

Thatcher Tackle Referee Shown the Red Card
By: Bob | August 25th, 2006
While Manchester City has suspended Ben Thatcher and the English FA continues think about the punishment it will hand out for the nasty tackle he laid down on Wednesday, the referee who inexplicably awarded merely a yellow card for the foul will likely never referee in the Premiership again.
Dermot Gallagher is off the list of Premiership referees and has faced public criticism from referee chief Keith Hackett, a man who usually protects his brethren no matter what.
“Having looked at the replays I’ve been disappointed with some refereeing decisions. I’ve already taken action in terms of selection for forthcoming games. The criteria for top level is that these are made on the basis of performance,” said Hackett.
“Everyone wants to get off to a good start in a season and referees are no different. You will always get an error but in some of the opening games there were clear errors I can’t defend.”
At 49, Gallagher is beyond the mandatory retirement age for referees (all professions should force retirement in the mid-40s) and only was around to blow the call on Wednesday because he had applied for a one-year extension last year. Can’t say we’ll miss the guy on the pitch. Hopefully he doesn’t choose to go on to a life in law enforcement.
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