As another long hard season begins to reach the final few furlongs, With Manchester United leading the Premiership table and Luton Town fighting to hold on to there league status.

But as with any season we as fans have been subjected again to poor refereeing decisions and once again we must ask is it time we made referees responsible for there actions on the field of play and also isn’t time they started to explain there decisions.

The referee who seems to have blundered the most this season has been Stuart Attwell not only is he the youngest referee on the Premiership referees list but has been plucked from obscurity and fast tracked to a top refereeing post and his lack of experience shows.

His most colourful highlight this season was the game between Watford and Reading at Vicarage Road where he managed to award a goal that was easily a yard the wrong side of the post and both him and the linesman blamed an optical illusion.

Its not just Stuart Atwell that’s at fault but there seems just seems to be an increasing number of referees who make poor decisions week in week out. But who’s to blame and what can be done to improve relations and bring through a better standard of referee.

After every game I believe each referee should come out after the game and answer questions from the media in order to get an understanding of why decisions where made and get clarification on what the referees view of the incidents were. 

For me personally I blame FIFA and the FA as there constant changing of the rules confuses managers, players, fans and I would guess the officials. The best example of the unnecessary rule changes that has everyone baffled is the offside law.

The law itself was simple to understand and straight forward to follow but the introduction of active and inactive zones has just spread confusion and irritation.

I also believe that FIFA’s lack of interest in technological advancements is also hindering the referee’s job.

Any fan of cricket and rugby will be aware of the use video technology in these games and how well it works it's quick simple efficient and gives the officials much more information to utilise when making there decisions. 

For me personally I believe the best referee was Pierluigi Colina he was probably the most natural and gifted man to pick a whistle.

Not keeping the highly experienced referees in the game once they have been retired is a big mistake as their knowledge and handling of situations needs to be passed on to the new generation.

All Premier league referees are professionals so using the likes of Colina and his colleagues to work as referee coaches guide them through there decisions and help referees to understand why players, fans and managers react in the way the way they do.

Another possible idea would be to use ex-professional footballers as it would give them another option when they are retired.

With the amount of experience and knowledge that they would have picked up from playing it would give them a little more respect and also they could empathise with players about situations that arise in the course of a match. This idea has been mooted around for a long time with little success.

I also like the fact the English FA have started the Respect campaign but I feel its flawed. The general idea is to open communication between players and officials.

Before each game a member of the management staff and the club captain meet the referee with him explaining his expectations and opening up a line of communication.

During the game only club captains allowed to approach the referee but it does seem that a lot of referees still don’t like being questioned. If referees can be more open and clear with their approach to fans and players alike this may harbour a better understanding between all parties and make the game a much more enjoyable experience.

Now I do personally believe that every referee does and an extremely hard job. They have to handle the divers give decisions based on there own view of an incident and take all the criticism which is levelled at them.

I do also believe they must love the game with a passion and need our support as they are constantly having to deal with new interpretations of the games laws.

Even though we may not agree with all the decisions with out them there would be no game and its time the law makers started to make there job a little easier.

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