Thoroughly reffed off
Not since Kevin Keegan delighted/shocked the nation with his ‘I would just love it’ speech about Alex Ferguson and his rampant Manchester United in the spring of 1996 has football had a manager’s post-match rant worth the name.
Step forward Neil Warnock. His Sheffield United team didn’t really get the run of the ball against Southampton in their FA Cup match at The Dell last weekend, and Neil reckoned he knew the reason why. As luck would have it, there was a Sky microphone to hand. Warnock let fly.
Here it is in its glorious entirety. You will notice the dilemma of the interviewer. Once he opens the door to Warnock, the manager takes it off the hinges. The hapless hack then attempts to change the subject, manfully tries to be understanding. But he was as Ginger Rogers to Neil’s Fred Astaire, no more than an invisible dancing partner.
Q: At the end, you’ve gone out of the FA Cup but what was your plan going in, because you survived for so long?
Warnock: We tried to cope with the 11 players. It was difficult with whatever happened with the ref. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement, really. There’s no way Southampton would have beaten us without the referee today. It’s simple as that and obviously I’m disappointed. But he’s a Premier League referee and [you] don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Q: All in a moment you had a penalty conceded and you had a player sent off. What was the verdict on the bench?
Warnock: Well, we wondered why their lad didn’t get sent off for deliberate hand-ball when [Paul] Devlin was through Bicester Village Prada Store Number on Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada Messenger Bag goal. Is it because we’re Nationwide League? You know … It’s no wonder they want him Bicester Village London Prada [David Elleray] next Authentic Prada Bags Online Singapore home match for the third home match on the trot. He’s becomin’ a regular. They should Black Leather Prada Milano Purse be safe if they keep gettin’ him at home. It’s a ridiculous situation. It’s got to be the same. The lad deliberately hand-balled, Devlin’s through on goal. Best Prada Outlet In Milan
[Neil is now building up a healthy head of steam. He spots that his inquisitor has left him a gap. Through he goes.]
Warnock: It’s sad. Two tackles in second half, one on George Santos – he never even gave a free-kick. He’s cut him off near the waist. It’s just two different rules. [Talks about a Southampton player who was substituted]. Can’t remember his name. He shook [Elleray’s] hand when he was substituted. He’d already been booked and later pushed Devlin out of the way. And [Elleray] says to him, ‘I should book … I should send you off for doing that again.’ Come on. It stinks.
Q: Was it a penalty?
Warnock: From where Mr Elleray was positioned, I would think it might have been, because he were that far away he would have needed binoculars. And he couldn’t wait to give it. He blew up before he went down! In a game like that, a challenge like that, you don’t give those. But he’s waiting to give it, he’s wanting to give it. You know? You can see that from the sidelines.
Q: What has Bobby Ford said about Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada Messenger Bag what happened immediately afterwards?
Warnock: He said the referee said he’d said words that he did not say. But he shouldn’t have said it, because David Elleray loves sending Best Prada Outlet In Florence players off for foul and abusive language. [And here comes the insight]. He’s a schoolteacher. And he loves it, because he can write it down on Monday morning when he’s back at his desk. You know? ‘For foul and abusive language, I’ve sent Bobby Ford off. And I loved it.’ And that’s what it’s all about. To hell with the tackles prada replica bags online, the waist-high tackles that went unpunished. He’s got him sent off for dissent and I think Mr Elleray loved every minute of it.
Q: Apart from the referee – and clearly you’re really wound Authentic Prada Handbags Usa up about that – I can understand that, but apart from the refereeing decisions that went against you, how did you feel about the performance of the two teams? [If he thought this change of subject was going to budge Neil from his appointed task, he was sadly disappointed.]
Warnock: You tell me how they were going to score. They weren’t going to score a goal today. They didn’t have a clue in the second half – how to break us down. They haven’t beaten us today, that’s why I’m talking about the referee… the referee has beaten us today. I think it’s a disgrace.’
Thank you and good night.
But hang on a minute. We might have an epidemic on our hands.
‘The better side is not necessarily winning a match these days, because it is being decided by the referee… that is not right. The ref is a major influence and that should not be the case. They have brought in new referees this season to give them experience and it has not worked. They are not up to scratch. The Premiership should not be used as a testing ground. There’s a mad rush to find new blood and we have Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada E Shop to put up with rubbish in the interim.
‘We’re talking livelihoods of players and coaches at stake here. We need debate on the matter, not everyone being muzzled. Players are held to account, ripped to bits if they don’t perform. I don’t see why refs should be any different. How many games have been adversely affected by sub-standard refereeing this season? Too many.
‘As for a mandatory code of conduct, I thought I might have seen the end of disciplinary panels now I’ve almost finished playing. Perhaps not.’
Step forward Dean Ryan, director of rugby at Bristol RFC. The Rugby Football Union’s response was to threaten to punish club coaches who criticise referees. They say levels of abuse have risen. According to figures, as many as 200 referees, from a pool of about 5,000, are leaving rugby every year.
‘It’s getting to be like football,’ says the RFU’s referees official, Nick Bunting.
What a fuss. Never saw a rugby man – or a football referee – yet who died of an insult.
Deja un comentario