Ref Had Big Club Syndrome- McFarland

Forest boss Colin Calderwood is firmly of the belief that his Red’s side were deserving of their 2-1 victory. Roy McFarland on the other hand thought the referee had been conned into giving Forest a second half penalty and the match.

Calderwood told the NEP, ‘It looked as though it would always be a ground-out result, but we have actually played really well in the second half.

‘And the thing that annoyed us, as a group, was the fact that it was tight at the end, because it shouldn’t have been. We had enough chances to have made it more comfortable.’

McFarland was a little less diplomatic with his views on the game as he said ‘Without doubt it was highway robbery and the referee has been conned,’ he said. ‘He’s gone for the ‘big-club syndrome’ and favoured them right from the kick-off.

‘Agogo should have been booked for a dive. If you look at the video you see that he takes a step, realises he can’t catch the ball and dives.

‘The referee has been conned and I think he wanted to be conned. I thought his decision making was very poor.’

Despite these opinions Calderwood believes Barry Roche could have been given a straight red for bringing down Agogo. He said ‘I was probably looking at a different colour card, if I am honest, it could have been a red. The ball was travelling away from the goal, but it was not too far, he would have taken a couple of steps and side footed it into the net.

‘Little things like that and the decision made in the final minute against Blackpool the other night have had a massive effect on our points tally.’

For what it’s worth I agree with Colin, but alas it seems that only He, Myself and the Referee have that opinion.


All quotes from Nottingham Evening Post.