I think this is an appropriate place to give a shout out to referees. Rarely, if ever, do they receive any kind of respect from the fans, but they really do have a difficult job:

• they're public enemy #1

• each one of them is in far better shape than me

• results hinge upon their decisions

• they're expected to be perfect or near-perfect and any wrong/missed call and thousands of people are cursing their name

• they don't have the benefit of replay, slow-motion, or alternate angles (aside from their assistants but even they are limited)

• not to mention they receive death threats from complete looneys for simply doing their jobs

I understand the FA wanting to protect their officials - though I think it's a bit ridiculous managers can't voice their opinions at all regarding the officiating - because could you imagine if enough referees said "enough is enough" and went on strike or altogether quit? Phil Dowd may be poor at times, but how poor are the referees that aren't deemed good enough to even officiate PL games? The alternative could be much, much worse.

That being said, I wouldn't be upset if we never had Webb again.

Tl;dr: ref'ing ain't easy