Bill Shankly Was Right About Referees. Part One: Handball

Legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said that “the trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.”

Since he made that statement half a century has passed, the rules have been fiddled with thousands of times, attitudes towards physicality have gone completely soft, and (most relevantly) a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has been introduced. This was to “help” referees by allowing them to “correct” their mistakes and – spoiler alert – has been a catastrophe.

Through all this change though, Bill Shankly has remained as correct as ever. Most of the time, referees have not got a clue about what they are actually looking at.

Former Premier League referee Lee Probert, taking charge of a Stoke City game

This was demonstrated this week by the comments of former Premier League referee Lee Probert, who during an interview ran his rule over an incident in last week’s dreadful 0-0 draw between Chelsea and Manchester United.

The incident in question was a penalty shout by Manchester United for a handball by Callum Hudson-Odoi. His alleged transgression was to handle the ball while competing for it with Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood. As can be seen below, it certainly did hit his hand. It also hit Greenwood’s. Neither touch had any noticeable effect on the direction or flight of the ball, and nobody gained any advantage. Plus, it looked to me as though it was the competing between to two that caused the handball(s).

The referee on the day, Stuart Attwell, applied this common sense and waved play on. VAR tried to “fix” his decision by making him look go to the pitchside monitor, but he stuck to his guns.

Good refereeing in my view.

Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi and United's Mason Greenwood challenge for the ball

Really though Attwell ought not to have even been called to the monitor, given that if there was an error there (again, I don’t believe that there was) it was hardly clear or obvious – as is meant to be the standard for VAR intervention. That, though, is what happens when you have in the VAR booth a group of overzealous referees looking to involve themselves in the game wherever they can.

Probert, who said of the incident that he “didn't understand why the penalty was not given because Hudson-Odoi's hand moves towards the ball,” would definitely have sent referee Attwell to the touchline to look at it – and given the penalty had he himself been the man in the middle.

That’s what happens when you have referees who understand the rules, but not the game.