Every word Chris Wilder said on Sheffield United referee controversy v Southampton amid Hull City ban decision
Every word Chris Wilder said on Sheffield United referee controversy v Southampton amid Hull City ban decision
Chris Wilder has signalled his intention to appeal any touchline ban that may be handed down to him after his controversial red card in Tuesday night’s defeat to Southampton. The Blades chief saw red at half-time after inadvertently kicking a stray ball into the crowd in frustration.
That was one of around half a dozen contentious decisions from ref Adam Herczeg that went against the Blades, including a late disallowed equaliser from Sydie Peck and a potential red card for Joshua Quarshie after he barged Chieo Ogbene in the back when he was looking to break away on the Saints goal.
Wilder was forced to watch from the stands in the second half as the Saints came from behind to win 2-1, sentencing the Blades to another home defeat this term after what was probably their best display of the season so far.
Wilder’s red card would ordinarily suggest a touchline ban for this weekend’s trip to Hull City but that does not seem to have been confirmed just yet, with Wilder suggesting that he will receive more clarity on whether he will be in the dugout later this week.
But if a ban does arrive the Blades chief will also contest it, while also expressing his frustration at the appointment of a referee whose last game was in League Two at the weekend to take charge of one between two big Championship sides.
Every word Chris Wilder said on Sheffield United referee controversy v Southampton amid Hull City ban decision
Here’s every word the Blades boss said on the situation ahead of this weekend’s trip across to East Yorkshire...
The six decisions that you've seen, I've seen and everybody else has seen, so I don't want to go into it too much. I just feel really disappointed for the players and the supporters and the club, because it wasn't deserved.
I thought the performance was a really good one, against a top Championship side, a team that's come out of the Premier League. Of course, they've not made the quickest of starts, and neither have Ipswich, but I'm sure at the start of the season everybody would have expected them to be in and around it, as much as everybody would have expected us to be in and around it. It’s a team that on Saturday played the league leaders and went toe-to-toe with them, and we went toe-to-toe with them as well.
And yeah, we deserved something from the game. The overall general performance was a step up from Saturday's second-half performance and win. We definitely deserved something from the game.
The game obviously got decided by a couple of bits of quality from them. We can look at the set-piece for their first goal, but it's an incredible delivery in there and we just didn't react quick enough on the set play. And then Ross Stewart's fabulous finish from 25 yards, top corner.
But I liked our mentality about the game, and there was a lot of challenges in that game through all the things that you've just mentioned, not least a deserved equaliser in the last minute. You look at the top teams and everybody talks about set plays and the like, and we went into the analysis that we felt was a weak part of their game, defending that area of the goal. You've seen it with Arsenal, they get lauded for their set plays.
It changes the game back into our favour just as much as it changed the game in their favour, the quality of their delivery. So our delivery was good. Every part of that sequence of events was good.
There's contact in the box all over the place and a young midfield player gets his first goal for the football club that should have stood. So there's a lot of things I've talked about there. But certainly the moments I think that you've mentioned there, everybody that watched the game - in terms of people that have been in contact with me that weren't present, everybody that was present and I should imagine opposition benches as well as their manager - would say that they were quite baffled at some of the decisions that were made.
Have you had a clarification with your dismissal, as to why it was a dismissal and not say a yellow card?
No, not yet. That will come through tomorrow. I think Al [Knill] said afterwards, it was a touch of frustration, and rightly so. Because I think even in the first half there were some certain situations, notably the penalty, which is never a penalty in a million years.
The boy has a great touch and Michael Cooper does incredibly well to pull out of it and he just runs into him. There should have been a booking for a foul on Gus, a booking for Adam Armstrong. Ben Mee's tackle that was given as a foul ... all sorts of bits in there.
But my attitude at half-time was to get the players off the pitch, which I did. I think everybody's seen it and yet again I've had notable people in football, that I regard as friends and respect them for what they've achieved, that have been baffled in terms of even getting a card, let alone a red card.
The ball gets rolled to me and I nonchalantly put it back to where it came from. Unfortunately it's got a bit of a flyer on it but you've seen it straight away, my reaction to it. Yes, I'm disappointed because I've not been able to help the team in the second half, from the position where I want to be.
But still saying that, I thought the team's second-half performance was pretty positive. It didn't look like a team that was sat at the bottom of the division. It looked a high-quality second-half performance against a top side, but ultimately I wasn't there to help the team. So I had to apologise on that but I think it goes hand-in-hand with a lot of things that happened on the night.
So what in terms of the process happens now? Can you appeal if you've made it to do so? How long are you banned for if you don't?
Well, if the rules are the rules. If I approached the referee at half-time and had a right pop at him, if I picked the ball up out of my hands and booted it at him or at the fourth official or at their players or at their bench, or booted it into the stand, then I would expect the necessary punishment that goes along with that and I won't appeal. But I will appeal because, as you've seen on it, I've nonchalantly knocked it back and it’s got a flier.
I've gone straight into the stand, apologised to the guy, everything's all sorted and I've just turned round and I've got a red card put in my face. So, yeah, I will appeal. I believe the charge, if there is a charge that comes, and I'm not expecting one, but if there is one, I will appeal it and I'll be okay for the Hull City game and back where I want to be, because I didn't enjoy not being able to help the team.
We all make mistakes, managers and coaches and players included and sometimes officials have bad nights. But I've got to say, the appointment system is something that I have talked about in the past to senior officials, the PGMOL or whatever it is, in terms of why sometimes we are a testing ground for referees.
You see the past record of the referees; if they are up and coming referees, why hasn't the referee had more Championship games this season, than the one or two that he's had? You know, this is a team that's come out of the Premier League and it's a team that went incredibly close to getting into the Premier League last season. This is a top-notch Championship game, regardless of league positions. It's a high-profile game.
There's Stephen Martin, who's a top-class Championship referee, being a fourth official at one of the games. Going back the appointment, if it's earned, why hasn’t the referee, over the last two seasons, been a regular in the Championship? So why aren't we being given an experienced referee for this fixture?
Or if it's somebody they think a lot about, why hasn't he refereed over the last two seasons regularly in the Championship? It just feels as if: ‘I'll tell you what, what we'll do is we'll chuck him in at Bramall Lane, and see if he does well, everything's all right and he can handle a really vociferous home support.’
And on that front, I think sometimes as well, naturally, people think: ‘I'm going into Bramall Lane, with 27, 28, 29,000 people there. I've got to show my personality, I've got to get a grip of the game, I've got to show that I'm involved in the game.’ And I think we all know from experience the best ones are the ones that go under the radar. Well, certainly, he didn't go under the radar on Tuesday night.
And with regard to the process of selection, is there a dialogue between managers and clubs and the PGMOL?
I believe there is a rating system that the top games get given to the referees who are in form. I don't know what's happening in the Premier League but why wouldn't a Premier League referee want to referee a midweek game? We're early in the season. I know loads of Premier League referees, I'm sure that they would have enjoyed a runout on a Tuesday night to keep them ticking over as well.
No Premier League referee has refereed on a Tuesday night so far, and I'm sure they weren't all in Europe. So that was something that I didn't get as well. I think they get rated and scored and assessed. That was a high quality Championship game on Tuesday night; one of the top ones.
Referees can have a bad day, I get that. But I’d be absolutely stunned if the assessor can come out and go: ‘No, everything was alright, it was brilliant, it was a great performance.’ I'd be really stunned.
Is that a quick process? Because I think the assessor was there?
It should be, shouldn't it? It's like me assessing my team at 10 o'clock, isn't it? Have we done well? Have we done well? I thought we did well. I thought we did okay.
From where we are, and sort of trying to get it back on a load of fronts, I think Al was spot on in terms of when he spoke to you afterwards. We've changed the shape a little bit, we're trying to find a way a little bit about our players. Yeah, it is a good group of players, I understand that. And yeah, this team will come together.
And I think we should be on five points now over the last three games. We've got to get a result at home to Charlton, to draw. And we've got to get a result on Tuesday night. So we should be on five points.
But I think people already are seeing sort of the change in the mentality of the team going to the end like they did on Tuesday night against the top side. Physically, I've talked about it. We need to get up to speed.
I'm working with the players in terms of the best formation and fitting them in and getting them back to their levels that they were at last season. Because that isn't easy. If we'd have conceded that goal on Tuesday night, the first goal, last season, I'm sure everybody would have just gone: ‘Right, come on, back onto it.’
This is what we're about. And there is a little bit of that. But I've got to say, not much, because I thought we came back well and we had good chances to get back into the game. So there are all different things to work on.