Cardiff City manager Brian Barry-Murphy said the officiating situation in the First Division was “progressively deteriorating” following Cardiff’s 10-man victory over Rotherham on Saturday.
Bluebirds captain Ryan Winter was shown a red card in the 21st minute, but his teammates rallied and won 3-0 away from home to stay at the top of the table.
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Barry-Murphy criticized not only match referee Seb Stockbridge but the overall standard across the division, even suggesting it might have something to do with Cardiff City being the only Welsh team in League One.
“The refereeing has been getting worse and worse this season. It’s been really bad,” the head coach told BBC Sport Wales.
He added: “We are the only Welsh team in this league and at some stage our players need to be protected [but] They are not protected. “
Barry Murphy was unhappy yesterday with Winter’s dismissal and the lack of punishment for a challenge on Cardiff striker Isaac Davies.
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“Ryan made contact and didn’t have a lot of coverage, but he [Stockbridge] Can’t wait to send him off,” Barry-Murphy said.
“Isaac Davis received a sickening blow to the head, but no one saw it.”
The Cardiff City boss also lamented the lack of response to previous complaints from Professional Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), which referees PFA matches.
Barry-Murphy described the responses as “general”, adding: “Our staff have put in a lot of effort to send these reports out, but there is no point in sending them out from now on.
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“What we said was not acknowledged, it was just ignored. We got answers, but the answers were always consistent with what happened. That’s not good enough.”
“We won’t waste time on this, we will focus on what we can do for Cardiff City and try to give our supporters and players the protection they need.”
The mentality satisfies the Blue Jays boss
Rotherham’s victory extended the Bluebirds’ ten-game unbeaten run and moved them two points ahead of Lincoln City.
“We were focused on the game from the first minute and continued to do that after Ryan got sent off.
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“I’m confident we will win but the most important thing for me is the mentality the players have to show and they don’t let anyone down.
“We don’t want to take a step back. We want to be as aggressive as possible every moment of every game in the league. This is a very special day for us.”