Nigel Pearson threatens to quit due to officials | Bristol City and Luton players ‘scrap’

Nigel Pearson threatens to quit football due to officials while Bristol City and Luton players take to having a ‘scrap’ mid-game.

The Robins manager said that he was considered retiring because be believes the standard of refereeing is so low it’s compromising the integrity of the sport and putting manager’s under unnecessary and unfair pressure.

This is despite his side beating Luton 2-0 at Ashton Gate on Tuesday night, however were forced to play the final 23 minutes with 10 men after referee Leigh Doughty sent Mark Sykes off for a rash challenge on midfielder Luke Freeman.

Fights break out between the Bristol city and Luton players resulting in a 🟥 for Mark Sykes. And SOMEHOW only a 🟨 for the Luton man.#football #fights @Footyfight #ltfc #bcfc @BristolCity @LutonTown #EFL pic.twitter.com/UsFbdWzR0Y

— Redford George Elton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@redfordctfc) August 16, 2022

Pearson had no complaints over the decision to give marching orders to Sykes but felt Freeman should’ve followed after he got to his feet and barged into the back of the Irish midfielder with his chest, forcing him to the ground.

Freeman got off with just a yellow but that incident came just minutes after Rob Atkinson was denied a spot kick after dribbling into the penalty area and catching the leg of a Luton defender.

It’s the third game this season where Nigel Pearson has hit out at refereeing and raised questionable decisions after games against Hull City and Wigan.

He revealed the PGMOL wrote to the club on Saturday to tell them the Tigers penalty shouldn’t have been given and the Robins were unfairly denied two spot-kicks of their own.

“In the modern game, I’ve got no complaints about Sykesy but what I do have a complaint about is the way their player wasn’t dealt with in the same way,” Pearson told Sky Sports News. “I’ve got to be honest with you, I thought about it last year, and I’ve thought about it again this year and that is basically to pack up being involved in the sport.

“And that is not because how shallow the modern game is and how some of the aspects of the modern game irritate me but the standard of officiating, as far as I’m concerned, is at an all-time low.”

Pearson risks being issued another fine from the FA having been punished for his outspoken comments about referee Andy Davies in the wake of their defeat to QPR last December in which he branded the officials, “parks standard”.

Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson admits he’s thought about walking away from football due to the standard of referees 😳pic.twitter.com/SyZjLJ7OsZ

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 17, 2022

He claims his pockets are “empty” because he keeps speaking his mind about the treatment of his side at the hands of the officials.

“After the first game at Hull, only this week, we had a reply from the authorities to say their first goal wasn’t a penalty and we should have had two,” Pearson added.

“Which is fair enough, at least they can be reasonable enough to give some sort of explanation but I’m afraid when it happens all the time, we’ve had it again today – Rob Atkinson was fouled and we didn’t get it – so as far as I’m concerned the integrity of the sport is being compromised.

“They’re consistently poor. I’ll probably get in trouble again for saying what I think but somebody has to say it – I’m sick to death about people like me who have jobs that are in jeopardy. It’s alright if we play badly every week, I can take losing my job because of that… but, for me, it’s just a worry for the game.”

Manager Nathan Jones said the performance against Bristol City was ‘unacceptable’ as his side slipped to a second league defeat in a row.

Sharing his disappointment with what he saw during the 90 minutes, Jones said: “That was pretty much unacceptable first half. For the things that we do and how we go about our work, that was unacceptable. The way we defended, the way we wanted to take shortcuts and not do the basics well cost us the game.

“I will take responsibility, I felt I picked the wrong team but it is inexcusable anyway because after five minutes you couldn’t tell that. We just didn’t do the basics right and we’ve done the basics right so many times but that was as poor as performance as we’ve had for a very long time, especially since I came back. Maybe Birmingham at home but we were second best all over and that’s something that doesn’t happen to us very often.

“We have a lot of injuries and we have people that need bedding in and to learn what we do but we just didn’t defend well enough, we weren’t aggressive enough, we didn’t do the basics and for me, I thought we were really, really poor.

“They had more energy than us, they won 50/50s, everything about it wasn’t what we normally do and that is the worrying thing. Second half we improved but I don’t think we could have got any worse to be honest with you.”

Twitter users gave their thoughts as Nigel Pearson threatens to quit due to officials…

@Nath_El: Well said

@NigeKS: He’s absolutely right. The standard of officiating in the Championship over the past few years has been absolutely dreadful on a consistent basis. Some of the decisions, for and against have been so evidently awful.

@thejohnwigley: Then walk away and become a ref.. nah, ill have a whinge on TV. Maybe if he, like all managers, told his players not to cheat, abuse and try and con refs, we may get a bigger pool of refs to choose from.

@_WrightL11: 100% correct, someone has to say it but its not as if he’s the only thinking it. The officiating from professional right down to grass roots is horrendous.

@Liammoran7: He isn’t wrong. Right down to grass roots it’s awful

@GarethHulme: He is bang on! Every week the officials are hopeless. It’s rare to have a good set that are consistent for both teams.

@JuventinaHannah: You know the refereeing was abysmal when you won 2-0 and you’re still pissed off

@srhlufc74: Instead of fining him and any other manager for speaking out they should actually listen for once, the officiating has gotten steadily worse over the last 10 years and the PRO have not addressed it

@BennyG10001: When a referee has to deal with 22 dishonest players trying to con him at every opportunity – it’s hardly surprising. Player culture needs to take some responsibility for incorrect decisions. If they were more honest and respectful it would help a lot!

@wdt0_0: Don’t often agree with this man, however this time he’s spot on. The standard of refereeing at all levels is poor. If people made so many errors in their job in a day they’d be dismissed. Time to address this problem especially at lower levels

@GLS1984: Maybe Referees should walk away when a player cant control the ball or a weak shot goes through a GKs legs

@NormyNico87: He’s not wrong, officiating in this country is a disgrace and I’m not even going to get started on VAR

@floppyquill: VAR is fine. The same awful officials on the pitch are the ones that use it and they’re the problem.

@aylaharris1993: He’s bang on officiating Is dreadful

@county4ever: it’s a joke how he’ll get punished for saying some truths. Officiating Is getting worse each season . Fair play Nigel 👏🏻

@EddieRu24186859: Communication is King. Referees should publically announce their key decisions, as in other sports, for all to hear. Would have a salutory effect on their decision-making, and everyone’s understanding of them.

@imYash07: And people like @henrywinter and @IanCutress will support the officiating in the country saying that’s rare or happened only ‘today’ when it’s been happening for a while. Not speaking just from a club’s pov. Improve @FA_PGMOL

@CodyJJCUFC: That’s cos refs seem to think people are there to watch them rather than the players, a lot of the PL refs are terrible and the ones operating VAR are worse, so imagine what the standard is like in our league and below!