Gary Neville calls for elite pool to referee big games

Manchester United skipper Gary Neville has called for the introduction of an elite pool of referees to officiate the biggest Premier League matches.

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Gary Neville believes the decisions have not been good enough.

Neville, who saw his manager Sir Alex Ferguson fined £20,000 and given a four-match touchline ban, with two of the games suspended until the end of next season, for his outspoken attack of Alan Wiley, has now joined the debate and claims that inexperienced referees need to earn the right to take charge of big games.

"Referees are having a tough time at the moment, but I must say that their decision-making doesn't seem to be great in the big moments," Neville told The Times. "No one can deny it is very difficult to be a referee, but they are supposed to be professionals.

"The big matches should be refereed by the best referees. Italian referee Pierluigi Collina always used to get the big Champions League matches because he rarely made mistakes. They should make it like that in England and use a few elite officials in the big games instead of trying to give all referees experience.

"These big games shouldn't be about giving refs experience. They should have to earn it. The best players play for the big clubs and the best commentators commentate on the big games. That's how it should be with refs."

The defender's comments are likely to provoke more controversy as he echoed Ferguson's anger over recent decision - especially in the champions' 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge earlier this month.

"I don't think it was a foul by Darren Fletcher which led to the free kick," Neville said. "I don't want to say we've been hard done by this season because every team has their complaints, and I don't want to jump on referees' backs because they are under a lot of pressure. Not only that, but the game is so fast that you can't eliminate all mistakes. Nevertheless, I expect the big decisions in the big matches to be correct, which is not happening at the moment."