In an exclusive interview with SportsLens.com, Peter Walton reveals the worst behaved manager & player in his 20 year career as a top flight referee in English football.
Walton also backs the current referee body cam trial, pointing to the verbal & physical abuse referees face at grassroots level.
When using the quotes below, please link to – https://sportslens.com
Use anchor text: SportsLens.com
Interview Highlights:
- Walton names Mourinho as manager with worst behaviour in English football
- Bellamy would pick a fight in an elevator (worst behaved player towards refs)
- Players need to be aware they may regret post-match interview outbursts
Full Transcript
Question: Which coach in your time as referee had the worst behaviour towards you?
Peter Walton: “Lots of them unfortunately. If you look at managers in my day, two or three stand out and they’re all very, very successful managers and it’s because they go to that Nth degree to squeeze every drop out. The obvious answer is Jose Mourinho. Jose was always one who would question decisions. When the fixtures come through and you look at some am I refereeing Chelsea this weekend you think, okay, I’ve got an additional person to referee here and that be the manager. So does that make him a bad manager? Probably not but does that make him somebody who we need to be aware of?
“Yes, it does. If you go down into the football leagues you have classic managers like Neil Warnock there. And even today he’s on the case, again, because he’s articulate, because he’s passionate and he’s a very intelligent guy and he understands what’s going on. He’s using every ounce to get the upper hand. There’s Steve Evans who is the current manager of Stevenage. Steve and I have had our run-ins throughout the years and it’s part of the game as I see it. After the game, it’s a smile in the tunnel and it’s see you next week sort of thing. But during the game, yeah, of course it is an us and them situation.”
Q: Which player in your time as referee had the worst behaviour towards you?
PW: “In terms of individual players there’s one who stands out and I’m sure he won’t mind me saying it was Craig Bellamy. Craig was a guy who would pick a fight in an elevator. He was a guy, who again through his own passion for the game, his demand in his drive that he got as a player, he questioned everything. Even if he lost the spin-up to kick off, he would question that! From the moment he went on the field to the moment he left the field he was in your face. That’s the way he’s psyched up and that’s the way he got through games. From a referee point of view that made it quite difficult and sometimes you just need to ignore players of that nature and hopefully like a burning fuse that goes out eventually, but Craig’s fuse was always lit.”
Q: Officials will continue to wear body cameras in trials during 2023-24 season. Is this successfully cutting down on dissent towards refs? What other benefits does it supposedly bring?
PW: “The game at grassroots level suffers at times through physical and verbal abuse from players, from spectators and also from team officials. And with the introduction of the body-worn camera, I think it is four counties who have introduced it so far, the early signs are that these do act as a deterrent towards such personal behaviour. I think it’s really good for the game, really good for the individual. The other benefits of course are that people can begin to enjoy the game again now and not refereeing it out of fear.
“The players realise they may be filmed, so their enthusiasm will be channelled into their game into their teammates rather than into decision-making from the referee because they’ll know that there will be evidence there to hang them as such if they are found guilty. It’s in its early stages I think it’s really good for the game and anything that we can do to make the game more enjoyable and these body cameras are clearly making it more enjoyable has got to be a benefit and I think that there’ll be more counties take up the offer of body cams during the course this season. We’ll wait and see on the statistics but I’m really for this initiative and I think the game in general wants this initiative.”
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
