The quality of officials - or lack of it - has taken up a lot of space in Town discussions in the last two weeks or so. Personally, I have been appalled at the penalty decisions which have cost us four points - assuming we had scored the spot-kicks we should have had. And you could extend that to six, if you include the Preston game.

Added to the Leif Davis suspension fiasco and we have genuine reasons to complain. We haven't played well in some of those games but that doesn't affect our right to criticise very poor decisions and indeed apparent lies from the Leicester ref who "didn't see" the foul on Cedric Kipre.

It is rubbish being a fan in these situations as it is easy to be incensed but there is nothing we can do about it. If we write to the EFL or FA, almost certainly no-one would reply.

Has it been ever thus? I feel that a lot of people of my age (68) probably think "No, it was better in 'those days'".

I think referees in 'those days' had more personality and character - anyone who remembers Roger Kirkpatrick of Leicester will recall a very rotund person who sprinted to catch up with the rest of the players when he had lectured one for a foul or dissent. His sprint always brought applause from the crowd - yes the crowd would clap the referee. And he was good with his decision-making as well.

Alf Buksh of Wembley was another character. He was the first Asian ref that I can remember and in my opinion was very good. Jack Taylor, who refereed a World Cup final, was a commanding figure whom players respected.

There was undoubtedly more character but that has largely been squeezed out of the job because of the scrutiny that refs are now under?

But even in 'those days', there were disasters. In September 1970 Ipswich lost 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. I'd heard on the TV that one of Chelsea's goals - awarded by Mr Roy Capey of Crewe, a name I'll never forget - was controversial. But it wasn't until I saw photos in the papers on my Sunday paper round that I realised how controversial. The 'goal' never entered the net but hit the side netting, as the photos clearly showed. Clearly neither linesman nor Mr Capey had seen this - and obviously the Chelsea players didn't own up. I've never forgiven the man from Crewe and I don't suppose I will after 55 years!

The same applies, of course, to the infamous Clive Thomas of Treorchy. Clive disallowed two perfectly good Ipswich goals which would have seen us beat West Ham in the FA Cup semi-final replay in 1975 at Stamford Bridge. Cameras showed clearly that both goals should have stood. So we lost a semi-final 2-1*. We'd then never been to a cup final and the bus back to Colchester through the East End and celebrating West Ham fans made contempt for Mr Thomas almost unbearable. We were certainly robbed.

So referees have always made terrible decisions which change results, with and without VAR, I don't think that will ever change. It's just that these days there is so much scrutiny and dissection of their decisions that things probably seem worse.

Sadly I fear that the today's standard is unlikely to improve. I have been involved with junior football for several years when not at Portman Road. The number of matches which have neutral linesmen has reduced dramatically over the last 10 years. In lower divisions managers or bystanders have to referee themselves. This always causes problems with accusations of bias - real and imaginary.

This shortage of officials at grassroots level must feed up the chain, so there are fewer good referees graduating to the EFL and Premier League as there are fewer to chose from. You can hardly blame them given the way referees are seen to be spoken to by players and then criticised by the media.

So I'll sign off with the rather sad conclusion that refereeing is what it is, but it is unlikely to get better.

*A bit of useless information from that semi-final replay n 1975: Alan Taylor scored two for West Ham v Arsenal in the sixth round, then two against us and then two against Fulham in the final. He now works for an undertakers firm in Norfolk! Can't see any players from the Premier League ever doing that.

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