Towelgate: Bizarre Sheffield Wednesday situation explained after stoppage at Portsmouth - plus ref meeting update

Nobody was really sure what was happening at the time as Pompey manager, John Mousinho, appeared to send a staff member to go and collect towels that had been surrounding the pitch at Fratton Park, but it was something that led to the referee, Ben Toner, having to go and have a word.

The Wednesday bench – aside from Darren Moore – wasn’t too happy about the fact that Will Vaulks’ wouldn’t be able to wipe the ball down before launching his throw-ins into the box, and the Owls boss admitted that it was a strange turn of events.

Speaking to The Star after the Owls came away as 1-0 winners, he said, “What we were saying is that, if you’ve got the towels then the towels should be for both teams - but what they were doing was saying that the towels were just for them. So we said, ‘Can we put towels down for our own players?’

“There was a bit of an argument, and it was said that because they were the home team they were allowed to do it and so on. For me though, I just wanted to get on with the game.”

It didn’t matter in the end, and the Owls took the lead with what would prove to be the winner less than two minutes later – somebody in the Owls dugout swung a towel around his head in celebration.

Meanwhile, the Wednesday boss says that they’re yet to meet with Professional Game Match Officials Board chief, Howard Webb, but says they’re still hopeful of it happening.

“Not yet,” Moore explained when asked if it had taken place. “But we understand that Howard is a really busy man. Myself and Barry Bannan want to have that meeting as and when we can though. It’s about bridging the gap between the match day officials and the management team and the staff - we want the technical area in sync, and surely it’ll make the game better.”

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