The gamesmanship front;
Surely it's up to the officials to deal with it. Use yellows and reds to remove the perpetrators. No 2nd chances. I can't believe any official welcomes a 2nd opinion once the decision is made (or possibly explained to the Captain - the one with the relevant arm band).
Deepcut is our man for comment here.
PS I agree with the earlier poster regarding Linesmen - should do more.
I wasn't at the game so cannot comment specifically about this one. But as I have said before, the officials have Mark One eyeballs to see incidents once and once only in real time to make their decisions.
Putting pressure onto an official is a tactic that is employed by a lot of clubs and despite denials that it doesn't have an effect, having been in that position and generally rate myself as pretty robust, it does have an impact even if the official consciously tries their hardest not to allow it to. Not necessarily for the immediate decision but possibly for decisions later in the game. The officials are human.
The crowding round the officials is something that 'all clubs' had agreed to stop doing, which initially yielded an obvious improvement, but it appears to have come back into the game.
At Step 5 and below and in some of the FA competitions, the use of Sin Bins for dissent, has drastically reduced the level of dissent considerably. Which in turn allows the officials to make decisions as they see fit without any threats of verbal or physical dissent.
"Linesman - should do more" As I have said previously, because of the communications equipment, all four officials will be involved in officiating the game, even if you do not see any visible flag or signals to acknowledge that. You would be surprised at how much 'in-game' and constant chatter is going on during a game to assist the man/woman in the middle. But it is up to that person with the whistle to take all of that advice and make the ultimate decision each and every time, normally within seconds.
Yes, officials do get decisions wrong but the majority are correct, or correct in line with the interpretation of the Law. The main problem that officials have is with players, managerial staff, commentators/pundits and fans who either do not know the Law, or are not familiar with the interpretations, or what has lead up to the decision being made and what has been considered when the official is making those decisions.
It infuriates officials, when leading pundits make comment about a particular decision that is completely incorrect in Law. Unfortunately, fans and media believe the version given on MotD or Sky/BT Sports which creates more unjustifiable abuse of the officials.
Which is why when asked, either on here or regularly at games, I try and explain the decisions in Law and also why I believe that the officials have made the various decisions. I have also said that I don't necessarily agree with the particular decisions made (especially with my claret tinted specs on) and give my honest opinion when I believe that they have got it wrong, but I believe that my explanation provides a better education and understanding.
It's not a job for the faint-hearted. Across the country, I heard last week that 35% of officials have not re-registered for the 2021-2022 season. There are not enough to go round, that is one reason why I have not been to as many Cobblers games as I normally do. I and my fellow officials have been in constant demand. One of the greatest reasons given for the 'disappearance' has been the level of abuse both verbal and physical that officials have suffered both during and particularly after games. There are weekly examples reported in the media, a lot of examples that I've seen do not reach that level of publicity.
The game cannot continue without officials, some leagues in my area are having to self officiate some games because there are insufficient officials to go round.
I've asked for a weekend off, so I should be at Hartlepool, subject to a lastminute.com appointment, when we will be able to talk about the excellent Cobblers performance and not the level of officiating on the journey home, I can but hope...