Referees and linesmen make mistakes. They always have and always will, but never as many as the one-eyed observers from the rival dugouts in the Premier League would have you believe.

One of the most tiresome developments of the modern game is the post-match interview when disgruntled managers preface their comments with, “I don’t want to whinge about the referee” before doing just that.

The problem is exacerbated by TV’s armchair analysts, who can agonise for hours, aided by half a dozen TV camera angles and computer simulation, then see no issue with pronouncing that an incident was tough to call but that the officials should have done better.

They had a field day Saturday when it seemed that Stephen Hunt’s late goal to secure a 2-1 win for Reading over Sunderland had not crossed the line before being beaten out by goalkeeper Craig Gordon. It wasn’t clear at first glance nor with aid of slow motion replays and only after several angles were made available did it appear that the linesman had made a mistake.

That was tough on Sunderland, who were denied a last-minute winner against Aston Villa last week by a seemingly harsh refereeing interpretation of a challenge on the Villa keeper, but as the more enlightened used to say, these things even themselves out over a season.

That attitude seems to have been replaced by a weekly witch hunt. It was certainly all too much for Sunderland manager Roy Keane, who even before Saturday’s game was claiming that the match officials, like players, are “well-paid and should be held accountable for their mistakes”.

After the Reading disappointment, he added: “I’ve seen a replay and I am told to believe every game that if an official is not sure on any decision, be it a sending off or a penalty kick, if they are not sure they can’t give it. If the linesman is sure then all credit to him. He must have fantastic vision because we have watched it a few times and it is still unclear.”

If the linesman had not flagged the goal he would still have been making a decision, though Keane seems to believe that not awarding a goal, penalty etc does not count.

Reading manager Steve Coppell obviously benefited from Saturday’s call but he is always careful not to criticise referees.

Coppell admitted that in real time he thought Hunt’s effort had come back from the woodwork and that the linesman’s integrity should not be questioned. When forced to discuss the issue further by a Sky Sports interviewer Coppell merely said that if players made as few mistakes as the referees then managers would be out of business.

A few years ago Italian referees became so fed up of the constant criticism that they suggested the TV stations spent a weekend making their judgements without the benefit of any replays. It didn’t happen but, for a few weeks at least, the moaning stopped.