‘He wants to be the star’: Sheffield United boss slams figure previously criticised by Portsmouth and Danny Cowley
Chris Wilder was left far from impressed with the officiating on show during Sheffield United’s defeat to Millwall on Tuesday evening.
The head coach took aim at referee Sam Allison after their 1-0 loss to the Lions saw the Blades drop out of the automatic positions.
After Josh Coburn gave Alex Neil’s men a surprise first-half lead, the promotion-hopefuls then felt they should’ve been awarded a penalty 12 minutes into the second half. That’s after Jake Cooper hauled down the Blades’ Anel Ahmedhodzic in the box, minutes after the Millwall skipper was warned by the man in charge for pulling the Bosnian’s shirt.
However, Allison waved away Sheffield United appeals, which left everyone perplexed inside Bramall Lane.
Although the Wilder’s men had chances to level late on, they fell to their second-successive disappointment after a 1-0 loss to Oxford United on Saturday.
And the head coach pulled no punches as he delivered a damning verdict of the refereeing performance. And when asked if his side should’ve been awarded a second-half penalty, the Blades boss told Sheffield Star: ‘One hundred per cent.
‘I'm not a fan of the referee. I don't think I should get into trouble on that one, if I'm being honest. I wasn't a fan of him last season when he refereed us against Luton and was asking for Ross Barkley's shirt.
‘I don't know whose shirt he was after today. Maybe the shirt on Anel's back that got absolutely ripped to pieces. I think especially with the situation we had against Middlesbrough, you're looking for consistency. But I always think he wants to be the star of the show. So I knew what was coming and I wasn't surprised.’
Pompey’s mixed history with Sam Allison
Pompey fans who cast their minds back to late February will remember when Allison was at the centre of attention during the Blues’ 1-0 defeat to Luton.
Mousinho’s men felt they should’ve been awarded two clear spot kicks for hand ball and a foul on Christian Saydee, while the Hatters could’ve also been awarded a penalty late on too.
But that’s not the first time the trail-blazing official, who became the first black referee to oversee a Premier League game in 15 years, has been at the heart of the controversy with Pompey.
Danny Cowley once criticised Allison after an EFL Trophy fixture against Crawley in August 2022. The former Blues boss told The News at the time: ‘I think that was one of the worst displays of refereeing that I have seen. I like him, he’s a really nice man, I don’t like saying this, but I’m just telling you the truth about what I think – and I feel I should say it because I love football and we have to do better.
‘The FA have to do better, the EFL have to do better, this is such a shame, all these people come here and the game is just farcical.
‘The referee falls over in the middle of the pitch, he slips over. Okay these things happen, he gets in the way of our midfield player, can’t pick up the second ball, then doesn’t blow his whistle and regain his composure and stop the game. He then lets the play carry on and gives the softest of penalties – it’s a completely soft penalty.
‘He has already given them a penalty in the first half which I thought was soft. He has then given them another penalty in injury time and I just thought that incident summed up his performance. I thought he was really bad for both teams. We were all laughing, none of us knew what he was going to give next, we didn’t know which way he was going to go.’