Obviously the best about, sees things before they even happen

Sadly he is far from had the poorest performance on the field...

Atkinson the best
Dean second
Oliver third
IMO

For me
1 Dean
2 Atkinson
3 Oliver

Worst
1 Mason
2 Moss
3 Tierney
And a special mention to Trevor Kettle and Darren Dead man in the football league

Aclaret wrote:For me
1 Dean
2 Atkinson
3 Oliver

Worst
1 Mason
2 Moss
3 Tierney
And a special mention to Trevor Kettle and Darren Dead man in the football league

Deadman is long gone. He was sacked in August 2017. No reason was ever given.

Dean & Atkinson the best for me by some considerable distance.

Mike Dean head and shoulders above the rest.

I think Oliver while still a good ref seems to have gone backward after that early precocious promise.

Atkinson miles ahead of anyone closely followed by Dean.

I do find Oliver the best these days. Atkinson is good, Dean gives too many red cards.

I had a lot of sympathy for Oliver with that VAR yesterday but in the end they got it right, assuming, which must have been the case, that he initially gave it for the trip not the hand on the back which he must have also seen and disregarded.

I think the top 3 will be one thing the bulk of the message board agree on.

ClaretTony wrote:Deadman is long gone. He was sacked in August 2017. No reason was ever given.

Dean & Atkinson the best for me by some considerable distance.

How did Lee Mason ever become a Premier league referee?

While still a good referee, Michael Oliver seems to have stagnated at the moment

I think he has gone off big time. He is too often duped by dives and opponents making poor tackles look horrendous and gets the cards out. Given how close he was to that penalty which by the players trajectory was a dive from where is was sitting in the BL near Jimmy Mac stand his decision was dreadful-he should have seen it for what it was, if he didn't see it clearly he shouldn't have guessed it.
And it is high time given we have VAR that VAR decides on a yellow or red card for these dives IMO

Atkinson aside we dont have one good ref. When people are holding Dean up as the benchmark you know we are limited.

depechedingle wrote:While still a good referee, Michael Oliver seems to have stagnated at the moment

I've always thought he has that poor decision in him. So many positives but he does have the ability to let himself down badly. Dean is still the master, absolutely no doubt, and Atkinson close to him.

mdd2, a dive cannot earn a red card, unless it is a second yellow.

So looks to have dropped to 5th in the opinion polls.

I thought hes been going downhill, but maybe stagnant is a better word.

He walks round with the top dog swagger ( as do others to be fair ) but has an habit of making bad calls.
The penalty yesterday a prime example.

He promised so much, and hope he can get up there, but seems his on the pitch ego really makes him look like he wants to be centre of attention.

Yesterdays game was easy to ref, but still he made a massive error.

Stagnate is one word but let's give credit to kavanagh and marriner. Another to add to that list is anthony Taylor. We are very fortunate to have 6 top class referees in the premier league.
Makes me wonder with this class of official, others dont look as good and therefore not to reach standards.
Trust me if I could get anywhere close to these guys I would be a very very good referee. #respect

Ffs are u joking?!...mike dean is the worst referee since Phil Dowd was unable for not be fit....Atkinson is good but Michael Oliver is a little prick....about the rest no comment...

Darnhill Claret wrote:mdd2, a dive cannot earn a red card, unless it is a second yellow.

I know but it is high time it did when there is absolutely no doubt that it is/was a dive

italianclaret88 wrote:Ffs are u joking?!...mike dean is the worst referee since Phil Dowd was unable for not be fit....Atkinson is good but Michael Oliver is a little prick....about the rest no comment...

Mike Dean loves himself but rarely gets it wrong

Him and Atkinson are streets ahead of the rest. Still a travesty Howard Webb and Mark Clattenburg were allowed to walk away as such, what we have been left with are very poor refs for the most part