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Joe Mewis

Angus Kinnear's take on a perceived 'anti-Leeds United agenda' following latest referee controversy

Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear again called into question the standard of refereeing in the Championship following last week's incident-packed win over Millwall.

Marcelo Bielsa's side came back from a 2-0 half-time deficit against the Lions, as a second-half brace from Patrick Bamford and a Pablo Hernandez goal ensured that Leeds did not have to suffer another hard luck story after a series of baffling first-half decisions.

Referee Darren England was booed off at half-time and drew widespread criticism from fans for his performance, which was the latest in a series of sub-optimal showings from referees in the Championship this term.

Writing in his programme notes ahead of the Wigan clash, Kinnear was keen to raise the issue of England and his fellow officials' performance.

"The only negative from that match was that the standard of EFL officiating was once again bought into question," he writes. "While most of our feedback to the match official assessors this season has been around interpretation of the rules, some of the decisions against Millwall forced us to add 'simply not paying attention' to our list of concerns.

"I am confident that Leeds United provide the most comprehensive post-match feedback of any Championship club. Our report on the Millwall game highlighted 17 separate decisions that we felt were worthy of review and, to the credit of the assessors, they will review the video of each decision and provide a perspective in return."

Kinnear also raised the issue of one of Leeds supporters' common conspiracy theories, in that there is an 'anti-Leeds basis' from the authorities - something that was sung about from all four stands on Tuesday evening.

"Hopefully this endeavour can lead to an improvement over time, however, in the short term, the fact that erroneous decisions have conservatively cost the club over 10 points this season is cause for significant concern.

"As we do not believe there is any anti-Leeds conspiracy or agenda, we can only concede that EFL referees have challenges with handling the pressure of higher profile occasions."

Leeds host the Latics looking to maintain their place at the top of the Championship table this afternoon.

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