NEIL WARNOCK SAYS his wife would have had no problem if he wanted to punch the officials after Cardiff City’s controversial 2-1 Premier League defeat to Chelsea.
Victor Camarasa gave Cardiff the lead with a strike early in the second half on Sunday but Cesar Azpilicueta levelled for Chelsea with six minutes left, although replays showed the Blues captain was offside.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek stole in at the back post to head home Willian’s centre in the first minute of added time to complete the turnaround and leave Cardiff empty-handed.
Warnock was involved in a touchline row with Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri at 1-1 and then confronted the officials on the pitch after the full-time whistle.
The defeat leaves Cardiff five points away from safety and Warnock believes he is being punished by officials for his previous criticism of them.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Warnock said:
When I came in yesterday, she [his wife] said: ‘If you had wanted to thump the referee and linesman I wouldn’t have stopped you’. It was so unjust.
“You could imagine what the dressing room was like. We played so well and I’m really proud of them, but once again we’ve been kicked in the teeth.
“We’ve worked our socks off for three weeks to get where we were because we thought we could beat Chelsea and we did everything right, but then a human error like this?
“The linesman yesterday said sorry to me after the game, but it’s too late, what good is an apology? We’re having too many honest mistakes and it’s always the top teams who get the decisions.
“You just feel it’s such an injustice, and I’ve felt like that ever since Christmas. You almost begin to think: ‘is it me? Is it payback time for all the years I’ve shouted at referees? Have they all got together now and said, ‘let’s get him out of this place?’”
Warnock then directed his ire towards Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chief, Mike Riley, who he believes is training officials to be “robots”.
I just don’t think they’re educated enough at the top level,” he added. “I don’t think things will change now until Mike Riley goes, which is very unlikely because he’s got himself rooted so far in.
“They should have better coaching. Mike Riley is in charge of referees but as a referee, he was like a robot, 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 all his referees now. They’re all the same, they’re trying to be robots.”
Warnock takes his side to title-contenders Manchester City on Wednesday.
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Great advertisement for the LOI. How ex Shels RTE commentator could say Matty Smith should not have been sent off is beyond me. Shels lost their discipline at the end.
What a game. Incredible to watch on telly.
Brilliant game of football! Up the Saints!
Incredible match , brilliant atmosphere .I wonder why Pats were only given 500 tickets when there was room for another 500
May not be riveting football, but I’d rather it that way with lots of goals any day. Some incredible finishes, particularly the two Shels goals. They still have a healthy lead but sometimes pressure affects less-experienced sides more when it matters most. Rovers with the more favourable fixtures too, albeit they need a win next week to truly unsettle Duff’s men for the run in. Those sides fighting relegation like Drogheda can become banana skins too in the latter stages of any league.
Great entertainment. Couple of wonderful finishes, Keenas effort from inside his own half outrageous.
Mistakes to be sure but guys on 100000 a week make mistakes.
Thought Shels should have brought on the big lad up front sooner.
It’s like a bunch of drunks doing a 100 metre race. If you’re invested in a team it may seem exciting, but it’s been a very poor season, particularly for Shams with all the resources at their disposal. Even if they do win in the end, Bradders has been exposed as clueless.
@Ian Cunningham: you do talk some drivel Ian!
@Ellis Dewald: Shels have 54 points out of 96, Shams 49 out of 96. In any other league in the world these stats wouldn’t put a team within an asses roar of the title. Just because anyone can beat anyone on a given day doesn’t make it a great league.
@Ian Cunningham: Bayern Munich ran away with the bundesliga every year until last year, did that make it a great league?
@Bert Carolan: Personally I will say yes ;) although not the ideal regular winner I agree. If we had a bit more nerve, BVB should’ve snapped up two of them titles too.
@Ian Cunningham:
Drivel is right
Great advertisement for the league with ROVERS back in it
After shels made it two each, they needed composure, and Duff just throne a tantrum on the line and it seeped into the team, it was a great game, it’s amazing how open it still is, if Pats were to win all four games and get to 59, the other teams are showing no consistency to say they will, poor season but has the makings of a great finish.
Brilliant stuff. Best LOI game I can remember seeing and delighted the TV cameras were there. Now imagine what our league could be with some investment.
The bluffer should be made watch fools and horses
Sh€ls are falling apart again