Embarrassing. After another weekend of controversial VAR decisions, it would seem the only appropriate word. Yes, expectations are unduly high. Yes, everyone makes mistakes. But at the end of the day it’s not brain surgery: when Jermaine Jenas got his phone out to call the referee Rob Jones a “sh**house”, he should have taken a deep breath, counted to 10, then walked away.
Jenas, the BBC pundit and pre-season face of – you couldn’t write it – an Football Association campaign to promote respect for referees, has made himself look permanently stupid. Just another weekend in the Barclays, you might say. But Jenas’s error-strewn social media message (full text: “Complete sh**house off a referee! They’re all ruining the our game!”) is hardly atypical. People are losing their stuff at refereeing decisions on a weekly basis.
