NOW REFEREES UNION ACCUSE NEIL WARNOCK

Referees' union accuse Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock of 'unacceptable' behaviour amid concerns over violence towards officials
By Paul Abbandonato




Tuesday 2nd April 2019


Head of referees' union criticises any suggestion of violence towards officials


The head of the referees' union has stepped into the Neil Warnock Chelsea controversy and expressed concern about potential violence towards officials.

Warnock had joked after Cardiff City's contentious loss that his wife Sharon told him: 'Darling, if you had wanted to thump the ref and linesman I wouldn't have stopped you.'


Warnock's comments were clearly tongue in cheek, although he remains angry at referee Craig Pawson's decision-making during the Bluebirds' 2-1 loss.

However, they prompted a reaction from Alan Leighton, national secretary of the Prospect union which referees belong to.

He wants violence and abuse towards officials stamped out completely.


Although loathe to comment specifically on Warnock, Mr Leighton did tell The Times : "The issue I have got is we are very concerned about violence and abuse of referees at every level of the game. Any suggestions that violence towards officials is in anyway appropriate is not acceptable.

"It has a potential knock on further down the chain."


Warnock's passion came out in the aftermath of the Bluebirds' defeat with his stare-off with Pawson in the centre-circle. He insisted too many decisions were going against Cardiff in the Premier League.


Warnock then turned his ire on referees' chief Mike Riley and could face FA action for his comments.

He continued: "He had no feelings and he didn't know anything about the game. Like Bill Shankly used to say, 'You know the law but you don't know the game'.

"That's how Mike Riley was and he's training his referees today. They're the same, they're trying to be robots."

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This union guy and Mike Riley will take the comments out of proportion just to justify there position and salary.

Perhaps Alan Leighton to needs get himself a sense of humour and put his own house in order before making his comments.

Smoke and mirrors to divert away from their failure. Could it not also be the case then that their decisions can cause crowd trouble when fans are disgruntled by obvious favouritism to the opposing team?

Obviously trying to divert attention away from their own failures and complete incompetence, useless bunch of tossers

A very poor attempt to deflect the blame away from the officials in my opinion.

Whoever it is that 'trains' the officials - need to learn how to spot an offside when a player is stood in front of them. Maybe watch players in the box and maybe even keep up with play so they can see a blatant red card / last man foul.

I suppose you cant criticise the individual if they are incompetent or dont have the mental or physical capacity to run the game. That's why VAR is needed as soon as possible. Also retrospective appeals - and changing of scores is needed - if it can be proven it was a blatant error by the officials.

huge difference between wanting to punch the ref and actually punching a ref.


30k felt like, zero did. bloke needs to sort his head out.

The referees, all football supporters, the FA and club officials should relish having characters like Neil Warnock still in the game. He cares 100%. All that hard work coaching the defenders to get opponents offside for nothing, thanks to an incompetent linesman.

Some managers wouldn't do anything as for them there is always a huge pay out and another job down the line.

Referees' union accuse Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock of 'unacceptable' behaviour amid concerns over violence towards officials
By Paul Abbandonato

Head of referees' union criticises any suggestion of violence towards officials


The head of the referees' union has stepped into the Neil Warnock Chelsea controversy and expressed concern about potential violence towards officials.

Warnock had joked after Cardiff City's contentious loss that his wife Sharon told him: 'Darling, if you had wanted to thump the ref and linesman I wouldn't have stopped you.'


Warnock's comments were clearly tongue in cheek, although he remains angry at referee Craig Pawson's decision-making during the Bluebirds' 2-1 loss.

However, they prompted a reaction from Alan Leighton, national secretary of the Prospect union which referees belong to.

He wants violence and abuse towards officials stamped out completely.


Although loathe to comment specifically on Warnock, Mr Leighton did tell The Times : "The issue I have got is we are very concerned about violence and abuse of referees at every level of the game. Any suggestions that violence towards officials is in anyway appropriate is not acceptable.

"It has a potential knock on further down the chain."


Warnock's passion came out in the aftermath of the Bluebirds' defeat with his stare-off with Pawson in the centre-circle. He insisted too many decisions were going against Cardiff in the Premier League.


Warnock then turned his ire on referees' chief Mike Riley and could face FA action for his comments.

He continued: "He had no feelings and he didn't know anything about the game. Like Bill Shankly used to say, 'You know the law but you don't know the game'.

"That's how Mike Riley was and he's training his referees today. They're the same, they're trying to be robots."

Pure deflection. They should be ashamed at such a diabolical and biased referring display so would be better off just keeping their mouths shut.

Tgey should be explaining the decision made and apologising to team