I was just watching highlights of Burnley v Millwall (although they were dressed like Blackpool), and the Clarets had a goal disallowed for a 'retrospective' offside decision. The linesman didn't put his flag up during the play, so he obviously thought it was onside, and the player duly passed the ball and the goal was scored. I'm not sure why the referee decided to confer with the lino (I'm assuming the Millwall players were whingeing, as is their way) but, after a discussion, and this is by now about a minute later, the lino puts his flag up and the goal is ruled out. There's no way from the refs position in the middle of the pitch that he could have a clue and I watched the replay and, to me, the player in question was level, but it's too tight to be 100% sure from the camera angle.
The point is, although the referee is the sole arbiter of the game, what on Earth goes through his mind to do this? It's not like it's a parent running the line FFS. I thought refs were told to err on the side of the attacking player, in other words, you have to be clearly offside to be called?
The referee was bald and rather slow, I wondered if Hawkesy had taken up reffing.
