major bollock and isn’t one to court publicity.
That said, he'll probably stink the gaff out today and gift Arsenal the win!
He was one of the Premier League’s more lenient officials last season with
a total of 38 yellow cards and two red cards in his 27 top flight games.
Halsey has refereed 17 Everton games in the last three seasons and issued
just ten yellow cards and one red card.
Five of those games came last year as he officiated in our 0-3
capitulation to Portsmouth…yes, that was the start of last season! It was
that bad!
He also took charge of the 3-1 win at West Ham, the 1-0 win at West Ham,
the 0-1 defeat at Manchester United and the 0-0 draw at Chelsea.
He also took charge of our 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win over Middlesbrough.
For Arsenal, he refereed five games and issued five yellow and one red card.
The last time he took charge of a fixture involving both teams was on the
opening day of the 2003/04 season.
A 35th minute penalty from Thierry Henry and a 53rd minute close range
shot from Robert Pires were enough to see off Everton who managed to pull
one back in the 84th minute as Tomasz Radzinski got his obligatory goal
against Arsenal.
Booked at Highbury that afternoon were Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira and
Everton’s Thomas Gravesen and Wayne Rooney.
It was to be the fat lad’s last season in royal blue as he jumped ship to
Old Trafford the following summer after the Blues slumped to a 17th placed
finish, our worst under David Moyes.
Back to this season, and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is carrying out a
travelogue for the BBC as he tours football grounds the length and breadth
of Europe.
The working title is ‘Arsene Around’.
You’ve been a wonderful audience….
Allez les Blues!
Neville to Halsey: "Mark, when people say I'll
do anything to get a win, they mean anything!"