Nigel Pearson has fired back at talkSPORT pundit Danny Murphy by suggesting his opinion doesn't hold much weight because he hasn't experienced management.
The former Liverpool midfielder claimed Pearson was in "victim mode" after the City manager admitted he has considered retirement from the game over the standard of officiating in the Championship.
City have already been on the receiving end of a handful of dubious decisions including in the season opener against Hull City which ultimately led to a letter of apology from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) explaining how the referee got three key penalty decisions wrong. One of those errors was to award Benjamin Tetteh a first-half penalty while City had two turned down.
Perhaps what Murphy is unaware of is the remarkable statistic regarding City's lack of penalties. As detailed by fan Jack Perry (@bcfcpezza) on Twitter, since November 2020, the Robins have averaged a penalty every 7,830 minutes - by far the highest across the 92 clubs in the English Football League.
Port Vale have the next highest average with 2,760 minutes per penalty while the average across the four divisions is just 964 minutes. It magnifies the huge disparity between City and the rest of the football pyramid.
In January, the CIES Football Observatory detailed how the Robins rank last of more than 600 teams across 31 European domestic leagues for penalties awarded from the start of the 2018/19 season. Since that study was published the Robins haven't won a single spot-kick.
Their most recent was Chris Martin's penalty in the 3-2 defeat against Coventry on November 6, 2021, and should arguably have had three already this campaign including against Luton when Rob Atkinson had one turned away after clearly being tripped.
"I can't explain it and it's not for me to explain," Pearson said when asked whether he was aware of the statistics. "We'll give them (the PGMOL) the opportunity of looking into it themselves. At the moment my focus is not on stuff like that, although I've been interested in reading people's opinions.
"I came in for some criticism from people, or a person, that doesn't have any gravitas on his opinion on football management.
"When I speak after a game, it's based on what I feel. People have got their own opinions and they are entitled to them.
"I don't know what other people will say. Somebody had mentioned me being in victim mode. I think we are victims. The football club is a victim of inequality. I can't explain the statistics but it's worrying.
"We want fairness and consistency. It's what everybody in sports want. That's a huge part of the ethos of sport. There has to be a set of rules which apply to everybody and unfortunately, we have been on the receiving end of many dubious decisions. It has a cumulative effect and I don't think it's healthy for the game.
"I've spoken to the people that I need to speak to about it and I've heard other people's opinions on what they think about what I say and quite frankly I'm not bothered."
Pearson reiterated the calls for officials to be helped in the Championship in the form of technology. The manager has previously called for officials to be mic'd up so they can be held accountable for their decisions while questioning why VAR has not been implemented in the second tier.
"There's almost a dismissive element of the Championship and it's all about the Premier League," he added. "But the Championship is the way into the Premier League and I think we need the support mechanisms certainly for the referees and officials to help them get it right.
"Technology is there to assist and to minimalise the risk of mistakes. I think that's what it should be about and there has to be an element of accountability too. There's a lot at stake and we have professional referees and they should be supported by technology. With that of course comes the accountability because there is so much at stake."
Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey was in agreement with Pearson's comments and told Bristol Live the standard of officiating have been gradually declining year-on-year.
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