Paul Heckingbottom has called on the PGMOL to improve standards of refereeing across the Championship after a season where he felt his Preston North End side were on the wrong end of some bad decisions, which contributed to their 20th-placed finish.
Heckingbottom highlighted the 2-1 defeat at Hull City as one example where his side were beaten in a crucial MKM Stadium encounter on Easter Monday, and felt pivotal decisions went against the Lillywhites.
The ex-Sheffield United boss was booked by referee Thomas Bramall after Joe Gelhardt was awarded a penalty early in the second half after a clash with Mads Frokjaer, before the Tigers were given another for a foul on Kyle Joseph. Gelhardt slotted that in to complete a big turnaround.
North End’s boss Heckingbottom was then sent off for his full-time protestations and banned from the touchline for the final day draw at Bristol City, which was enough to secure survival—his second such ban of the campaign. After that game, referee Bramall was awarded the Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur game in the Premier League at Anfield on a day when the Reds secured the title.
Now the dust has settled and North End, like City, can relax a little knowing their Championship status has been secured, Heckingbottom has demanded that things improve across one of the most competitive, high-pressured leagues in world football.
“We wouldn’t be talking like this if the ref hadn’t given three penalties and got decisions wrong,” Heckingbottom mused. “We’d have won 2-0 away at Hull, and you’d have been saying how good that was.
“So we’ve had that. Same QPR… I think we played our part at QPR, but again, they should have been down to ten. Everyone knows that now. The guy who should have been off at 1-0 also caught the ball for one of their goals. We’ve had all these moments… Stoke’s goal, so I’m sticking up for the players here.
“They are big moments that change games. I can’t sit and tell you moments that referees have changed games in our favour. I can’t. And now’s the time I can say how bad they’ve been throughout the season- they’ve been absolutely shocking. I know Peter’s (Ridsdale) been saying his piece to the powers that be, behind the scenes.
“But you can’t have a referee (Thomas Bramall) get three penalty decisions wrong, and then what happens to him is he takes the title game for Liverpool the next day – and I get sent off for telling him how bad he is.
“We get punished twice, put in this position, and he’s getting a pat on the back and probably collecting souvenirs at that game. So that’s what we’re up against.
“It’s not me moaning about Preston. That’s me moaning about the authorities, and they need to up their game. They need to be better. They need to be fairer in a league that’s so tight and so demanding.
“We’ve got to have the best officials, not the ones who rely on VAR and think they can referee a game blindly because they’ve got VAR to fall back on. We need the best officials in this league because it’s so competitive and so tight.”