Jeff Winter reignites feud with Danny Mills and says slow motion should not be used by VAR

In the first part of an Ladbrokes: Fanzone exclusive, former referee Jeff Winter spoke about his feud with Danny Mills, that Cristian Romero tackle and Christmas parties.

I’m glad Danny Mills is still living off my reputation

The one positive that came out of that Danny Mills interview which he did with Under The Cosh last year, was that I was able to go on that podcast myself a few weeks later. And the support I got from people both inside and outside of the game…put it this way, there was far more criticism of him as an individual than there was of me. He called me a c**k in that interview.

Most players, I found, you could have a bit of banter with. Danny, you couldn’t. You couldn’t have that craic with him. I sent him off on one occasion, which he referred to in the interview, for two yellow cards at Highbury. The second, for kicking the ball at Ashley Cole who was on the floor. Leeds ended up with nine men – they did actually still win the game which might tell you something.

I’m glad to see Danny’s got it out of his system, because that was probably 25 years ago now!

I hasten to say, VAR would not have overturned my decision on that night, by the way! And if they had have done, I tell you something, if they’d have sent me across to watch that incident on the screen, well, you’d have to have taken me off and sectioned me!

I had a funny situation with Danny, actually, a few years back. I’d been asked to come down to London to take part in some football work with a foreign TV channel. It was going to be myself, Sam Allardyce and an ex-player. When I walked into the studio on the night, they told us that the player in question couldn’t make it, and that they’d been replaced…by Danny Mills. The producer said it could be interesting.

Danny walks in, we say hello to each other and there were no bad words or anything, but we didn’t go for a pint after the job either! I’m glad he’s still living off my reputation anyhow!

For every Danny Mills that had such a low opinion of me, unless there’s a lot of two-faced people out there, there’s a hell of a lot more players and managers who seem to put me down as firm but fair, and that’s all you can ask for as a referee.

Cristian Romero tackle: Slow motion replays are wrong

The one thing I will say about that [Cristian] Romero tackle, is that the constant slowing down of the tackle, and the replays, don’t help the player at all. It’s not a clever tackle – it’s worthy of at least a yellow card. But when you watch it in slow motion, you’re thinking there’s every chance it’ll be upgraded to a red.

Referees only get one chance to spot something in the moment. I’m not a massive fan of VAR, full-stop. But I’m certainly not a fan of VAR playing things in slow motion. You see things in slow motion that put a totally different slant on things. But I wouldn’t have been surprised to see the booking replaced by a red card, especially when you make comparisons to some tackles that have been given as red cards in other games – then you find yourself scratching your head. It gets said a lot, but there isn’t a level of consistency in place right now.

Christmas parties

When Peter Jones – who was an absolute gent – retired from active refereeing, I took over as the Premier League Referee Social Secretary, so I was responsible for organising the Christmas parties, and the other nights out. Let’s just say, what goes on tour, stays on tour!

We had some fantastic times, I can tell you that. But, in a squad of 23 or so people, vastly different characters from different geographical locations, of course you had your cliques, the ‘us and them brigade’. But basically when we all got together for a social occasion, we all had that one thing in common: we were all referees. And we had some fantastic times together. It all just seems such a long time ago now.

I don’t know what it would be like today with the presence of social media.. Some of the things we could get away with back in the day, or do, on a night out, it was very much between us there and the four walls we were in. Nowadays, you can’t go to the loo without someone getting a camera out and tweeting it. I do feel for today’s refs, and the players, of course. It’s a different world, totally and utterly.

We had some good times, though, and I wouldn’t change anything. I loved my career. But when we retired, we retired. You had one option in the game and one option only: go and be an assessor. Or you walked away. I chose – and it was chosen for me – because I wouldn’t stick to the party guidelines and sit on the fence and do things they wanted me to do. I got out and forged a new career which I’m enjoying every part of.

But the match officials nowadays have got a fantastic package come the end of their careers. Thank the magic three-letter word, VAR, because it means there are opportunities there for them after refereeing, and good luck to them, because they’re under intense scrutiny.