Leeds United’s dramatic stoppage-time winner against Sunderland last night sparked wild scenes around Elland Road.
However, referee Stuart Attwell put a dampener on things by booking Leeds manager Daniel Farke for celebrating with his players and staff on the pitch.
The German will now be suspended for next week’s huge Championship fixture against Sheffield United, which is a ridiculous state of affairs.
Keep Premier League officials away from the Championship
Scoring a 95th-minute winner against one of your main promotion rivals is a moment worthy of celebration – unless your name is Attwell.
The Leeds manager has every right to feel aggrieved. If he had run over to the Sunderland bench to trigger a reaction, a booking would have been warranted.
Issuing a yellow card in those circumstances may be sticking to the letter of the law, but it has no relation to the spirit of the game.
Given that he is a Premier League referee, Attwell should not be assigned Championship games, regardless of their importance.
There are plenty of decent Championship officials who deserve the opportunity to oversee a crucial promotion clash.
Parachuting top flight officials into games further down the pyramid often causes controversy and is a practice which should be stopped.
Top football stories
- John Stones defends like a cricketer. But is it becoming a problem?
- For Inter Miami and Lionel Messi, a club-defining season awaits
- I went to Everton’s new stadium opening night – it was instantly jaw-dropping
Football Today features
- Overt bias is killing Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage
- West Ham failed to read the memo about Potter
- Shamrock Rovers secure stunning result in Norway
What to watch
Celtic at Bayern Munich in the Champions League tonight? This one could be ugly for the Scottish Premiership side.
Recent Posts
- La Liga 2026/27: Barcelona, Real Madrid & Atletico Madrid fancied to dominate
- Infantino saga: FIFA defends embattled president after fresh UEFA allegations
- Aston Villa director confirms talks for Bayern Munich midfielder Joao Palhinha
- Fenerbahce submit bid for Romelu Lukaku as Napoli eye Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus to replace him
- Liverpool monitoring £43m Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara
- Barcelona confident of signing Manchester City star as they prepare new transfer bid
- Barcelona striker Ferran Torres agrees to join PSG
- Arsenal announce signing of Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle
- Atletico Madrid step up pursuit of free-agent Dusan Vlahovic after Juventus exit
- FIFA president Gianni Infantino faces fresh scrutiny over alleged UEFA affair and six-figure pay-off
