Customer Reviews
GREAT CANDID INSIGHT INTO THE MODERN GAME AND THE REF'S STORIES! - By: R. G. Williams, 24 Nov 2008 
I loved this book & couldn't put it down. One of Englands' top ref blows the whistle on great incidents we have all seen on the box, who said what etc as well as talking about the game both domestic & internationalin general & his own career. This is a great book.
Poll goes into some detail about some key incidents inlcuding of course the media row with John Terry following the England captain's controversial sending off against Tottenham Hotspur after grappling with Ledley King. he also covers verbal tussles with Rooney & Mourinhoin his final years at the top & of course who could forget the three yellow cards incident!
Poll digsin the FA too on the way they handle interaction with the officials at every level of the game, he also looks at behind-the-scenes tales of what it means to be a professional referee both at home & at major international tournaments, there is certainly a few thingsin here that will keep any football supporter interested, even (and sometimes especially) if you are not Poll's biggest fan.
After reading this book,you get the impression that Poll liked to be noticed - bothin his career & since. Throughout, he does try to explain away how people came to think of him as arrogant - a character trait he likes to deny.
But you get the distinct impression from some of the anecdotes he furnishes the reader with that this is simply not the case.
The book is a good readin general & is punctuated with enough tales & stories to make it interesting - but with enough other substance so that the narrative is never a simple 'he said, she said'.
What is perhaps the most lavish praise for this book is the foreword by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Fergie is not exactly known for his love of the officials throughout football, especially when it comes to their timekeeping.
Therefore, the fact that he has taken the time out to write a generous introduction for Mr Poll's book suggests the man is genuinely a good & well-liked man among his peers.
There is, of course, the obligatory family history/upbringing/early life part to the book, although this is mercifully short & the focus is most certainly on the sections of Poll's career that people will buy this book for.
It's a good read for anyone with a vested interestin professional football as a whole, as it gives a viewpoint that is normally hidden from the public view.
Well worth a look.
Opiniated Poll - By: Bantam Dave, 16 Jul 2008 
On his retirement as a referee it would appear that Graham Poll as chosen to write a book not about his life but as an opportunity to put his side of the story about many of the controversial episodesin his refereeing career. Fair enough. Unfortunately though, this gets a bit wearing after a while and, as a result, I found this book it to be a little dull.
It gets off to a slow start when far too much time is spent going over the events of a now largely forgotten Chelsea v Spurs game from a few years ago and, to me, really picks up after that.
Amongst football watchers, Graham Poll was never the most popular refereein the game, & this book makes it clear that he wasn't heldin very high regard by many of his fellow referees neither. Whilst he says that much of the dislike was unfair, on reading this book I can understand why as he comes across as being very opinionated and, at times, self important.
Congratulations Mr Poll - By: Rona Mckellar, 07 Jul 2008 
I found this book to be a very enjoyable read. I think it is very effectivein not only exploring Graham Poll's life as a referee but alsoin giving more detail about his life away from football. The book is written very well & is very easy to pick up & read for hours. I think this has to be one of the most enjoyable books around at the moment. I would recommend it to anybody.
Celebrity Refs - By: Paul Hanratty, 30 Jun 2008 When I first started watching football the referee was the manin black who blew the whistle. He wasn't a celebrity & we often didn't even know his name. Those days are well behind us with Messrs Ellerary, Winter & Poll all treating us to tales from the middle. I am like many football fans, totally biased to my own team & quick to blame the ref for the team's shortcomings. Therefore I was interested to read "Pollie's" story & initially had a degree of sympathy for him as he seemed to be unfairly maligned by one camp or the other for anything which contributed to a team's downfall. However, I felt he milked the mistake at the World Cup & hadin mind the phrase "get over it". No one died & ultimately it made no material difference to the outcome of the match & the only reason I could discern for Mr Poll's misery was that he clearly believed he was destined to referee the final. Egotistical, arrogant, self-important - yes probably a little of all but don't pretend you didn't enjoy the fame/notoriety which went with it, Graham. For all that I quite enjoyed the book as it gave a different view of lifein the beautiful game.
Poll,s position - By: russell clarke, 25 Jun 2008 Graham Poll winds up a lot of football fans , mainly because they perceive that he was more interestedin being the star of the show than the players, though when you are refereeing Robbie Savage I think that's fair enough but more about the richly bouffanted Savage later. This perception is shared by a fair few managers as well , such as Neil Warnock which is bit rich coming from him .Yet I,ve always thought he was a good ref & seemed a decent bloke & this book confirms I was right. In fact it's fair to say that this book & his measured performances on Score & Football Focus have made me really warm to the guy.
Seeing Red could be considered an educational book as it opens up the readers eyes to the requirements needed to be a professional referee. It also points out that a lot of the criticism received by referee's is based on misunderstandings of the rules & that even top pundits are not adverse to this. There is also lots of meandering about UEFA & FIFA politics & his striving to get to the top of the refereeing ladder which is all a bit dullin truth. So to some extent this is a fairly dry book.
However it's worth persevering with the more mundane sections to get to the real juicy stuff. Thus Poll sheds light on his dealings with players & managers. His fractious relationship with Jose Mourinho who he feels modelled Chelseain his own image turning them into the snarling bad losers they are. John Terry's behaviour , as portrayedin this book , underlines his unsuitability as England captain, while David Beckham & Steven Gerrard seem to be thoroughly decent chaps. Which is not something you could claim for Robbie Savage. As if the hair, thuggish on field demeanour & general air of gittishness weren't enough Poll tells the tale of toiletgate & further confirms, if indeed it needs confirming , that Savage is a bell end of considerable magnitude. There are also terrific anecdotes about, Neil Warnock , Roy Keane , Patrick Viera, Alex Ferguson & fellow refs Paul Durkin & Pierre Luigi Collina .
Inevitably great swathes of the text are taken up by the incident that will unfortunately define Poll's career- the three yellow cards he gave to Croatia's Josip Simunic , an incident he refers to as his "indelible tattoo". During a chapter donein diary form from his time at the 2006 World Cupin Germany there is a detailed explanation on the incident & it's ramifications for Poll.
Seeing Red isn't the most entertaining book on football, indeed it's not the most entertaining book by a referee( That's "Oh Ref" by Pat Partridge) but it does cast it's writerin a new light which is partly what autobiography's are all about. It answers fairly & squarely all the claims that Poll was more interestedin the limelight thanin doing the job he was paid to do. Like i said at the start he comes across as an amiable grounded bloke . Which is more than can be said for most players & managers.
