A good referee, the cliché reminds us, is one who goes unnoticed. Unfortunately, the Premier League's referees are gifted media careers and book deals after years of dubious officiating.
Shame on the corporations and publishers who have allowed these pedantic jobsworths oxygen as they continue to lecture supporters and successors, oblivious to the irony.
Mark Halsey is one such rent-a-quote, and, inexplicably, a pundit with the dreadful BT Sport.
Referees looking daft
After weeks of fence-sitting, Halsey is fed up of the splinters and has launched into a couple of tirades recently, drawing the ire of former colleague Graham Poll.
Poll, who once thought three yellow cards merited a red, has had his nose put out of joint by Halsey's new celebrity status and the two were on the phone bitching about each other this week. It is one fight where you hope both lose.
Click through the gallery to see how daft they really are.