Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has echoed Nigel Pearson's comments that Championship officials should be held publicly accountable for their decisions.
The Bristol City manager was left far from happy after the 3-2 defeat with Bournemouth on Saturday when Chris Martin was denied a penalty at a crucial moment of the contest. The Robins were 2-1 down just after the hour mark when Lloyd Kelly clumsily took the striker down from behind, but referee Steve Martin ruled away any protests from the Robins players.
City have won just one penalty all season - at Coventry City in November - and Pearson said after the game: "It’s not a coming together because Chris has touched the ball away from him. We’ve had one penalty all season and we’ve had so many decisions go against us, it’d be interesting to know why. I couldn’t give you an answer to that.
"I can’t say anything about it I’m afraid, the officials aren’t publicly accountable."
Pearson has been vocal in his criticism of officials in the past, particularly comments made towards Andy Davies after the defeat to Queens Park Rangers in December, and recently claimed the standard of refereeing in the Championship needs to improve after the 2-2 draw with West Brom before the international break.
Rovers boss Mowbray also saw his side fall victim to a controversial decision at the weekend in their 1-1 draw with Coventry. Blackburn conceded a 99th-minute equaliser against the hosts despite the officials indicating a minimum of six minutes added on at the end of normal time.
Far from happy after the contest, Mowbray said: "10 minutes 24 seconds, my analysts said. Listen, it’s really sad for me that the officials can’t come out and stand in front of you and tell you where he gets the time from. I find it personally embarrassing for the officials.
“For the substitutes we made two at half time then we made one and they made one in the game, so there’s 30 seconds…were the physios on lots of times?
"He was telling me about a pitch invader [in injury time] but the game is stopped when the pitch invader was on already [while Ryan Nyambe received treatment for cramp]. So I’m not having the time. It’s ridiculous, and it’s really sad for football that they’re not accountable.
"I’m bemused by the time that was added on. Six went up and how on earth they got six I’ll never know but you accept it, but to get over ten minutes…listen, it’s sad I think that the officials don’t have to come out and answer the questions you ask me.”
In February, The Times reported how a 'low cost alternative' to VAR could be introduced into the Championship next season to help prevent the number of referee errors. While it is used in the Premier League and European competitions, it is deemed too expensive to implement in the second tier.
The report adds how talks between the EFL and the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) have taken place over an adapted system being introduced as soon as next season.
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