The match officials have been decided for Leeds United’s Championship clash with Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Referee Gavin Ward will officiate his first Whites match of the season, and he’s got some history with the club after a controversial decision against Marcelo Bielsa’s side last term.
Ward has been an EFL match official since 2007. The experienced referee doesn’t have a reputation as particularly card-happy, but he’s shown several red cards in games involving Leeds over recent years.
He’s taken charge of 10 EFL games so far this season, dishing out 31 bookings and three red cards (two of which were straight reds), including one shown to Millwall’s Jed Wallace for a dangerous challenge on Sheffield Wednesday’s Kieran Lee.
Last season he officiated three Leeds United games: the routine 3-0 win away at Reading, the 2-1 defeat to Stoke City in January and the 3-2 defeat to Ipswich Town in the final league match of last season.
Luke Chambers was sent off for Ipswich in their victory over the Whites, while Pontus Jansson saw red against Stoke, a questionable decision which drew ire from Leeds fans.
Jansson was shown a second yellow card after he’d been judged to have impeded Benik Afobe, when replays appeared to show the Sweden international falling to the ground, but making minimal contact with the Potters forward.
That appears to be an isolated incident, however, as there’s no trend of Ward regularly sending Leeds players off. In fact, he’s shown more red cards to the opposition than he has to Leeds players.
Back in 2015, he harshly sent off future England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, then a youngster on loan at Preston North End, after mistakenly deciding he’d handled the ball outside the box at Elland Road.
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