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Neil Warnock: A brief history of Cardiff manager's refereeing rants after his Chelsea defeat outrage
Neil Warnock and rampaging referee rants. The perfect pair.
The Cardiff City manager somewhat predictably – and not entirely unjustifiably – lost it on Sunday afternoon as his Bluebirds succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea.
Now, some important context. Cardiff are scrapping for their lives in 18th, with Fulham awaiting confirmation of their imminent relegation alongside Huddersfield – both of which were expected to finish above the Welsh club.
In short, it would be a remarkable feat if they survived the drop.
So when Chelsea equalised through Cesar Azpilicueta – who was standing a couple of yards offside – before Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s late winner, Warnock’s indignation was somewhat to be expected.
It led to the 70-year-old manager saying: “You almost begin to think, is it me? Is it payback time for all the years I’ve shouted at referees? Have they all got together now and said, ‘let’s get him out of this place’?”
So, with that in mind, we take a look at some of the former QPR and Sheffield United boss’ biggest rants at the officials.
March 2019, Cardiff 1-2 Chelsea: ‘It’s not who you play, it’s who you get to referee’
Cardiff take a shock lead through star man Victor Camarasa, before Azpilicueta nodded home in the 84th minute.
Loftus-Cheek’s late winner sent Warnock into a rage.
He said: “It’s almost like it’s not who you play, it’s who you get to referee and who is going to have a flag in their hand nowadays, it’s just as important.
“The best league in the world and probably the worst officials at the minute.
“He (Smart) is saying that Willian blocked his view, but it wasn’t a six inches one. Either side you should be able to see he’s two yards offside.
“It’s soul-destroying really. I can understand why the lads are down.”
“It’s knocked our lads down, they are flat.”
READ MORE: Warnock’s wife gives punchy response to Chelsea controversy
Cardiff 1-5 Watford, February 2019: Simon Hooper ‘shouldn’t be refereeing’
Daryl Janmaat appeared to foul Jacob Murphy inside the penalty area with Watford leading the hosts 1-0.
Nothing was given, and a capitulation shortly followed.
You would think the four-goal margin mitigates the referee’s alleged blame – but not to Warnock.
“Nobody can understand it,” he told Sky Sports.
“Decisions like that change the game. I can’t understand why it wasn’t given. It’s a blatant penalty.
“It’s no excuse for conceding five but everyone in the game knows it changes things.
“The referee is in a great position so I just can’t understand it. If you can’t give decisions like that at this level, you shouldn’t be refereeing.”
November 2016, Newcastle 2-1 Cardiff: Officials ‘should be more educated’
The serial offender was incensed by a decision to award then-Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic a free-kick inside his own box three minutes from time.
Instead, Warnock believes it was a penalty on Sean Morrison. He said: “I’m just so gutted at the penalty – it’s so obvious he [Mitrovic] mauled him [Morrison] down. The linesman is 15 yards away.
“The referee and the linesman should be more educated. To rub salt into the wounds, the linesman gave the free-kick to them.
“It hurts. We should have got a penalty.
“We deserved better. There was so much wrong from them [the officials].
“The officials will go home and look at it with their advisers and say: ‘Oh yeah, I made a mistake.’
“But it hurts and we should have got a penalty.
“If we had the rub of the green we’d have left here with a point. I thought we were super.”
December 2011, Swansea 1-1 QPR: ‘Stuffing knocked out of us’
Lee Probert was the man on the receiving end of a verbal barrage on this occasion – with the-then QPR manager left enraged by an alleged handball in the lead-up to the hosts’ opener.
He said: “I’m disappointed that we haven’t got three points. We got the stuffing knocked out of us. The referee saw it was handball but said it was not intentional.
“It was a crucial decision, a big decision like that. You’ve got to know the game.
“He was consistent right from the first minute to the last.”
That settles that, then.
READ MORE: Social media reacts to Neil Warnock’s post-Chelsea outrage
February 2018, Millwall 1-1 Cardiff: ‘His concentration levels must have been minus’
A late winner? I think not.
After the Bluebirds were denied a potentially-crucial three points in the race for automatic promotion last season, Warnock unloaded at the referee.
Of course.
“He’s had a bad day at the office hasn’t he? I like Keith, I think he’s a good ref, but tonight his concentration levels must have been minus,” he said.
“Not just the goal he’s disallowed, which I can accept if he blows straight away when [Bennett] goes down, but he looks where the ball’s gone, carries on, looks and looks as Bamba is kicking it he blows. It’s just, he’ll be distraught, but that’s no good to us.
“He’ll get another game next week. You work hard all week and then two decisions. Because it’s an obvious penalty when he moves his arm towards the ball. Two decisions in a matter of seconds.”
2013: Revenge. Warnock labelled ‘A badly behaved child in a supermarket’
Imagine this. It is April 2013. A referee is giving as good as he gets as Neil Warnock is yet again the man in the spotlight.
And, of course, the referee in question is Graham Poll.
The former referee wrote:“Referees up and down the country will be breathing a sigh of relief at the prospect of Neil Warnock delivering on his threat to retire from management.
“Warnock has been the bane of referees’ lives; almost imploding on the touchline when a throw-in went against his team and never failing to blame the official whenever his team lost.
“He used to try to justify these attacks by claiming he was a qualified referee. Well, taking the exam is one thing but unless you are officiating matches regularly, you are not a referee.”
I mean, the whole piece is an extraordinary counter-rant, but one bit rings true six years later.
“And this is the point. Warnock became a pitied parody of his former self — referees appeared to allow his tantrums to go unchecked as they became less and less effective.
“The once-feared bully, who successfully led teams to play-off glories, had become more like a badly behaved child in a supermarket. Observers walked past shaking their heads in disbelief at the sad spectacle.”
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