Well I’ve always had a lot of time for Mark Robbins but he definitely off my Christmas card list after that performance.
No and we will be fined and have to answer a charge of not controlling our players - not to mention losing players due to suspension if we get many more reffing displays like that.
The referee completely lost the plot - the best one was he blew for a foul and their player instantly put the ball down and booted against Benson - yellow In the first half they constantly kicked the ball away - nothing very nasty tackle in the first half on one of our lads (probably Palmer) with the boot left in ……nothing
The referee set a precedent with a soft yellow card, then followed up every challenge or slight bit of a dissent with a booking. Absolute helmet. Could well be a relative of Trevor Kettle.
Callum O'Hare putting the 'diver' in Lady Godiva for Woodrow's yellow card Doesn't quite work when written down that pun. Also a bit of a stretch but IDC.
I still have no idea how we ended up with that many. When I looked on my phone after the game and saw we had 8 I was stunned. I honestly didn't notice the ref hand out 8, not sure if I wasn't paying enough attention or he was sly with it. I am also a bit confused about this 'dirty Barnsley' narrative that is making the rounds from Cov fans and from the Quest highlight show. We made 16 fouls which I don't think is a majorly excessive number for a match that was almost 100 mins with added time etc. and we got booked for half of those which to me is overly harsh. Cov themselves made 14 fouls and only got two bookings. Some were clear bookings that we got, Woodrows especially was an obvious yellow but watching the highlights back on Quest, most were just typical soft fouls in the middle of the pitch that happen all the time in football yet we got booked for this instantly. Yet Cov did the same and nothing? Honestly one of the worst refs I have seen in so long.
Some of them were deserved for blatant shirt pulling, but he absolutely lost the plot and will deserve in the years to come to be remembered in the same breath as Cain, Willard, Kettle and Singh.
I watched the Sky 15 mins highlights of our game and early on in his interview Robins praised us for being a good team (“these are a really good side”) but at the end went over the top. He accused us of a lot of cynical fouls, that number three was lucky to stay in the pitch (he took Dabo out 3 of 4 times in the first 20 mins), they kept leaving the foot in, pulled shirts etc and that’s where we need to get a bit better. Errr, hold on Mark. Your team is already VERY good at that! It was an incredible performance by the “referee” (he can’t be qualified, surely) to allow them to get away with so much while pouncing on us in the second half for minor things.
If bookies offered yes/no odds on that then knowing this ref I would have put money on yes even though your neighbour wasn't on the pitch.
To be fair, he was specifically asked about our 8 yellow cards. He was hardly going to highlight his own team's faults, and we were quite niggly even if a few of the yellows were uncalled for. The booking for Benson was purely the Coventry player trying to get him booked, he wasn't trying to pass to a team mate, he just hit it straight at an opponent to get him booked. The ref should've seen through that.
already is on that list....John Busby- remember the name. Looked at his stats prior to Saturday only had refereed 1 Championship game. Last season 35 games. 90 Yellows 6 Red. In 2019/20 123 yellows in 33 games he didn't manage a game without showing a card in that season ! here's a link (if it works) Games refereed by John Busby in 2021/2022 | Soccer Base not sure what the average is - maybe he got a bet on himself to be top of the league this season !! Noticed in one season he showed 8 yellows 3 times, seems to like cards does John.
