If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Does the handball by Blackburn’s David Dunne against Everton exist if the ref didn’t see it?

The bungling oafs who botched the Everton-Blackburn game and thus stopped the Toffees from grabbing another priceless two points in their quest for fourth place are to be punished, but are the reprimands commensurate?

Ref Alan Wiley won’t be officiating this weekend and will have to make do with being fourth official in Sunday’s Chelsea-Liverpool match, as way of punishment for failing to send Dunne off for a clear handball, an offence surely justifying a second yellow.

The fact that Dunne later cleared off the line simply emphasises the error in neon lights. Wiley's second gaffe came when he didn’t give a penalty after Andy Johnson was impeded by Blackburn’s Zurab Khizanishvili, but Everton have come to somehow grudgingly accept the fact that penalty kicks never come our way.

However, it is linesman Glenn Turner who committed the real clanger, flagging AJ as being offside for what would have certainly been the winner  minutes from the end, when three (yes T-H-R-E-E) Blackburn players were keeping the striker onside. The fact that AJ didn’t throttle Turner on the spot speaks wonders about his temperament. If I was Glenn Hoddle I’d be tempted to say he had done something bad in a previous life to deserve the rotten decisions he gets.

The reality is that AJ’s game is based on speed, sneaking in front of defenders with a pickpocket’s feet, all the time hurling himself around the field like a pinball in a machine being played by Tommy Walker’s better older brother. Any defender who gets in AJ’s way is bound to bring him down; it’s just a shame that referees fail to recognise that he isn’t a duplicitous diver.

If I was Glenn Hoddle I’d be tempted to say Andy Johnson had done something bad in a previous life to deserve the rotten decisions he gets'


For his starring role in robbing two points from Everton, Turner (one of England’s top-rated officials) won’t see any action at all in this coming weekend. But is his punishment and Wiley’s too fitting for the crime? Will missing one game really affect them as much as missing out on the Champions League could potentially affect Everton?

Should bungling officials be punished - and if so, how? Leave your comments below - or write an article for Sportingo if you prefer.