Referee confirmed for Bristol City vs Sheffield United fixture following passionate Chris Wilder rant
The EFL has confirmed the referee who will take charge of Sheffield United’s Championship clash with Bristol City at Ashton Gate this weekend.
Experienced EFL referee Ben Speedie will take charge of Sheffield United’s trip to Ashton Gate to face Bristol City on Saturday afternoon, it has been confirmed.
The Blades suffered their third defeat in their last four Championship matches on Wednesday night after being beaten 3-2 by Portsmouth at Fratton Park, impacted by the first half dismissal of summer signing Hamza Choudhury.
The Bangladesh international was sent off shortly before half-time after receiving two yellow cards from referee Oliver Langford. Having been correctly cautioned for a strong challenge on Portsmouth winger Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, Choudhury was shown a second yellow card nine minutes later after colliding with the Chelsea loanee again.
However, Langford’s decision to show Choudhury a second yellow card was incredibly harsh, given that Kavuma-McQueen had knocked the ball past him before running into the United utility player. Speaking after the game, Blades boss Chris Wilder questioned where Choudhury was supposed to position himself.
Wilder said: “Where does Hamza go? Where’s he meant to go? The boy has just played it round him and basically run straight into him.
“I think, personally, football people get that. People who haven’t played the game maybe don’t get that, and I thought that was the case.”
Wilder delivered a passionate speech about the current standard of refereeing in the Championship, calling for younger, up-and-coming officials to be given the opportunity to prove their worth in the second tier.
He added: “Where are the young referees, the up-and-coming referees who should be refereeing in the Championship now, instead of the ones who, in my opinion, just survive to keep surviving?
“So, no doubt, we'll have another ‘survivor’ referee on Saturday. Where's the quality? Where are the ones coming through?”
It has since been confirmed that Speedie, who took charge of Millwall’s 1-0 win over Preston North End at Deepdale last weekend, will officiate United’s clash with Bristol City this weekend. He has previously officiated two Blades fixtures during his refereeing career, including their 1-0 defeat to Fleetwood Town in the third round of the Carabao Cup last month.
Speedie, who has handed out 34 yellow cards in ten games across all competitions this season, first began refereeing in the Championship during the 2024/25 season, taking charge of three matches. He then officiated seven second-tier fixtures last term, including United’s 1-0 win over Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium.
He has officiated ten matches so far this season across the Championship, League One, League Two and the Carabao Cup, with four Championship fixtures among them. Across those four Championship matches, he has handed out 13 yellow cards.