4-3 home win by Wolverhampton Wanderers over Leicester City at Molineux on 25 October 2003.

Howard Webb. Premier League referee since 2003. Age 37. Refereed at Euro 2008 but was not selected to referee the knock-out stages.

Alan Wiley. Premier League since 1999. Age 48. He took charge of the FA Cup Final on May 13, 2006 when Liverpool played West Ham United at Wembley.