Until saturday Andy D'urso was ,in my humble opinion, the biggest sack of poo I'd ever seen try to ref a game. Then I saw Mike Riley. In fairness, he did take a lot of advice from the linesman, but he did make completely spastic decisions all on his own. The man is a muppet. Who is your personal 'favourite'?
Riley all the way, the man has sent off three Bolton players in two games. He couldn't referee a sunday league game let alone a vital relegation clash. He is truly a piss poor referee, too card happy and doesn't have a clue about letting a game flow. This guy will be lynched if he comes within 10 miles of the Reebok Stadium ever again, he was lucky to get out alive after the West Brom match.
The worst preformance i have seen this season was Wiley today in the Leeds - Bolton match. absolutly terrible.
Completely off topic, esp. since I haven't yet seen the Arsenal match, but I personally find it very entertaining to listen to the whining and moaning that takes place looooong after a referee makes a poor decision. See the ManU-West Ham game as an example. My oh so humble opinion, but I think all the questionable decisions that go for/against your team just about even out in the end. Are some of the officials sometimes (or often times depending on your view) overmatched for a level? Absolutely, but I can't believe they honestly intend to screw up, nor do I believe any of them give a rat's ass who wins and loses on the day. To answer the question, I'll say Jeff Winter, just because whenever he has a big match that gets feisty early he pulls out his cards waaaay early, which inevitably ends up with one or more players getting sent off, a dodgy penalty/non-penalty for someone and in general lots and lots of fun.
Riley's certainly up there... Even as an Arsenal supporter, the first yellow on Davies was harsh, to say the least, and you can argue that the second wasn't even a foul.
It doesn't work like that. The smaller clubs tend to get ************ on more than the bigger clubs. Statistics from two seasons ago show that Southampton were much more likely to have a player booked/sent off or even have fouls given against them than Arsenal. This season Bolton have had three players unfairly sent off, one even had the red card rescinded. Last season we had several (including 2 with that tosser Riley) but I've yet to see the same happen to an opposing player. Last season David Ellery gave Newcastle a free kick inside the area because our goalkeeper held onto the ball for more than six seconds (he'd been obstructed by Shearer), they scored off that and we lost the game 3-2. Since then we count how long the keeper has hold of the ball, if it goes over six seconds (as it often does) a roar goes round the Reebok. I've yet to see it given anywhere else, we couldn't even get that tosser Ellery to give a free kick when he came to the Reebok and the opposition keeper held the ball for around ten seconds. Decisions never get evened out throughout the season.
I forgot to add Styles to the list. I think he's shown 13 red cards this season. The ref who has sent off the 2'nd most has sent off, i believe 6. I've only seen him once this season, and he ruined the Middlesbrough - Leeds match with 2 joke sendings off (one for each side)
Since the decision seems biased based on recent bad calls Ill say Grahmn Poll. And Thierry Henry would agree.