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on officials has swung the pendulum too far the other way. It astonishes me that a referee has control over players and managers literally until they drive off the stadium parking lot. I admit I'm not up on the history of abuses leveled at officials, but were there really incidences of referees being attacked by angry players in the parking lot after matches? Seems like over-kill . . .
Dean should back down on the card against Killa; he justified it by saying his foot was head-high (and deliberate). I appreciate that it may have seemed so at the time, from the angle, and based on the reaction of both McAllister and Laws, but there is plenty of photographic evidence to show Killa's foot wasn't head high and his eyes were clearly on the ball - not McAllister's back. Even Laws states that it shouldn't have been more than a yellow and he was standing right there. Dean would look a lot more thoughtful and professional if he would voluntarily reconsider his decision instead of trying to stick to his guns.
We'll see what comes from an appeal, assuming they ask for one.
As for Johnson - that made ZERO sense, coming four minutes after the substitution. Let the club handle it - or wait until after the match and level a charge then, but don't stop the play. Johnson deserves punishment; it may have been an empty plastic bottle, but that's hardly the point . . . still the method Dean chose was beyond bizarre.
Dean's grandstanding ruined a good derby match, and left that kernel of doubt about who should be holding the crown in the Steel City. The Owls have been playing well at home and they were playing well in the match before Killa was sent off. There's nothing to say that it would have turned out any differently had the Blades been able to keep eleven on the pitch. But we'll never know for sure.
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