Sam Allison has been appointed the man to take charge of Pompey’s Championship trip to Kenilworth Road on Saturday as John Mousinho’s men look for a fourth straight league win.
The trailblazing match official became the first black referee to oversee a Premier League fixture for the first time in 15 years when Sheffield United took on Luton in December 2023. But despite his achievements, the 44-year-old and Pompey have a mixed history.
Confrontation with Cowley
In August 2022 former Blues boss Danny Cowley called out Allison’s performance during his side’s EFL Trophy contest against Crawley, with the man-in-the-middle awarding two controversial penalties to the Red Devils.
After confronting Allison after the game, Cowley didn’t hold back in his post-match thoughts.
He told The News: ‘I think that was one of the worst displays of refereeing that I have seen. I like him, he’s a really nice man, I don’t like saying this, but I’m just telling you the truth about what I think – and I feel I should say it because I love football and we have to do better.
‘The FA have to do better, the EFL have to do better, this is such a shame, all these people come here and the game is just farcical
‘The referee falls over in the middle of the pitch, he slips over. Okay these things happen, he gets in the way of our midfield player, can’t pick up the second ball, then doesn’t blow his whistle and regain his composure and stop the game.
‘He then lets the play carry on and gives the softest of penalties—it’s a completely soft penalty.
‘He has already given them a penalty in the first half, which I thought was soft. He has then given them another penalty in injury time, and I just thought that incident summed up his performance.
‘He has already given them a penalty in the first half, which I thought was soft. He has then given them another penalty in injury time, and I just thought that incident summed up his performance.
‘I thought he was really bad for both teams. We were all laughing, none of us knew what he was going to give next, we didn’t know which way he was going to go.’
Pompey fans’ complaints
Learning of this weekend’s refereeing appointment, some Pompey fans weren’t amazed to see Allison’s name.
On X, formerly Twitter, @jeffharris_665 joked: ‘We’ve gone from being dead certs of beating Luton to probably losing because Sam Allison is now ref for it! It’s a conspiracy to stop us getting 4 wins on the bounce.
Meanwhile, another Blues fan @Frattonegg said: ‘Oh dear. Said before – he’s probably the nicest bloke you could ever wish to meet and a brave guy too – ex-fireman. But yeah, when it comes to refereeing, let’s just say he’s a beacon for modern officiating standards.’
Since overseeing Pompey’s 2-2 draw with Crawley in the EFL Trophy in August 2022, Allison has overseen five more Blues fixtures. Those games have seen the 44-year-old dish out 25 yellow cards at a rate of 4.34 a game. Of those 25 bookings, seven have been Pompey players.
The Blues enjoyed victory in just one of those recent fixtures – a 3-1 home win against Cambridge United on February 13, 2023.
Recent criticism
Following a number of questionable calls, the sending off of Di’Shon Bernard and a clear penalty that was missed during Stoke’s game against Sheffield Wednesday in December, then Potters boss Narcís Pèlac said afterwards: ‘There is a penalty and the referee doesn’t whistle, we have the cross into the box and the (Barry) Bannan handball but the referee doesn’t whistle. We are in that moment, the referee had a big impact on the game in my opinion but this is their job. ‘
For the latest news and breaking news, visit sportzonenews
Be the first to comment