THE NICK ARMITAGE COLUMN
G Poll (Tring)
G. Poll (Tring)
When you get the ground and see the above name as referee on the programme you know the game will be ruined before it has kicked off. The Arsenal game was probably already ruined by Moyes picking McFadden, but Poll didn’t help matters.
Graham Barber tells us that “Graham Poll is one of the outstanding referees in the world.” He even goes as far to say that his record and achievements put him up alongside Pierluigi Collina, another who isn’t on many Evertonians' Christmas card lists.
I firmly believe that Poll must have thought he heard McFadden call him a “fucking cheat” otherwise he would not have sent him off. But how sure can you be of hearing what a player several yards away says, when the whole stadium was resonating with the shouts, screams and boos because Poll didn’t give yet another penalty? With decisions like that you have got to be 100% certain about what you heard — under the circumstances I doubt that was the case.
For the rest of the game he was fucking shite — for once I agree with a McFadden decision. After four cynical tackles Song was booked for just one, but even if he had have been booked again, he may well have stayed on the pitch. The Johnson trip in front of the Gwladys Street was a penalty and Arsenal also had one waved away when Adebayor was brought down. Poom tipped a Johnson shot out for a corner and Poll gave a goal kick, then one minute later Osman knocked the ball out for an Arsenal goal kick and Poll gave a corner. He had clear views of both incidents.
Irrespective of what happened in the Arsenal game Graham Poll has plenty of poor form with us, here are a few of his best moments:
- Disallowed a match-winning derby goal by Don Hutchison by claiming he blew his imaginary full time whistle, before the end of added-on time.
- Dismissed Nyarko away at Ipswich for an inconsequential trip, a game that we went on to lose with ten men.
- Stood ten feet away from an appalling potential leg breaker on Tim Cahill by Jamie Redknapp, and did nothing.
- Allowed Chris Armstrong to score following a handball that was so blatant Thomas Myrhe didn’t even bother trying to stop it.
- Watched Steven Gerrard almost disembowel Gary Naysmith with what can only be described as a vindictive long jump landing on a prone opponent. Poll did nothing.
And if you think the above is simply Poll-inspired paranoia, he has sent off more players from Everton than any other club. Does that surprise you?
Blaming Poll for our exit is a bit harsh. Moyes selected the wrong players for the match and should have brought Anichebe on at least half an hour before he did, the game was simply beyond Osman and we desperately needed some muscle and pace against that Arsenal defence.
However much of a wanker Poll has been with us, and he has been an absolute wanker, this time he may have done us Evertonians a favour. The useless and giftless James McFadden will now serve a three match ban — every cloud has a silver lining.
I'm not sure I agree with you on the decision to play McFadden. I was pleased to see Moyes try something different and give McFadden a chance seeing as he performed well in pre-season after showing glimpses in the second half of last season that he might be able to cut it in the Premiership. I'm guessing Moyes's logic was that he would try and match Arsenal's game a little more by playing it on the deck a little more and feeding two smaller strikers as opposed to the "little and large" combo of AJ and Beattie.
Yes, McFadden should have kept his mouth shut and I believe he would have done had there been a precedent this season for players getting automatic red cards for foul language. I personally believe that Poll's ego and apparent anti-Everton bias got the better of him and he couldn't help himself.
Lyndon Lloyd