What do Mike Riley and the PGMOL have to hide?

So Mike Dean is set to officiate yet another Arsenal game as he takes charge of our away trip at Old Trafford this weekend, there is something so desperately wrong with a system that allows one official to referee almost a quarter of one team's games.  The massive scandal surrounding referee selection in the Premier League is going to run and run, the fact that the media routinely fail to investigate this gaping chasm says a lot about the sad lapdog state of many of the mainstream journalists out there.

I sent the PGMOL some rather simple and basic questions almost a year ago now, unsurprisingly this 'open' and 'transparent' organisation simply cut off contact with me as they do not want to reveal what actually goes on as regards their organisation and referee selection in the PGMOL.  Here are the basic questions that the PGMOL will not answer:

1. Would it be possible to see the template scoring systems (for both match assessor and match delegate) used for assessing the performance of referees at games?  Obviously I do no expect to see specific scored but would like to see the blank marking sheets to see what they are scored on for each game.

2. Are referees routinely scored based on the review of match videos after games?

3. If the answer to 3 is yes, then are they scored for their technical performance ie whether specific decisions were right or wrong in games?

4. The figure quoted by Mike Riley is that 99% of assistant referee decisions on offside are correct.  Where does this data come from, it is based on video review of the decisions or some other form of review (match assessors or delegates)?

5. Does the PGMO think that the region of the country from which a referee originates may result in some unconscious decision making bias?

6. Does the PGMO agree with the susbstantive body of research that shows referees will tend to unconsciously favour the home side with decisons?

7. Are you able to give me some basic details of who makes up the PGMO?

8.  Are you able to give me any details on how referees are selected? ie how often are the meetings and who is involved?

 You can make up your own minds as to why the PGMOL will not answer any of these questions or even dignify my questions with any kind of comment.  Personally I think it is utterly shameful that the biggest football league in the world is run in such a hidden and shady manner.  Their refusal to answer does not make them appear open, transparent or honest.

The Lance Armstrong scandal in cycling has shown how corrupt sport and business can become, and that assuming things are fine just because they should be is about as naive and stupid as one can get.  The Premier League is a multi-billion pound business, the way it operates should be transparent and open, alas beneath the shiny brochures and glossy pamphlets lurks a very dodgy world filled with numerous huge conflicts of interest.  Assuming football to be clean when everything is hidden from view and when everything is pointing in the other direction is about as stupid as one can get.