Anthony Taylor has been put on 4th official duties for two games this week as the Premier League investigate the social media targeting of the referee by Chelsea fans after Saturday night’s game against Bournemouth.
The referee handed out a Premier League record 14 yellow cards in the game, and 2 further cautions to coaches on the benches. It was by no means a violent game or a really charged up encounter, Taylor just followed the new directive to punish dissent harshly.
There was also plenty of silly, petty behaviour from players on both sides, who at times seemed keen to push the limits and see if they could break the record. Chelsea picked 7 up yellow and made just 9 fouls in the game – that stat really sums up what a bizarre situation it was.
Taylor taken out of firing line
The Daily Mail have the exclusive on the league’s investigation, and have seen the abuse Taylor received, including threats towards his family. Instead of being the main ref in any game, the 45 year old will try to avoid the spotlight by being 4th official, in the Ipswich-Southampton game on Saturday and the Nottingham Forest-Brighton game on Sunday.
We feel for Taylor here – nobody should get death threats for doing their job. He has been absolutely dreadful on the whole when doing Chelsea games over the years, and cost us a couple of trophies in the process. But in this case he’s really been hung out to dry by the league’s new policy attempting to stamp out dissent and bad behaviour from the players. They’ve told him to stick to the letter of the law, he’s done just that, and now is getting abused for it.
Some of the more horrible threats could face legal action as they’re investigated by the social media platforms on which they’re posted.
