The English referees remain frozen out of the critical shake-up in this year's UEFA competitions. As already posted on this site (http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/conspicuous-by-their-absence.html), UEFA is punishing English officials for their poor performances of late.
Of the final important 80 games in the Champions League (ChLg) and UEFA Cup, English referees have only been selected for three minor events (Olympiakos v Donetsk, Milan v Lille and Kyiv v Real Madrid). Even here the volatility of the English was noticeable in that 2 out of the 3 penalties or sendings off in the final ChLg round were courtesy of Hackett's boys.
It is small wonder that headlines in European papers explode with mock horror when they hear that Poll is coming to town - a fine recent example was the Gazzetta dello Sport prior to the Milan/Lille game mentioned above.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
