Blackwell: People Want Consistency

Last updated : 22 September 2003 By Kevin Markey
Speaking in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Blackwell said: "There were 35,000 people at Elland Road on Saturday and they all left talking about the decisions that were made. Is that what football's coming to?

"It's all about the referee and the officials. Until we get to the point where the game isn't recognised for what the officials do, then football won't go any further.

"I think if you're paid to do a job, you do it right whether there's someone in the stands or not. There's 22 players out there doing a job and they've got 35,000 watching them all the time. If officials live by the adage that there's one person watching them and they can't make proper decisions then it's a bad thing.

"Dermot Gallagher's only gone by his assistant for the re-take, but you looked at some and just wonder where they're coming from.

"There was a collective amount of poor decisions, not just the penalty. There was a blatant push on Roque Junior as the ball got played in before the penalty.

"We've all called it a foul from the side, then the ball goes on for a penalty. The linesman was 10 yards away from that.

"People talk about jobs, but decisions like that can cost people their jobs.

"It's frustrating as a coach. I thought we put the side together well. We came back after the Leicester game and I thought we did it well.

"We worked hard, looked organised and created good chances.

"It was disappointing not to finish things off in the final third, but we'll walk away and no matter how hard they have worked or what they have done – all that is put into a bin and kicked out of the door because one man makes a decision that 35,000 people can't understand.

"Three minutes after Roque was booked there was another tackle on Sakho that went unpunished. Then he booked Olembe. The crowd were questioning the decisions then and we're only on minute four.

"All people want is consistency. If you are going to go along that line stick to continuity, otherwise don't make any decisions because you're going to get it wrong anyway."