Alan Wiley May Be Fit But Inconsistency Makes Him An Unfit Ref

8 October 09 by Bill

Alan WIley Unfit To Referee After Saturdays 2-2 draw with Sunderland, Alex Ferguson, frustrated by what he had just witnessed, issued a scathing verdict on referee Alan Wiley’s performance.

“I was disappointed with the referee,” said Ferguson. “He didn’t add on any time for the goal. He played four minutes and two seconds.

“He was also walking up the pitch for the second goal needing a rest. He was not fit enough for a game of that standard. The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. He was not fit. It is an indictment of our game.

“You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher’s dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn’t fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous.”

The FA acted quickly and asked Fergie to explain his comments whilst Alan Leighton, the national secretary of Prospect, the union for referees, has called for Ferguson to be suspended from football.

ProZone stats apparently reveal Alan Wiley covered more ground than all but seven of the players on show. I haven’t actually seen the stats myself, I have to take the word of the Daily Mail on this one. The Mail also claim Wiley scored very well in what referees consider the most important statistical measure of their fitness – how close to the action they were when judging fouls. Wiley was on average 15.6 metres from the ball when awarding a foul, which is considered an impressive proximity by refereeing chiefs.

Regardless of whether Wiley is physically fit enough for the Premier League, as a referee in general, he has demonstrated his inability to handle the pressure associated with the big games.

Alan Wiley was the fourth official during United’s 4-3 derby day win over Manchester City. Towards the end of the match, Wiley explained to Mark Hughes that additional time on top of added time would be played because City had scored in injury time. That’s just standard practice.

A minimum of four minutes stoppage time was added to the end of the Sunderland game and as the clock ticked to 90, United were losing 2-1. A goal was scored and although United didn’t celebrate in the same manner as City did, valuable time was still taken up.

Wiley added two seconds for the goal. Where is the consistency?

It has been a long held misconception that United have the ref in their pocket, at Old Trafford in particular and after the City game, the media went crazy with the ‘added time scandal’. With the derby game fresh in his mind, you can only assume Wiley gave careful consideration to whether he would add anything on for the goal. The fact the match was at Old Trafford shouldn’t of even been a factor; but it was.

Alan Wiley bottled it. The right thing to do was add a bit of extra time, just like he normally does. But he was scared of the media; scared United might snatch a win; scared of the backlash.

Alan Wiley consciously made the wrong call and that in itself should see him stripped of future refereeing duties.