QPR have Graham Laws in charge for the Blackpool game on Tuesday. His last match with us against Sheff Utd was a disaster, but he treated to us a goal at Hull last season.

Blackpool v Queens Park Rangers
Referee: Graham Laws (Tyne and Wear)
Assistants – Bond (Lancashire) and Mattocks (Lancashire)
Fourth Official – Siddall (Lancashire)

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The issue of fast tracking young referees is back on the agenda again and once more it’s a controversial goal that never was at Watford that has put it there. Calamity Attwell first came to the nation’s attention by giving a goal to Reading at Vicarage Road when the ball had actually gone four yards wide of the post, and then booking two players and sending a manager off for disagreeing with him. On Saturday 23 year old Michael Oliver incurred the wrath of Neil Warnock on the same ground by disallowing a perfectly good goal from Jose Fonte which cost Palace the chance of a replay in a 4-3 FA Cup defeat.



Warnock said afterwards: “"I find it difficult to understand how they give referees Championship football at 23. I don't see how they can have the understanding of the game at that age. The way they are going he will be in the Premier League next year. We are pushing young referees because we haven't got a great group at the top. Young referees should have experienced linesman and I was hoping for a Premier League referee today."



He may be a bit of a git but it is hard not to agree with Warnock. The referees that are being fast tracked do not have enough experience of football to deal with high profile situations in front of big crowds. Stuart Attwell, after a promising start last season, has been put into the spotlight by a mistake actually made by a linesman but has since gone completely to pieces. His latest disaster came at Brentford v Notts County where he sent off Bees’ striker Nathan Elder for an elbow (it was nothing of the sort) after ten minutes. As usual with Attwell’s sendings off (five in his last twelve games) the club appealed and it was immediately dismissed once the league had realised which referee it was. The decision left Brentford chairman Greg Dykes furious.



Dykes said: “Everyone at Brentford finds the decision incomprehensible," Dyke told the club website. There was not a person in the ground that I met who believed the decision of the referee was fair and reasonable. This is the first time in all the years I have been involved in football that I have felt compelled to speak out about a refereeing decision. Referees' decisions like these are spoiling the enjoyment of the game for the fans."



Mr Attwell’s latest opportunity to make a complete mess of a match is Tuesday night and, quite incredibly, they have given him the always combustible and now crucial South London derby between Charlton and Crystal Palace. The league’s blind ignorance to Attwell’s failings, which are coming thick and fast on a weekly basis, and insistence that he should just be chucked back into the deep end every week is nothing short of scandalous. Charlton and Palace could be a blood bath tomorrow night.



Beware also young James Linington who referees his first ever Championship game at, you guessed it, Watford. They play Burnley tomorrow. He has only been on the league list for four months – again I would suggest this is far too much too soon but anyway.



As for our game at Blackpool, well we have Graham Laws from Tyne and Wear for the second time this season. Hopefully this one will got a bit better than his first match with us this season which we lost 3-0 at Sheffield United in August. Laws did not do too badly, certainly a lot better than Rangers, although our aversion to tackling that day may well have had a bit to do with it.



Referee: Graham Laws (Tyne & Wear) 7 Didn’t have a great deal to referee with QPR so comprehensively overrun and outplayed, one decision in the first half to book Halford and Delaney could have gone another way but we don’t want to see players sent off really and all in all he was very steady. LFW Sheff Utd Match Report



Laws has shown just 46 yellows (1.92 a game) and three reds in 24 matches this season. His last Blackpool game was their 1-0 home defeat by Bristol City on the opening day.



Rangers fans may remember he refereed our 2-0 win at Wrexham in the promotion season and was stunningly bad booking eight and sending off Kevin McLeod, but then went several years without another QPR appointment until last season when we bagged him for the trip to promotion chasing Hull City. That game, you’ll recall, saw QPR take the lead with a very controversial Dexter Blackstock goal that didn’t appear to cross the line on the replays - oh how we laughed. Anyway Laws got a rating of six out of ten for that match which was good enough for joint 14th position in the referee league.



Referee: Graham Laws (Tyne & Wear) 6 The referee did alright for me but was let down throughout the game by his two assistants. Of course the controversy surrounding the QPR goal is already well documented and having messed that decision up the linesman on that side, Mr Atkins, spent the rest of the game desperately trying to even things up by flagging for one Hull free kick after another. The merry flag waver at the other end wasn’t much better, taking an absolute age to get his flag up for even the most basic of throw in and offside decisions. Laws certainly isn’t the best referee we’ll have this season, but he’s far from the worst and his performance was undermined by the incompetence of those supposedly there to help him. LFW Hull Match Report



Last season Laws booked 74 (2.31 a match) and sent three off in 32 matches across three divisions and two cup competitions. He only booked more than four in a game on one occasion - Doncaster v Bristol Rovers in League One.




His overall record with QPR is eight games refereed, three QPR wins all away from home, one draw and three defeats. He has booked 12 QPR players, sent one off and awarded one penalty against. He has booked 15 opponents and awarded QPR one penalty in a 3-1 win at Man City in 2000.



Elsewhere I am not sure what Martin Atkinson has done to offend anybody, he has been one of the top referees this year for me this year, but he has Hartlepool v Carlisle on Tuesday night. Steve Bennett is also dropping through the leagues for Bournemouth v Luton and he seemed to do very well in the Merseyside derby at the weekend so I’m not sure why that is – Bennett is in his last season on the list by the way. Our old chum Andy Hall has Port Vale v Chester.



Looking further ahead to Saturday and we have John Moss for the visit of Reading – that’s pretty good news as far as I’m concerned as he is an official I like. More to come on him on Thursday.

Photo: Action Images

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