A core problem locus in English football is the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB).
This body, which oversees the management and appointment of referees and junior officials for matches, is simply not fit for purpose and needs to be deconstructed and reformed...
... with immediate effect.
The PGMOB was, of course, not fit for purpose under Keith Hackett but since the powers-that-be placed Mike 'Kipper' Riley in the hotseat, the organisation has become rancid.
The most obvious modus operandi, as seen externally, would be one where different corrupt power operators within the game bid for their selected match official to be appointed while the EPL moves in and imposes its own representatives on matches of consequence.
Of course, this cannot be true because Kipper tells us that the process is random.
But random this process is not...
... nor meritocratic.
This Stalinesque body that refuses to speak to the media, aside from when they are forced to justify stopping a gay referee from coming out, imposes Pavlovian discipline to disguise its misdmeanours. EPL managers have all learned (with the exception of Mick McCarthy) that if you complain about a blatantly amateurish performance by a match official then you will undoubtedly suffer to an even greater extent in the next match until you learn to stay quiet and 'respect my authority' as Cartman might put it.
The outcome for the fan is a bunch of dodgy games with dodgy happenings that nobody comments about for fear of future unemployment-inducing refereeing.
Simple.
The structures are so psychopathic at the PGMOB, and throughout the British game, that we don't need to risk libel in exposing information and data that is, quite frankly, beyond statistical likelihood or comprehension.
There is an arbitrage in reality at play here!!!
For example.
Take the previously mentioned Jonathan Moss - the 'coincidences' regarding the number of West Bromwich Albion games that he gets to officiate and the immensely peculiar tilt in his decision-making in those matches.
Since being promoted to the PGMOB Select Group in the summer, Mr Moss has been referee or 4th Official six times in 26 West Brom matches.
In the light of his historical decision-making in West Brom matches, is this valid or wise?
Seven times Mr Moss had refereed WBA, 7 victories, 4 penalties in favour and none against, 3 sendings off in favour and none against. Then on his first Select Group appearance refereeing the Throstles, he gave them a penalty in a highly suspicious Carling Cup Tie at Everton.
We are absolutely not suggesting any conscious shenanigans by Jonathan Moss, he is no doubt just a twitcher who loves his throstles.
Mr Moss is a headmaster, he looks after our children. Our futures are in his hands.
He is undoubtedly a pillar of society.
He would not consciously act inappropriately.
But the data reveals an unconscious bias that, alongside the sheer quantity of appointments to WBA games, should be picked up on and handled and resolved by the PGMOB.
And if not by them, then by the EPL.
But all we have historically got from the EPL is 'Give the Refs Respect', 'Get on with the Ref, Get on with the Game' and other such meaningless monikers to disguise the murk.
Why is there such sloppiness about such a key area of the game?
Referees decide matches.
In Total Poker, control of the referee is only trumped by control of both goalkeepers or an agreed 3 for 3/2 for 2 event between the teams.
The PGMOB has to be reformed and the manner in which officials are selected must be radically altered.
Riley has to go and a randomised yet meritocratic process initiated.
There should be far more than 19 referees on the Select Group and the practice where the three top officials are able to cover 5 EPL games in one weekend (as ref or 4th official) is a matrix purely designed for corruption.
Three referees in charge of 5x £1 billion markets would set alarm bells ringing in any structure of integrity!
In Spain, Italy and the UEFA competitions, the listing of match officials are generally only released the day prior to the window and, additionally, the bodies that are making the appointments don't leak like a sieve.
That would be a start.
By releasing match officials early, the PGMOB allows a larger window for bribery, coercion or control to make their mark which is one of the primary reasons why over 90% of the very late changes in match officials in the major European leagues occur in England.
FIFA and UEFA 'own' the game.
FIFA is systemically corrupt and will remain so until a clean broom sweeps through.
Corrupt consortia and rogue officials only own discrete quantum realities within the game.
They are able to be peripheralised.
How we hear you ask?
i) By facing up to the fact that the global sport is endemically corrupted by insider gambling syndicates and operations and that the only way to stop this underground behaviour is to introduce legality into the highly liquid Asian betting markets that dominate the sport.
ii) Video replays for all contentious decisions - each manager getting three calls per game, for instance.
iii) Replacing Bettor Blatter with Someone Better ie the Very Remarkable Michel Platini.
Simple.
China is looking to move onto the next stage of economic advancement.
This is the stage where the centre of gravity moves from grey/black market state capitalism to grey market state capitalism.
You may rest assured that the Chinese powers-that-be will force this squillion dollar industry further within their control.
However the EPL/PGMOB choose to select strategy, their days of psychopathic templating are severely limited.
The days of the British hei shao (black whistle) are numbered.
© Football is Fixed 2006-2012
