Association football is not the same now as when I used to referee it from teenage years to late 30s.

At the top levels, it is becoming a multi-million pound business rather than a sport, with the controlling bodies happy to let television companies dictate when games should be played in the expectation of larger contract fees.

Thanks to this collaboration, for example, ITV viewers will be shown Liverpool playing four times in a row in their live FA Cup coverage, from the fifth round through to the final.

Wycombe please prove me wrong.

In such games however the referee's position is becoming more and more vexed. There is always detailed analysis by the TV presenters of refereeing decisions.

It is becoming almost standard for the losing manager to point to one such instant as the reason for his team losing, ignoring decisions in his favour. More often than not this allegation is followed through in the hope of revealing some controversy, which will liven up what the television presenter does not really like to admit, was a fairly dull game with nothing else of significant note.

The same is never done for one of the players. How do you think they would react if the television companies, as they do with referees, showed only their negative side and followed their performance throughout the game: missed tackles, passes gone astray, fouls given away because they had not anticipated the passage of play correctly, or simply were beaten for pace, and shots wide on goal and then ended up with the recommendation that they be dropped for the next game.

What we have all got to remember is that the referee, like everyone else, is bound to make mistakes. One day they may actually be crucial, others not. Like all of us they are not perfect. Everyone wishes them to be consistent, but this means that they cannot exercise their personal discretion.

Look at the argument there is currently when players take off their shirts to celebrate a winning goal where they can be cautioned and can be sent off if already on a yellow card.

One thing that could be introduced to assist would be a confirmation of all goals scored from an electronic scoreboard similar to that given to the third umpire at cricket matches.

This confirmation would be by a fifth official where games are being televised after checking the playback. This could run from the last stoppage in the game, such as throw in, free kick, goal or corner kicks, or kick off itself. Otherwise there would always be an argument over what was the relevant period to be considered leading to the goal currently in question.

A green light would be shown if everything was in order, or red if not and the game would proceed either with a kick off or a goal kick.

There would have been no real delay, since the game had already stopped and if a player thinks he has just scored a goal he is not going to stand patiently waiting for a light, he will be celebrating. The adjudication will take place at this time.

The electronic system of green and red lights, if introduced, would do away with one possible area of injustice and assist the referee accordingly.

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