REFS CAN BE A REAL MIXED BAG

ON Tuesday we had a visit from Simon Barker and Osher Williams from the PFA.

Simon Barker talked to us about new rules and initiatives that have come in to play this season, mainly the Respect the Referee campaign.

We have been told that any dissent towards the ref will be strongly punished and there should be no charging towards an official to complain whatsoever.

The captain from each team is supposed to be able to talk to the referee. Barker asked how it had gone with referees so far this season, and Simon Grayson replied: "Ask Keith Southern."

This is due to the fact that our captain, Keith, had already been sent off, and I didn't see the ref wanting to talk to him about what his thoughts were.

For people watching football these rules must seem easy to follow and for the most part they are, but I can tell you that there is nothing more frustrating than a referee who gives you nothing all game and will not even speak to you.

Playing in the reserves last season I came across a very poor ref and after one too many bad decisions, I shouted: "You're terrible ref, no wonder you're reffing a rubbish reserve game."

He countered with the classic: "Well, you're playing in it Ben."

Laugh

Stuart Green told me he had the ball at his feet one game and he opted to launch it up field instead of passing it short, the ref strolled passed him and said: "Relax on the ball Greeny!" He had to laugh!

Osher is the head of education at the PFA and talked to us about all the courses that the association offers to their members, including the journalism degree that I'm doing at Staffordshire Uni.

I remember hearing this talk from Osher when I was 17 and thinking: "I wont need this, I'm going to have a great career in the Prem and earn millions."

But it doesn't always work that way. I could see some players thinking the same as I used to but I guess you can only learn from your own experiences.

I'm not sure what people not involved in football think of the PFA, but from a player's perspective they are brilliant.

For a small yearly fee we get free adidas boots and trainers, we get money off educational courses, we get advice on pensions, we get career threatening injury insurance and, if you happen to have no club, the PFA will pay for any operations you need.

ON Thursday we finally got back to our training ground that was supposed to have gone through a major overhaul during the summer.

The only changes I spotted were a couple more showers and someone had painted the canteen. But at least we have a proper home again.

WE lost lost 3-1 on Saturday to Sheffield United and I have to admit that it was probably our worst performance so far!

Blades veteran Gary Speed ran the show for them, which is not bad considering he's 38 years old.

But we weren't helped by a bad penalty decision being given against us, just when we were getting back into the game.

We'll just have to pick ourselves up for our next match and not let our heads go down so early in the season.