Now that Sunderland are back were they belong and everything about the club is Premier League, we can at first hand discuss the key topic that continues to plague the world’s greatest division: referees. With the season only a month or so old, an unbelievable number of decisions have already been thrown into the media spotlight, all pinpointing blame towards the man with the whistle.

Before you read on, don’t assume this is a one-sided throw of criticism aimed at referees. Far from it. This article is in fact a piece of objectivity and fairness, giving all the sides to every story, so you can decide for yourself who you blame for today’s inept officiating*. It would have been easy for me to slate referees for the next thousand or so words, and for you to read it forming no real opinion or interest, due to the fact you read this type of garbage every day, as it’s a tactic commonly used by writers to fill a page quickly. What, therefore, would be the point? However if you look at the bigger picture you should be able to realise that referees are not the only ones to blame for the deterioration in their performances. There are lots of contributing factors to this problem that either go unnoticed or ignored.

Not a game goes by without a player trying every trick in the book to win a penalty, free-kick or even, pathetically, a throw in. Without meaning to direct blame at one individual, the case of Chelsea’s Florent Malouda against Liverpool highlights the sort of obstacles referees have to overcome before they can even focus on doing their job properly. Even though Rob Stiles had a clear view of the incident, should he be criticised for trusting Malouda’s gamesmanship? Actually, yes, he probably should, considering the high level of cheats currently plying their trade in the Premier League. But on a more serious note, the player in question is just as much at fault for this blunder as Mr Stiles. If anything he is solely responsible, as he deliberately cheated, the referee blatantly did not.