WELCOME to the Premier League, Bournemouth.

The moment Christian Benteke celebrated in front of the Kop after a goal that should never have stood, the new boys realised they were in a totally different ball park.

Any other time and they could have expected the assistant’s flag to be raised against Philippe Coutinho, who was clearly interfering with play as he came back from an offside position. He did have a swing at the cross after all ...

On another day, Benteke’s first Liverpool effort would have been rightly chalked off. Had the Belgian been playing for the away side, it’s not hard to imagine the decision going the defending team’s way.

Bournemouth had, after all, seen a “goal” of their own ruled out for a push; a generous call in Liverpool’s favour.

With those two blows, the Cherries have already been confirmed as the neutrals’ pick in this season’s Premier League; the plucky underdogs that the rest of us will cheer on from afar.

Understated boss Eddie Howe is no ranter or raver; no Mourinho-style sulker lambasting the injustice of the situation. He was moved to use words like “baffling” and “unforgiving”; strong stuff indeed from one of the top flight’s milder managers.

The figure we really wanted to hear from afterwards was Craig Pawson, the referee ultimately responsible for ruling on what should have been allowed to stand and what wasn’t.

But fat chance of that actually happening.

Howe said he would put in a call to referee supremo Mike Riley to clarify when offside isn’t offside under the latest interpretation drawn up before the season. But it would have been so much more acceptable to hear the reasoning direct from the horse’s mouth.

Unfortunately getting an interview off a referee is akin to ITV airing an Audience with Roman Abramovich.

Steve Evans may not exchange Christmas cards with anyone in the refereeing fraternity. The outspoken Rotherham chief would probably flog his granny for the chance of a penalty.

But it’s hard to argue over his latest beef about the lack of public transparency with match officials.

“It’s like the old Russia; a secret society,” he moaned. “You can’t get an answer.”

As football becomes richer and the stakes ever higher, surely it is time that the thought process behind some potentially match-changing decisions are open to public consumption.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been successful in a) pinning down the referee after a game and b) actually getting him to talk about a particular incident. And I’d still have a couple of fingers spare ...

There was one occasion at Southend many moons ago after Donovan Ricketts was sent off for gesturing at the home fans.

Ricketts, long before he became a team-mate of Steven Gerrard in Los Angeles, was getting some stick from the Roots Hall crowd; some of it later transpired to be racist.

So when City scored, he made a point of raising a finger of his glove to the stand behind him; one finger to mark one goal.

Unfortunately this reaction was viewed as a rude gesture by one of the assistants, who alerted referee Paul Armstrong and out came the red card.

Ricketts was incredulous; City, down to ten men, inevitably saw their lead later wiped out despite the valiant efforts of makeshift replacement Dean Windass.

Afterwards there was only one story in town for the media.

So we asked, very politely I must add, to speak with the referee about it. We waited – and waited ...

Eventually, about an hour after the final whistle, word came out from “on high” – the officials’ dressing room – that he would agree to comment.

But only one member of the press was allowed to speak to him. Or rather, one member of the press was allowed to take down his one sentence of explanation.

We trembled outside with excitement at the prospect of these rare pearls of wisdom.

Eventually the designated reporter was granted access to the inner sanctum – we’d gone with the only guy wearing a tie. Thirty seconds later, or maybe 35 if we’re being generous, he emerged with 16 words of official prose.

"An offensive gesture was made to the crowd by the player which necessitates a sending off."

That was it. The so-called “secret society” had opened their door a crack and permitted one on-the-record line to leak out.

The fact that ten years on I can still remember it vividly, when I often can’t recall what we had for tea a couple of days ago, shows the exceptional circumstances of the incident.

It was almost an “I was there (stood outside in a windy corridor)” moment.

I’m not bashing referees here but questioning the “omerta” that surrounds the system.

Managers are accountable for their decisions. Whether they answer the questions openly and truthfully is another matter but at least there is that opportunity.

Players, too, can be put on the spot about what has gone on. But there is no such access to the other personnel so often key to proceedings and that can’t be right.

City, incidentally, were tipped the wink to throw in a fast-track appeal against the Ricketts red card. It failed.