Bournemouth player Dan Gosling has been criticised for his decision to make accusations about referee Jon Moss in the media.
Gosling, the midfielder, slammed Moss after Sunday’s match at Sheffield United, saying the official ‘didn’t help’ and made ‘little snarky comments’ throughout.
Moss was also accused of being ‘very disrespectful’ by Gosling, who vented his frustrations in an interview with the Bournemouth Echo.
Bournemouth began discussions with the Premier League over Gosling’s accusations, though it was reported on Thursday that the governing body have decided to back their referee.
The League say Moss’ conduct was justified as Sunday’s fixture – which ended in a 2-1 win for Sheffield United – was ‘a very challenging game for Jon and his officials’.
The Mirror also reveal just what Moss said which led to the accusations of disrespect: “I’m not the reason you are in relegation trouble – you are!”
Despite the Premier League deciding to back Moss, the Football Association will NOT charge Gosling over his accusations – accusations he has since been criticised for making.
Former referee and PGMOL chief Keith Hackett joined talkSPORT to discuss the incident and said the midfielder was wrong to speak to the press about the referee’s performance.
“Jon Moss is not the best referee in my eyes,” Hackett told the Sports Bar, “but he has the right to earn respect. He’s got to earn the respect of the players and then they are agreeing to respond by showing respect to him.
“The ref didn’t help. Giving soft fouls away and little comments to two or three of the lads didn’t help as well really.
“I thought it was very disrespectful what he was saying.
“It was just the little niggly ones and then the little sarky comments.
“The officials talk about respect at the start of the season and there was zero respect from Jon Moss on Sunday.
“I thought he was a disgrace. The comments that he made especially to me and one other player – talking about the relegation zone and ‘you’re still in the relegation zone’, ‘you’re having one’, ‘your team’s having one’ this and that and it was very, very disrespectful.
“[It was] during the game, yeah.
“I think he should really come out and apologise because I thought he was a disgrace.”
“I think going to the media and saying, ‘Jon Moss is a disgrace’, is unacceptable and the FA deciding not to take any action does not help their Respect campaigns.
“Things like this permeate down into grassroots football and make life for young referees coming up difficult.”
Nonetheless, Hackett did move on to criticise Moss also, saying his alleged comments should not have been made during the match.
He continued: “If the comments he has made are about the position Bournemouth are in and/or about the quality of players on the pitch, then that is wrong and should have been avoided.
“You’ve got to use tact.
“There are many ways to communicate, and sometimes you recognise you need to fall off and keep your mouth shut and just get on with the game in decision making terms.
“In every game there are contentions decisions by referees, but in this particular game there was one incident where there was a bit of a flare up in and around the technical area when a player went down rather easily, and then there was an overreaction by players.
Alan Brazil tells Dan Gosling to 'get a life and grow up' over Bournemouth star's complaints about referee Jon Moss
“And, in fairness, I though Jon Moss handled that with a great deal of skill and experience.
“Ultimately at the end of the day every referee has got to go out and give their very best performance, and I have already stated that I don’t think Jon Moss is out best referee.
“Therefore, the selection of referees to games is important and we all see games when referees don’t perform well and there appears to be no accountability nor transparency.
“So what should have happened is Bournemouth have stated a case and player has said the referee was a disgrace, then that should have been called in and examined by the authorities.
“Let me tell you: when I was boss of the PGMOL I put in place a system whereby 30 minutes after the end of the game the manager can come into the referee’s dressing room and discuss.
Check out all the LIVE commentaries coming up on talkSPORT, below…
“And this is the type of incident that, when it occurs, ought to be discusses post-match.
“Try to resolve it there, and it if isn’t resolved there is a process whereby the club can put in a complaint.
“Let’s not sweep it under the table because, as referees, we’ve got to learn how to deal with players better in terms of communication skills, and we expect the players to respond to the referees if they make errors, because errors do come and referees have got to learn how to deal with that.”
Listen to Keith Hackett speaking on talkSPORT, in full, above…
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