DAY IT GOT TOO HEADY
FORMER Premier League referee Phil Dowd was involved in one of the most famous bust-ups – and the picture taught him a lesson. Dowd went head-to-head with Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole (above) during a highlycharged Tyne- Wear derby game in October 2010 and ended up on every newspaper back page the following day.
But not only did the fallout serve him well as a referee, it has undoubtedly shaped the way he deals with issues and particularly man-management now.
Dowd said: “I’ve had run-ins with plenty of managers. I went head-to-head with Lee Cattermole once and that was one of the best pieces of manmanagement I’ve had when Mike Riley was in charge of the PGMOL.
“We came in the day after, we were in a hotel for breakfast and he put the paper down in front of me with the picture on the back page.
“He went off to get some breakfast, I looked at it and he came back and said, ‘What would you have done if he’d gone down holding his head?’.
“That stuck with me ever since. If he’d taken me aside and given me a rollicking, then I’d have been annoyed. But it made me think and there are ways of doing things.
“When I was a referee, if someone told me to do something, then I’d have done the opposite. But now it’s about having ideas, putting things forward and it’s often about relationships.
“If they want to have some banter, then I have no problem as long as it doesn’t cross a line.
“When I first started, there were probably 30 people, including all the refs, one coach and the head of it all. It’s a huge network now. They get so much help and support.
“There’s so much more to come from this group and outstanding officials for the future.”