Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66823 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-13
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Synopsis
The most high-profile referee this country has ever seen, the controversial and opinionated Graham Poll exposes the myth that referees are the game's silent men, and opens the lid on the shocking and often unbelievable world of football that few outsiders get to see. Seeing Red is Graham Poll's incisive insight into football from his prime position as the man in black, the one in control, the eye that sees all. A Premier League referee since 1991 and ten years as an international referee, Graham Poll has handled some of the toughest games in the Premiership involving Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, as well as European Championships and World Cups -- in total over 1500 matches. What is it like to referee the biggest matches in international football? What really goes on between the players in the tunnel before a match and in the dressing room after? Who are the nastiest footballers? And the funniest? Who is the smartest manager? And are the bureaucrats ruining the beautiful game?Controversial and opinionated, Poll has crossed swords with some of the biggest names in world football and shares private conversations with the likes of Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Sepp Blatter and Steve McClaren, and the inside story behind controversial incidents involving Roy Keane, David Beckham, Patrick Vieira and current England captain John Terry, among others.

Poll also talks about the infamous 2006 World Cup match when he failed to send off a Croatian player after three yellow cards in a crucial tie against Australia, returning home early in disgrace and with his career in meltdown. The games, the players, the managers, the suits -- the most outspoken referee in the modern game tells it as it really is.

Customer Reviews

Opiniated Poll
On his retirement as a referee it would appear that Graham Poll as chosen to write a book not about his life but as an opportunity to put his side of the story about many of the controversial episodes in his refereeing career. Fair enough. Unfortunately though, this gets a bit wearing after a while and, as a result, I found this book it to be a little dull.

It gets off to a slow start when far too much time is spent going over the events of a now largely forgotten Chelsea v Spurs game from a few years ago and, to me, really picks up after that.

Amongst football watchers, Graham Poll was never the most popular referee in the game, and this book makes it clear that he wasn't held in very high regard by many of his fellow referees neither. Whilst he says that much of the dislike was unfair, on reading this book I can understand why as he comes across as being very opinionated and, at times, self important.

Congratulations Mr Poll
I found this book to be a very enjoyable read. I think it is very effective in not only exploring Graham Poll's life as a referee but also in giving more detail about his life away from football. The book is written very well and is very easy to pick up and read for hours. I think this has to be one of the most enjoyable books around at the moment. I would recommend it to anybody.

Celebrity Refs
When I first started watching football the referee was the man in black who blew the whistle. He wasn't a celebrity and we often didn't even know his name. Those days are well behind us with Messrs Ellerary, Winter and Poll all treating us to tales from the middle. I am like many football fans, totally biased to my own team and quick to blame the ref for the team's shortcomings. Therefore I was interested to read "Pollie's" story and initially had a degree of sympathy for him as he seemed to be unfairly maligned by one camp or the other for anything which contributed to a team's downfall. However, I felt he milked the mistake at the World Cup and had in mind the phrase "get over it". No one died and ultimately it made no material difference to the outcome of the match and the only reason I could discern for Mr Poll's misery was that he clearly believed he was destined to referee the final. Egotistical, arrogant, self-important - yes probably a little of all but don't pretend you didn't enjoy the fame/notoriety which went with it, Graham. For all that I quite enjoyed the book as it gave a different view of life in the beautiful game.