Forest boss Cotterill slams refs

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cotterill has criticised the standard of refereeing in the npower Championship this season.

The Reds were beaten 2-1 by Hull at the KC Stadium on Saturday, with Cotterill left fuming by a penalty awarded against skipper Luke Chambers. Cotterill is convinced it has been a regular theme this season, with Forest not having been awarded a single spot-kick since he took over as boss in mid-October.

"I don't think the refereeing standards in the Championship have been good in the last few seasons," the Forest boss told the Nottingham Evening Post following the game at the weekend.

"They expect you to go to meetings about referees every summer and you get fined thousands of pounds if you don't attend. But I don't see the point in going because the standards haven't got any better, not when it comes to major decisions. Nothing changes.

"I don't believe referees always turn up for games without having a preconceived idea of who is going to win the game. They might go out to try to be fair, but that just wasn't a penalty. And you don't see us getting penalties like that, do you?

"Don't tell me we haven't had plenty of incidents where we could have been given them. There has been a lot of disruption at this club and we need to get it back on an even keel. The Championship is tough enough without all the other things that have gone on and this is something we've had to deal with."