05 September 2006

"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they don't know the game." - Bill Shankly

And your referee for the Liverpool/Everton derby this week, one of the more contentious fixtures in recent years (pity too, because it used to be the "friendly derby") is... Graham Poll, who never met a card he wasn't fond of flashing.

The same Graham Poll who handed out two red cards (Phil Neville, Mikel Arteta) and six yellow cards when he refereed this fixture last year?

The same Graham Poll who made an utter disaster out of the Australia/Croatia World Cup game, culminating with booking the same player 3 times, and leading to his retirement from the international game?

The same. Fantastic.

Although, now that I think about it, the bitter bluenoses are probably more upset about it than I am. Not only did he send off two of their players last year, but he was also the ref in the derby back in 2000 or 2001 that disallowed the freak goal Everton scored because he blew the whistle for full-time too soon. They think they have a case for bias, I just think Poll's a moron.

2 comments :

The Gaffer said...

Nate,

A least Graham Poll will add a different dimension to the match on Saturday. It's just another reason to watch to see what he's up to.

In the meantime, I want to let you and your readers know that we interviewed Ronnie Whelan recently for an episode of the EPL Talk Podcast.

You can play the interview from http://epltalk.libsyn.com (or download it via iTunes).

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

nate said...

It's gotten to the point where I'd almost rather see Uriah Rennie than Poll. Rennie makes me laugh, Poll is just makes me sad.

Thanks for being the first comment, nice to know someone found their way here even if all I've done is throw up some of my favorite links.