James Norwood could be facing a phone call from the FA this morning after lashing out at referee Alan Young following their 0-0 draw with title rivals Wycombe Wanderers, as reported by the EADT.
The Tractor Boys missed the chance to close the gap on the table-topping Chairboys, instead being held 0-0 in a game packed with controversy. They felt aggrieved by referee Young after two key incidents.
First, he failed to award Ipswich a penalty for a handball by Joe Jacobson, then angered them further by ruling out a Luke Chambers goal just before the break.
Paul Lambert blasted him in his post-match interview, claiming the size of the occasion got to the official, Whilst the manager might be content to be hit with a fine, 29-year-old Norwood will perhaps not be. In a now-deleted tweet, he claimed it was one of the ‘worst performances’ he’d seen from a referee.
“We’ve done well to get something out of that game . A blatant penalty and a blatant goal disallowed . One of the worst performances I’ve ever seen from an official in 10 years of football . If he referees again it’s a farce!”
Manager Lambert will also likely get a call from the FA this morning, echoing his striker’s comments in the EADT.
“Listen, everybody can have a bad game, I get that, but dear oh dear. This is a big football club to referee. If you want to referee this big football then you’ve got to have a bit of pedigree behind you.”
The result leaves Ipswich five points behind Wycombe with two games in hand.
Our View
If there’s one thing I hate, really hate, then it’s managers who claim their club is too big for a referee. How do refs ever step up? How do they ever develop?
If Ipswich were a big club wouldn’t they be in the Championship with so-called better referees?
For the record, Young has taken charge of games at Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth on occasions, the latter three times. Ipswich are certainly no bigger than Pompey and Forest.
It’s not easy to take when decisions go against you, but the other option is VAR and, like dysentery, nobody wants that.
