Forum | Non-Football Related

Having become a 'serial offender' when it comes to outrageously inept refereeing decisions in what is supposed to be the 'best' league in World football, there has been a clamour to 'relegate' Peter Bankes from the field for at least one month, with many seeking his permanent removal from the list of 'elite' referees.

Having disgraced himself previously with his erroneous handling of various games, the supposed specialist then compounded his list of 'crimes' with his 'performance' in London on Sunday for the West Ham v Newcastle game during which he took poor decision-making to an al tie low that has brought criticism from right across the football fraternity!

The 41year old has already topped the disciplinary charts with the amount of red and yellow cards he has dished out, with Sheffield United being his prime recipients swiftly followed by West Ham. How he can be allowed to officiate further is beyond a joke, especially for teams like Sheffield who need every point that they can get to avoid being relegated straight back down to the Championship.

Calls for Bankes' demotion are the least that should be adhered to, a complete ban on him refereeing or heaven forbid taking up VAR duties should be put into force IMMEDIATELY, he CANNOT be allowed to ruin more games, which left to his own devices he most certainly will! - LN

Now it is a natural instinct among supporters of ALL football clubs to question the ability of those officiating each game.

Time and time again supporters feel that their team have been 'ROBBED' as a result of poor refereeing or dubious V.A.R decisions and the game in London this afternoon between West Ham and Newcastle was NO exception!

It might seem like sour grapes but the referee, Peter Bankes had an absolute shocker! Normally things tend to pan out during a game with the referee being told how well he did or didn't do in the first half of games allowing him to 'adjust' his decisions in the 2nd half, well Bankes was NOT for turning!

In fact the ref compounded his earlier 'curious' decisions by continuing and ramping up his 'one man war' against ALL those wearing Claret & Blue! His decision to award the visitors a free kick when it blatantly should have gone to the home side led directly to Newcastle equalising after Hammers had gone ahead from a well worked LEGITIMATE goal crafted by Emerson and Antonio which was neatly put away by Tomy Soucek.

The inertia of the game completely changed after that as the Toon were able to capitalise on some poor defending and go 2-1 ahead. Bankes' 'sins' continued throughout the 2nd half as he gave so many decisions against the Irons some might suspect some type of betting scam was in place!

David Moyes switched things up late in the game by bringing on Mo Kudus who obliged with his first Premier League goal for the club. Things might have got even better as the now silent Toon fans looked on as Jarrod Bowen's late effort went agonisingly wide of the post.

Some will say the draw was a fair result, whereas some might say the referee was a total with his name if it ended in the letter R instead of S! It will be interesting to see how the BBC remove the referees's a *anker chant of 60,000 people in the as yet unnamed London Stadium.

As the BBC have been having a 'gub fest' love in regarding ALL things Newcastle they will probably say Newcastle were under par due to having played PSG in the Champions League. Well the Toon played AT HOME against PSG on Wednesday, Hammers played away in Germany on Thursday, so who should have been more tired?

Peter Bankes...you need to get yourself out of the Bookies and straight down to Specsavers as soon as possible! - Ed

Eddie Howe was given what appeared to be wall to wall coverage on the BBC sports website today ahead of Newcastle's clash with West Ham in London on Sunday, in fact it was almost unprecedented such was the 'gub fest' being dished out by tongue slavering reporters who are supposed to be unbiased according to the Beeb's self imposed rules.

Inbiased they most definitely were NOT! ALL of the attention was given to how(e) Newcastle would perform after their 'heroic' Champions League victory over PSG, there was little to zero reference regarding Hammers record breaking antics on Thursday evening, although there were a few hastily scrambled paragraphs knocked together in a sub-heading.

The reporting was incredibly disrespectful and it is to be hoped that David Moyes prints off and pins up some of the 'brown nose' reporting 'high lights' in order to motivate his team just that little bit more to vanquish their visitors from up North.

According to the various BBC niche articles, Hammers might as well NOT turn up at the game because the Toon are imperious and will sweep all those in front of then asunder! Well, in the immortal words of one of their previous managers, many Irons fans will "just love it" if the Toon arrive but fail to conquer, after all who is currently above who in the Premier League table?

Eddie Howe is a good manager and by most accounts a thoroughly decent fellow, but he is not above telling the odd "porky' when he feels the need, so it is probably best to disregard his 'injury news', particularly regarding Hammers nemesis Callum Wilson.

You can almost bet your 'Paqueta' on Wilson suddenly becoming fit in time for Sunday's game following a 'miraculous' recovery. One other element that irks many Hammers fans is the Podcast that Michail Antonio shares with Wilson which is also featured on the BBC and other platforms. It must drive Moyes mad to hear Big Mick spouting off, in any other area of life the Jamaican forward would be told to 'shut his mouth' and concentrate on highly paid job, not twittering on about 'stuff'!

There are enough mind games played ahead of a match already, WITHOUT adding unnecessary extra rubbish, perhaps it is better to stick to training rather than entertaining, except on the pitch that is! Howes that?- Ed

Freiburg: Atubolu, Sildillia, Ginter (C), Lienhart, Sallai, Eggestein, Höfler, Kübler, Adamu, Grifo, Höler
West Ham: Fabianski (C), Coufal, Kehrer, Mavropanos, Aguerd, Fornals, Alvarez, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Bowen, Kudus
Subs: Areola, Anang, Zouma, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Benrahma, Soucek, Coventry, Emerson, Mubama