Referee Rob Styles has been sent to football’s naughty corner. He won’t be punished with lines or detention but he has been banished by the FA’s top brass to the Premier League’s sin bin.

Styles, who also happens to be a wealthy surveyor, dropped a clanger over the weekend. The men in black are renowned for their so-called indiscretions but poor Styles gave Chelsea a non-existent penalty against Liverpool.

For many years now, fans and pundits alike have savaged referees for gross incompetence. Now, short of having eyes in their back of their heads, they can only be in one place at a time.

'Styles was just the latest ref to be verbally attacked and then exposed as a bumbling fool'


Controversial goals are the bane of a referee’s life and the calls for a third referee or video technology seem to be getting louder. Hawkeye, the video third-eye system used at Wimbledon, has been successfully implemented. So why don’t they use Hawkeye for football?

The point is that when Florent Malouda dived theatrically for Chelsea in the penalty area, referee Styles must have been looking at Jose Mourinho’s shoes.

This is not the first time a referee has been insulted and humiliated by the Great British public. Over the years, this bossy sergeant major with a whistle in his mouth has been a figure of both fun and ridicule.

During the 1978 World Cup finals, Welsh referee Clive Thomas antagonised the whole of Brazil. With the final kick of a group game against Sweden, the South Americans were given a corner. From the resultant set piece the boys from Brazil thought they’d scored. Thomas, however, had already blown the final whistle.

Now Thomas was never a shy and retiring wallflower and you always felt that he somehow thrived on the publicity. When Clive booked a player in the old First Division, the finger would be wagged and the riot act read.

Among the other military figures in the middle were Pat Partridge, Keith Hackett and the policeman Jack Taylor. Naturally anybody who argued with Taylor would be threatened with a prison cell.

Taylor, of course, was the man who awarded a penalty for West Germany in the 1974 World Cup Final. From the kick-off, the sublime Johan Cruyff surged towards the German penalty area. Seconds later he was dragged to the ground and Taylor pointed to the spot.

When the Kaiser, Franz Beckenbauer, glared at Taylor with a furious stare, he was severely reprimanded. You’d have thought that Taylor had stolen the German skipper’s wallet.

For those with a heartfelt sympathy for all referees, Rob Styles gets this writer’s vote. There can be no fun in booking players, cooling tempers and then acting as a peacemaker. There’s also the small matter of allowing or disallowing goals.

Styles was just the latest ref to be verbally attacked and then exposed as a bumbling fool. From a neutral viewpoint, he did make a mistake and a penalty was just a figment of his imagination.

Malouda quite clearly pulled the wool over Styles' face. Malouda, an obviously talented winger, has won a major victory for cheating and gamesmanship. His punishment should be immediate. If Jack Taylor had been around today, you can be sure that Malouda would be eating porridge.