It is going back a few years now but I can still remember the sense of awkwardness, sitting in the press box at Stamford Bridge one day, and seeing Mark Halsey, off-duty, greeting Gary Cahill before one Chelsea match with the kind of bearhug you would not normally expect to see between a referee and a player.
Cahill had previously played for Bolton Wanderers and Halsey used to train with the club, something the authorities no longer allow of referees. Halsey had his own column in the Bolton Evening News, referring to “Davo” (Kevin Davies), “Speedo” (Gary Speed) and so on, and apparently wore the club’s strip with his surname on the back. It was no surprise they knew each other and, though it did jar seeing their old pals’ routine by the side of the pitch, it didn’t strike me that it was worth questioning whether Halsey should be kept off Chelsea matches, or if he was too matey with certain players to be totally impartial.
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