Barton call for full-time referees
JOEY Barton called for lowerleague referees to be made fulltime in venting his frustration about Bristol Rovers’ 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion on Tuesday.
The new Rovers manager saw midfielder Luke McCormick sent off for a second yellow card after he kicked the ball away to prevent a quick Burton throw-in three minutes before the Brewers scored the only goal of the game.
Barton pointed out Burton’s Kane Hemmings was not booked for a similar offence later in the game, although he admitted McCormick could have few complaints.
“I’ve got used to it now in League One,” said Barton.
“We see in the Premier League with VAR that the officials aren’t the best, so what chance have these part-time lads got down here?
“We’re in the Football League and there’s a lot of money washing around football, can we not help these referees and officials get better by making them full-time?
“That way, I think the cream would rise to the top and we would have better officiating right the way through our pyramid.”
Of the McCormick incident, which Barton felt changed the course of the game, he said: “Do you need to decide the encounter on that? Can you not just say ‘any more of that and you’re off?’
“Luke’s made an error, there’s no malice in it. He kicked the ball into the advertising hoardings. If that’s a sending-off in a key bottom of the table encounter, then Kane Hemmings has kicked the ball away late in the game but he hasn’t booked him.
“I had a chat with the referee after the game. He told me his explanation and I couldn’t really argue with him.
“It’s just disappointing that the contest is decided by officials rather than the players on the pitch.”