Refs

Couldn't be a fans vote otherwise it's in the ref's interest to be biased towards the team with the larger fan-base. If they keep the big clubs happy they'll be promoted next year, that's not independent refereeing.

I like the idea of relegations and promotions for refs though; they would have to be assessed either by the two club's, each gives a score out of 10 and the average between the two is their rating. That said it's still biased, losing teams tend to take it out on the ref far too often which will skew the results. For me, it would have to be an independent assessor publishing their report and the ref's score.

To be honest I'd like refs to be mic'd up as they are in rugby, you wouldn't need tepid "respect the ref" campaigns as players would instantly be accountable for what they say to the ref swearing and abuse is an instant yellow. Equally the ref would be accountable for their decisions as they'd have to explain them to the watching fan-bases.

There is an FA assessor at every game. Performance is reviewed for about 30 to 45 mins after each game. This includes the assistants. On the basis of that they can be promoted but for Championship level and above, I think they now need to be full time and give up their jobs/careers elsewhere. Not everyone wants to do this given the low retirement age, let alone the abuse that goes with the position.