The support from football fans and ordinary people in the street has been inspirational

Click the link to listen to Mark Halsey’s Exclusive  interview.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/751463426e948768/

Despite hailing from Hertfordshire, Mark Halsey has firmly established himself as one of Bolton’s favourite adopted sons. After spending 12 years playing non-league football for Cambridge City and Hertford Town he began his refereeing career in 1989 and a decade later refereed the famous 1999 Football League One Play-off Final between Gillingham and Manchester City at Wembley. The same year he was promoted to Premier League status and shortly after the FIFA List of referees. He quickly established himself as one of the most popular referees in the League.

Mark was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to speak Exclusively to Manny Road & bwfcforum’s Andi Walton. He started by asking him about his current health:

MH:      Yeah I’m feeling very good, I seem to be getting stronger with every game I do and it’s a bonus for me because I never thought I’d be back refereeing again, so every day is a cup final and it’s really great to be back and the reception I’ve received from the two games I’ve done at Rotherham and Port Vale and Oldham and Bristol Rovers, the fans have been absolutely fantastic and it’s been very emotional and overwhelming for me.

AW:      It must have been the furthest thing from your mind getting out on the football pitch when you were in the midst of your treatment but now you’ve got to that stage, it must be a real thrill.

MH:      For me to come back and, you know, I suppose…for what I’ve gone through with all my chemotherapy and my radiotherapy…I mean if you saw me at Christmas, I was nowhere near the Mark Halsey of old, you know, but I’ve worked hard and a lot of people have helped me and it’s been great.  The support I’ve received from people around the country – just ordinary football fans and ordinary people in the street.  They’ve been inspirational to me and they’ve got to really pat themselves on the back for the way they’ve helped me and it’s down to them that I’m back where I am now.

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Click the link to listen to the interview.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/751463426e948768/

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AW:      Tell us about the club Mark, how have they been helping?

MH:      Oh they’ve been fantastic. I come into remission and Adie the fitness coach and you’ve got Nick Worth in charge of the physios, they’ve been brilliant with me.  Then you’ve got the doc who’s been brilliant with me.  Owen Coyle’s been running with me and Adie’s set me running programmes to do to build my fitness back up and without the club I don’t think I’d be where I am now as well because they’ve been absolutely first class with me, first class.

AW:      Let’s go back a bit earlier in your career. You were a player before you were a ref weren’t you?

MH:      Yeah.  I was a player. I played non-league as a goal keeper down in the Ryman’s league and up until I was about 28 really then I gave up playing and sort of…well 30 I was, and gave up playing and took up refereeing.  I got one or two injuries and took up refereeing.

AW:      Do you think that’s given you an advantage as opposed to somebody…well you know, it’s a decent standard you played at.

MH:      It was yeah. It does help you playing the game. I have empathy for the game, I give players a chance, I love football, I’m a football fan and it’s all about 22 players on the field and the fans, you know, it’s not about the referee.  And I think that’s where sometimes we lose sight.  It doesn’t always mean to say that ex-players make good referees.

AW:      So how did you end up in Bolton then, because obviously we can tell from you voice that you’re not born and bred.

MH:      No born and bread in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire and I married a Bolton lass so obviously that’s when I moved up here and here I am.

AW:      You’ve become an honorary northerner.

MH:      I’m an honorary northerner, yeah and I love being a northerner. I love being a northwester, I wouldn’t move back down south.

AW:      So you’ve talked about the club helping you with your recovery, but how did you come about getting involved with Bolton in the first place?

MH:      When I first moved up here in 2000…Sam Allardyce has been brilliant with me as well.  He was in charge of the Wanderers and I asked if I could come along and train with him and I am and I’ve been there 10 years now, going every day.  I mean the lads have been fantastic with me and over the last 9 months I’ve got to know Joey O’Brien and Sean Davis very well, although Sean’s got on my nerves, in there recovering in the gym because of the long term injuries…but we’ve passed the time away really well and we’ve had a good laugh and he’s a bit of a pain in the backside is Sean!

We’ve had good times.  It’s been great, you know…but that’s why there’s a plus point being in the gym with them two all the time.

AW:            Obviously you arrived in 2000 and that was when the club was just about sort of on the up and up wasn’t it?

MH:      In 2000 first season in the Premier League it was.

AW:      And has the club advanced since you first arrived? I imagine that you’re one of those who have been around for the longest now.

MH:      I think they’ve gone from strength to strength really. You can’t take it away from what Sam Allardyce done.  I mean he’s put the club on the map and he’s done a fantastic job.   And obviously all good things come to an end and you move on.  And we’ve had people come and go and they’ve all done well in their own way and I think now that Owen Coyle’s here.  I mean Owen Coyle…his enthusiasm is second to none.  When I first saw his training session I thought he was absolutely…his enthusiasm was fantastic and he’s got all the lads up there and playing and working for him.

AW:      I suppose you’ll be coming up against Sam now won’t you because obviously you never did while was in charge of Bolton?

MH:      No I don’t referee Sam. He’s at Blackburn and we’re right good friends so they never give me Sam’s club’s.

AW:      Right, so that’s all kind of acknowledged then by the powers-that-be, is it?

MH:      Yeah.

AW:      Who are the best Bolton players that you worked alongside then over the last 10 years Mark?

MH:            Obviously there have been some great players haven’t there? I think Jussi Jaaskelainen  and I’ve trained with Jussi and I think he’s got to be up there, one of the top players, top performers, consistently week-in week-out.  And Ivan Campo was fantastic in the midfield there.  Djorkaeff and Jay Jay Okocha – there are some great names of the past aren’t there.

AW:      I suppose those are the sort of names as well that the fans remember best, particularly those like Campo really had a connection with the fans.

MH:      Oh of course he did.  They were some good days under Sam weren’t they. You know, I think the lads now that have come in are doing well and playing for Owen and if they keep us in the Premier League, which I think they will…I don’t think there’s a problem there…and see if we can kick on and see if they can kick on next season.

AW:      So you’ve said ‘us’ – you said ‘we’ there.  Does that mean that you’re a Wanderers fan? What would you describe yourself as?

MH:      Well you know, obviously being attached to the club you do, don’t you.  But I mean obviously people know I’m a QPR fan but obviously living in Bolton and training in Bolton, you get an affection for the club because as I say, the club have been fantastic with me and, you know, it’s a family run club.  So you do tend to say we, you know what I mean?

I’ve been to most games there this season because of my illness but you do, you use that terminology don’t you?

AW:      I imagine at times that it didn’t make you feel much better with some of the performances

MH:      [laughs]

AW:      Tell us about the rest of the league then.  You talked about Wanderers players.  Any other players that you’ve jut enjoyed being on the same pitch as?

MH:      Oh I mean there’s loads.  I mean there’s some fantastic players around isn’t there?  From refereeing, you just look at the likes of Alan Shearer, Henri, David Beckham. I had the privilege of refereeing Zidane and he was got to be one of the best, you know…it’s great to be on the pitch with players like that.  And you’ve got there some great players now.  You’ve got Rooney, you’ve got John Terry, you’ve got Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, they’re absolutely fantastic players aren’t they. And it’s one everyone would want to pay to see, whether you’re support for Chelsea or support for Arsenal, cos you’ve got Fabregas who’s outstanding as well, so there’s some fantastic players.  And instead of all the supporters booing and when they come to their grounds, they should be clapping them because you don’t want them players leaving the Premiership and going playing back in Spain and Italy and things like that cos we want to be the best league in the world and we need to keep those players in the Premier league.

AW:      Yeah, there’s the sort of well-known story of Wanderers fans of when Ruud Gullit played at Burnden Park, you know, he just absolutely played us off the park but the fans just clapped him off cos they hadn’t seen a player of that standard for 20 / 30 years on the pitch there.

MH:      But that’s what it should be like every ground…life’s too short.  I know that. You just don’t know what’s round the corner.  And instead of, you know, the fans…yeah of course they get emotional don’t they, with people, so it’s just great to have all these great players gracing our football pitches.

AW:      That brings me onto how you deal with the fans’ reaction to you.  We all know some of the choice language that fans can use about refs if things don’t go the right way.  How hard is it when the whole ground – they question your parentage or whatever it might be?

MH:      [laughs] It’s emotional.  People get emotional.  Football’s emotional.  And I mean 9 times out of 10 you don’t hear it because you’re concentrating and focussing on what you’re doing, so you don’t really pay any attention to it to be honest.

AW:      Do you understand it though?  Say there’s the FA Cup semi final over the weekend and John Terry’s tackle on James Milner has come in for a bit of scrutiny and then there was the penalty in that game as well.  Howard Webb doing that game and obviously someone that you know well.  But can you understand the frustration of the Villa fans there for instance?

MH:      Well obviously I can’t comment.  I honestly haven’t seen any of the incidents, obviously because I was refereeing my game at Oldham, so I’ve not seen.  And I was at Manchester City so I can’t really comment on that because I’ve not seen any of it.

AW:      Well speaking in general, you can understand how…because you know, fans spend a lot of money.  They travel to Wembley for instance in that case and you know, we as Wanderers fans have had loads of decisions, as of course all clubs have over the years, and you do remember them.

MH:      Yeah, it’s just…as I say, these things happen don’t they?  As I say it’s very difficult for referees.  They get a split second, you know, and so it’s very difficult for referees to referee at the top level.  As I said, they get a split second whereas you get all these replays and then you can make your mind up afterwards after watching it two or three times can’t you?  If you look at Fabio Capello, he said the English league’s got the best referees in the world.

But it’s just one of those things.  We all make mistakes.  I make mistakes.  It’s just one of those things.

AW:      Would you appreciate some help from cameras though Mark?

MH:            Obviously that’s not gonna happen because FIFA have said no so that’s the end of the matter so there’s no point, no matter what I say.  It can’t be used and that’s it.  I think we can make good use of them but obviously we cannot…

AW:      What’s the best match you’ve ever reffed at?  The City Gillingham playoff final, I know you did that.  That was an extraordinary match wasn’t it?

MH:      Oh it was fantastic.  Every game I referee is good.  You know, I treat every game the same.  You know, I just love refereeing.  I just love football and I treat every game the same, whether it be at Rotherham, Morecambe, Accrington or wherever it be…at Goodison Park, I treat every game the same.

AW:      You’ve done a league cup final, a charity shield.  Would the FA Cup Final be the dream?

MH:      Oh yeah it would be. I mean with my illness and obviously, you know, being out all season, there’s that carrot there and it would be great if I could come back and referee that FA Cup Final, on merit and not on sentiment.

AW:      How’s the restaurant going on?  You still involved?

MH:      Yeah, it’s not too bad.  It’s been a struggle.  It’s been a massive struggle but you know…it’s been difficult.  But yeah, my wife’s been running that so I’ve not had a lot of involvement with that.

AW:      Where do people go if they… you’ve been good enough to talk to us so we might as well give you a plug.  Where do people go if they want to get involved?

MH:      It’s Ristaurante Sottovento, 69 Worsley Road in Farnworth.  So come along and speak to us or whatever, and support your local restaurant.

AW:      Just a couple of final things then, just on more general reffing issues.  Are players more disrespectful now and does that really affect kids watching them?

MH:      No I don’t think so, no.  To be fair, I think the Respect Programme’s working very well from what I’ve seen of it and, you know, I can only talk for myself and I get the utmost respect from players and I think that the players give the referees the utmost respect as well to be fair.  You know, I think that’s been working well.

AW:      You know when players do surround you though and obviously we’ve talked about the passion that’s involved, and they do get right in your face and, you know, you only have to watch Match of the Day to see that there is some fairly choice stuff being said by the players.  Are you not tempted just to get the yellow card straight out?  That would stop them soon enough, wouldn’t it?

MH:            Well…as I say, football’s a very emotional game and, you know, that’s what it is, it’s very emotional.  And referees manage the occasion, they take that into consideration, so they may just be doing it to themselves and it may look as if it’s at the referee.  I mean the referee on the whole; I think the referees in England do an excellent job.  And the players and the managers do respect that.

AW:      And how’s it different when you’re refereeing an international game or a European game?  Is it more difficult with the language and that kind of thing?

MH:      No they all speak English.

AW:      So you make yourself understood?

MH:      Yeah.

AW:            Refereeing an international game must be a real honour as well.

MH:      It is yeah.  It’s a great honour to represent your country, just like a player, it’s a great honour to represent your country abroad with the three lions and the FIFA badge.  It’s fantastic.  So it’s just the same for a referee as it is for a player representing your country.

AW:      And what’s the future hold Mark?  Obviously you’ll try and keep your recovery on track and get back as a regular Premier League ref next season?

MH:      Yeah, well hopefully I’d like to get a game this season.  But we’ll see how my fitness goes and I’m getting stronger all the time and as I say, it’s not been easy, considering another 2 weeks I wouldn’t be here standing talking to you, it’s been amazing and the Christie  has been a fantastic hospital and my professional team has been brilliant with me and as I say I’ve got a charity dinner on May 7^th at Lancashire Cricket Club, which we’ve got Roberto Mancini, Sir Alex Ferguson, Owen Coyle and Sam Allardyce is guest of honour so it should be a great night.

AW:      Brilliant, how do people find out more about that if they want to?

MH:      They can contact Lancashire County Cricket Club. There’s a Lancashire website and if they want to make a donation, they can text Mark to 78070 to help raise money for the Christie. Or they can visit the Just Giving website…www.justgiving.com/Mark-Halsey

AW:            Fantastic. We wish you all the best with your recovery and it’ll be great to see you back on the pitch in the premier league.

MH:      OK thanks very much.

Click the link to listen to the interview.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/751463426e948768/

As well as battling the illness he is actively fundraising to raise money for The Christie, the leading cancer centre in Manchester. You can help him reach his £50,000 target by visiting www.justgiving.com/mark-halsey or goto http://www.lccc.co.uk/index.php?p=news&id=3495 for details of Mark’s charity dinner on May 7^th at which Sir Alex Ferugson, Owen Coyle, Roberto Mancini and Sam Allardyce will be in attendance.

Bolton Wanderers have now lost all four matches against the big four teams in the Premier League this season.

Yet in all four games they have also been on the end of controversial refereeing decisions, including:

- Emmanuel Eboue’s offside goal for Arsenal being allowed to stand.

- Rob Styles awarding a penalty for Jlloyd Samuel’s challenge on Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford.

- Rob Styles (again) disallowing Gary Cahill’s goal against Liverpool.

- Howard Webb failing to spot two handballs by John Terry against Chelsea yesterday.

Does this suggest that Premier League referees are afraid to give big decisions against the big four?

Does the media furore that Alex Ferguson, Rafa Benitez, Phil Scolari and Arsene Wenger are able to kick up when decisions go against their teams make it more difficult for referees?

Would Bolton have picked up points from any of the above games if decisions had gone their way, or would we have lost them regardless?

Tell us your views in the comment box below.

- He may have scored three goals in two games, but Johan Elmander is still the eighth worst summer signing in the Premier League, accoring to the Daily Telegraph.

- Sam Allardyce in line for yet another job, this time at Sunderland, who became the latest team to suffer from the curse of Bolton Wanderers (our own curse comes courtesy of Chelsea, although it looks unlikely to strike again this weekend).

- Phil Gartside helping Owen Coyle to get the manager’s job at Burnley (shame Gartside wasn’t so diligent when looking for our new manager last season).

- Eddie Davies getting an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester (two depressing things about this: firstly, that my old university is giving out these pointless awards and secondly, that they chose to highlight Davies as a ‘thermostat entrepreneur’ before his ownership of Bolton Wanderers).

- Another man being recognised for his services to the, er, Gulf Cup, or something, is Ali Al Habsi… or Sir Ali Al Habsi to you and me.

- More excellent work from Rob Styles.

- And finally… – Jussi Jaaskelainen is the Wanderers player most coveted by fans of other clubs. You can also read this profile of Jaaskelainen, featuring quotes from yours truly (shameless plug, sorry).

Fair play to Gary Megson for somehow managing to keep a lid on his anger on the two occasions that Rob Styles has worked his magic on us this season (this occurred to me after watching Neil Warnock’s latest undignified rant over the weekend).

But I fear Megson may be taking the FA’s much talked about Respect campaign a little too literally.

I wrote prior to the Liverpool game that I hoped he would be less complimentary about Liverpool during his team talk with the players than he was in the press, where he lavished praise on Rafa Benitez’s side.

Was Megson showing them too much respect? Judging by our first-half performance, he may well have been.

There’s also a more serious tactical point to be made here. Clearly Megson showed too much respect to Steven Gerrard too, who he man-marked with Fabrice Muamba. It didn’t work: Liverpool ran amok, Muamba was hauled off at half-time and Megson was again forced to admit that his original game plan had totally failed.

I noticed on the Liverpool website that they gave Xabi Alonso the man of the match, and as this match report from The Independent points out, the biggest flaw in Megson’s game plan was that in giving Gerrard so much respect, he showed an ignorance of the amount of influence both Alonso and Javier Mascherano have on making Liverpool tick.

The implication is that while the uneducated layman (that’s you and me) might think Liverpool’s success begins and end with Gerrard, a highly-paid Premier League manager should have the ability to see the bigger picture.

And that, in a nutshell, is why the only person who didn’t get any respect at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday was Megson himself.

- An England squad that included Wolves (yes, that’s Wolves of the Championship) defender Michael Mancienne, who is on loan from Chelsea because he can’t get a game there (what does Gary Cahill have to do to get a call-up, other than playing consistently well in the Premier League every week?).

- This prediction that, like his predecessors Sam Allardyce and Sammy Lee, Gary Megson’s last game in charge of Bolton could come against Chelsea (roll on December 6th!).

- This addition to the list of Megsonisms from The Bolton News, in which the Wanderers manager claims we ‘gave everything we got’ against Liverpool (if anyone can explain what that means please do so in the comments section below… still, didn’t stop The Bolton News using it as their headline). And yet another ill-judged Megson quote, this time from The People.

- Evidence that the stewading at the Reebok Stadium is just as bad as it was when I was at Upton Park earlier this season.

- Nicky Hunt enjoying himself at Birmingham City.

- More reports linking us with Swansea’s Ferrie Bodde, who scored again at the weekend. We’re also being linked with Deportivo La Coruna midfielder Julian de Guzman.

- And finally… this article suggesting Rob Styles is available for after-dinner speaking (although I can’t actually find the site they’re talking about… incidentally, the Styles out of the Premier League petition still needs your signature).

When Rob Styles gave the worst penalty decision ever against us at Manchester United earlier this season, I was among the very few Bolton Wanderers fans who defended him; pointing out that in comparison to certain other referees, Styles’ crimes against us were relatively minor (i.e it was only one mistake).

Nevertheless, I found it baffling that Styles was given another Bolton match so soon after that Old Trafford howler. And it was no surprise to see him give another terrible decision against us when he disallowed Gary Cahill’s goal on Saturday.

Some have defended Styles’ decision (including, as I write this, Lee Dixon and – unsurprisingly – former ref Paul Durkin on Match of the Day 2), saying that Kevin Nolan – who was penalised for obstruction – made no attempt to play the ball and was in the six-yard box for no other reason than to get in Jose Reina’s way.

But from the replays I’ve seen the first shove came from Reina, who was flapping and panicking because his defenders had left two men unmarked right in front of him.

As Andy Gray rightly said in his commentary for Sky, there is nothing in the rule book that states a player must move out of the way if a goalkeeper is coming off his line for the ball. It should be up to the keeper to find a clear path to the ball.

I’m not normally one to jump on the backs of referees. Like players who miss sitters (I’m looking at you Ricardo Gardner), they are human and just as likely to make mistakes as the rest of us.

But in Styles’ case the mistakes come far too thick and fast. By my reckoning this is his fourth of the season alone (see  here, here and here; his Wikipedia page lists others from previous seasons).

For that reason I have signed this petition to get Rob Styles out of the Premier League. I urge you to do the same.

Here’s what the various Bolton Wanderers discussion forums made of the 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool…

- The performance in the first-half was totally negative. We were dominated in defence, midfield and attack. We are the only team in the Premier League that goes out on to the field with the intention of not winning the game.

- Gary Megson’s negative team selection raises many questions: why wasn’t Ricardo Gardner in the team? Why was Johan Elmander on the left and Matt Taylor on the right? Plus several more…

- Elmander has no chance of coming good unless we play 4-4-2 like we finished the game with.

- Our tactics gave Liverpool far too much freedom in the first-half. Recent good results have been in spite of Megson’s tactics, not because of them.

- We played well in the second-half though.

- There was nothing wrong with Gary Cahill’s goal. We should start a petition against Rob Styles. Since when did standing in the six-yard box constitute obstructing the goalkeeper? It’s absolutely clear – not just from this game – that he is not capable of refereeing at the top level.

- But regardless of the disallowed goal, we deserved to lose the game because we were outclassed.

- Kevin Davies won a lot of flick ons but there was never anyone there to convert the second ball, plus Gardner missed two sitters. If Gardner had composure to go with his speed he’d be brilliant.

- Alan Green must be one of the few people in Britain who thinks we’re too good to go down.

- The incredible news that the referee for this weekend’s clash against Liverpool will be… Rob Styles! (I’m sure he’ll be made very welcome).

- This interesting piece which argues that supporting Bolton Wanderers is more rewarding than supporting Manchester United (I’ve always said that supporting a crap football team makes you a better, more likeable person… how many Man United fans have you met and though ‘he’s a nice bloke’?).

- Rumours that Heidar Helguson could be on his way to QPR.

- Gary Megson paying tribute to the work that Sammy Lee did at Bolton (that’s not what he was saying earlier this season).

- Megson praising his players. Their achievement? They managed to play in a 4-4-2 against Hull (what geniuses they are!). There’s a sly little dig at Phil Brown in there too.

- Owen Coyle reviving the spirit of the White Hot years by leading his Burnley team to victory over Chelsea in the Carling Cup.

And finally… here’s a reminder of what Charlie Nicholas on Sky Sports thought about Styles’ performance the last time he refereed a Bolton Wanderers match…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZiTxhTC_EE&feature=related]

- This amusing photo essay of Gary Megson’s career at Bolton Wanderers and, from the same site, a break down of the managers we shouldn’t get to replace Megson (not sure about Sam Allardyce’s inclusion, though).

- Megson’s going nowhere, though, according to Big Phil Gartside, who is preparing to sign more of the Ginger Mourinho’s cheques for new players in January (is he seeing something in Fabrice Muamba and Johan Elmander that I’m not?). Gartside was also on TalkSport defending his manager on Sunday morning too. The only good news is that Phil Brown refused to rule himself out of a return to Bolton on Sky.

- The 2-0 win over Manchester City certainly eased some of the pressure on Megson from the press (although not from many fans). Just read these reports from The Times, The Sun and Square Football, all of which suggest City boss Mark Hughes is now more likely to get get the chop before Megson.

- Allardyce, meanwhile, is being linked not only with the manager’s job at Nottingham Forest but a takeover of the entire club.

- This match report from itv.com, in which Megson is inexplicably spelt ‘Meghson’ (am I missing the pun?).

- Match reports from The Times and the Mirror left me wondering how exactly you define an ‘unfashionable club’. Both papers used the term to describe Bolton (because the lazy buggers both used the same agency copy) and it left me thinking if ‘unfashionable’ means that only people who were born in Bolton would be stupid enough to choose to support us, then I’m all for it.

- Also from the Mirror, the final nail being driven in to Phil Gartside’s idea of a two-tier Premier League.

- Kevin Nolan reckons Ricardo Gardner is as good as Youri Djorkaeff and Jay-Jay Okocha (fair play for his length of service but in terms of talent, not a chance).

- Transfer gossip linking Bolton with Chelsea teenager Jack Cork (son of the Wanderers’ current reserve coach Alan Cork) and Cardiff’s Joe Ledley (again).

- And finally… Rob Styles proving that demotion to the lower leagues doesn’t suddenly make you a good referee.

- Spurs fans think they’ll go down if they lose to the Wanderers on Sunday (no pressure there then).

- Rob Styles (finally) gets his punishment (not that it’s any help to us now).

- And finally… this report on the impact of the credit crunch on Premier League attendances. It shows Bolton fourth in the table, with attendances 8.3 per cent up on this time last year (which means either the club’s attempts to ‘reconnect with the fans’, as Phil Gartside puts it, are working, or football fans are stupid enough to pay to watch any old crap).

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