Post match interviews these days usually kick off with some sort of criticism for the officials. The Premierleague frequently scrutinises referees, and the large coverage that the division sees means that it is always in the public eye.
What they don't seem to realise is that the officials get worse as you go down the football pyramid.
If a referee (Rob Styles, anyone?) has a bad game whilst overseeing a Premiership match, he will be dropped to the Championship or lower as he earns his call up to the top tier once more.
There were some fairly crazy decisions this week. The penalty awarded against West Brom in their tie with Blackburn, which saw a small tug on McCarthy's shirt, which did not lead to him losing the ball, leading to a spot kick, which the former happily converted.
There was uproar on Match of the Day, and in the subsequent newspaper coverage feature in the Sunday papers.
But the most mind boggling decision(s) of the weekend were saved for Derby's match against Nottingham Forest.
Forest couldn't believe their luck when 25 year old referee, Stuart Attwell, awarded Derby a penalty after they had scored, with hero goal keeper Lee Camp saving Nacer Barazites shot.
Although Atwell was at fault for Reading's 'mystery' goal against Watford in September, he has been nominated to the Fifa list by the FA.
After watching football every week since I can remember, I can honestly say only one or two refereeing performances I have ever seen have been worthy of any merit. The fact is, there are too many contradictions in refereeing laws and they simply do not know what they're doing.
Any criticism from managers or players will be swiftly met with a fine from the FA, which is likely to head into Fabio Capello's wage fund. Good times.
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