Keith Hill - Not Fair

After watching his team lose against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, Rochdale boss Keith Hill was left fuming about the performance of referee Craig Pawson and, in particular, the young whistler’s decision to award a penalty on the stroke of half time for the home side.


To be fair to Hill, while you could feel his frustration, he never lost the plot nor was he abusive in any way and so personally I think it would be a travesty if he were to end up with a fine. However, I have to say that I personally saw nothing wrong with the decision and couldn’t really find fault with the referee’s display that afternoon.

Rochdale probably deserved more from the game, but then again, Rovers probably deserved more from their game against Swindon the previous Monday evening. Isn’t that just football for you? The full transcript of Hill’s post match reaction follows. He said:

“I don’t think we deserved to lose the game. I think the penalty decision before half-time changed the whole complexion of the game. You know the whole structure in the second half changed because of the penalty award. I thought our game plan was working. We were causing the opposition problems and the penalty decision, or the conversion of the penalty, relived the pressure on the opposition so that decision changed the course of the game from our aspect and from their aspect.

I’m disappointed with that decision. I’m not too sure whether it’s a penalty or not, but I’m relatively disappointed with the referring standards and the referring display today for the official. I just feel as though the FA and the Referee’s Association want you to respect officials, but I can’t respect officials when they produce sub-standard performances.

Their performances will have a bearing on my future not his future and I won’t accept that as a display today as being a polished display. I just felt as though it was sub-standard and rather favoured Bristol Rovers.

The linesman didn’t give the penalty and he was in a favourable position, but the linesman gave a lot in that game in respect of fouls, free kicks, etc., but they fail to award the penalty when the referee sees it as a penalty. It might well have been a penalty, but for me the referee wasn’t in a great position to see it and it changed the whole complexion of the game and the strategy of the opposition in the second half as we saw. We shut the door. They kept it very solid at the back and tried to pinch a goal on the counter-attack which they did and I applaud the opposition for the way they played in the second half, but it was a result of a penalty decision that was really debatable.

I’m not disappointed with my team or my players. I’m disappointed with the result and the refereeing standard, but not disappointed with the way we played and the players. The only disappointment today was the result.

With the referee, I’ll phone David Ellison (I think he meant David Elleray, but there’s a time when and when not to interrupt someone) or he’ll probably call me with respect to my comments about the referee, but it was a sub-standard performance in a professional industry. It’s not bitter or sour grapes, but the lion’s share of decisions that were made favoured Bristol Rovers and the penalty decision favoured Bristol Rovers. If it wasn’t awarded by the linesman who was in a far better position to either award or deny it being a penalty. He didn’t move or make any gesture towards the referee. The referee, who was blind-sided to the incident, made the decision.”

As far as life in League One is concerned, Hill brightened up and was honest in his assessment when he said:

“I’m pleased with the progress that we’re making and the way that we’re playing. I’m pleased with the points we’ve got on the board. I’m obviously not pleased with the sequence of the last three results, but that has been a reality check for me because I’ve been a little too demanding of the players because we’ve had such a good start. So we’ve gone back to our mantra of ‘let’s see’ instead of ‘let’s expect to win’. It’s a balancing act for me. I’ve got ambitions for the players and the football club, but it’s got to be balanced with an education of League One football. We’re relatively inexperienced - myself as a manger in League One and the players are as well. We haven’t recruited too many players that have got League One experience and it can be key. But we’re educating ourselves quite well. We’re not getting drastically beaten week-in, week-out by any opposition. We’re giving ourselves an opportunity to win games and compete in games and that’ll be our strategy for the remainder of the season.

I’m really pleased with the players and there’s got to be patience with these players as they educate themselves to this league and that patience has got to come from me and my demands has got to be slightly lowered on these players that we’ve got.

Hill had special words of praise for striker Chris O’Grady who battled away against Rovers’ central defensive partnership of Byron Anthony and Danny Coles – both of who were excellent themselves - and he said:

“He’s an excellent player and integral to our development and he’s a great target man. When he plays like that he’s a handful for any defender. The first half strategy was working to perfection in my eyes. I’ve got to clear my vision of the result and see the performances of the players and see what progress we’re actually making as a football club.”

More quotes from Paul Trollope and Chris Lines to follow later (or tomorrow if I get bogged down with work!)