September 17th 2023.
Paul Heckingbottom was left fuming after defeat in north London on Saturday. The Sheffield United boss launched an epic attack on officials, claiming that they had told him how to play in order to avoid punishment.
The dramatic finale saw Tottenham score twice in the last few minutes of injury time, coming from behind to beat the Blades 2-1. Oli McBurnie was then sent off in the 114th minute.
Heckingbottom's anger had nothing to do with the result and was instead directed at the new focus on clamping down on time-wasting this season. He had been advised to play long from goal-kicks because their preferred choice of playing out from the goalkeeper was taking too long.
"Something needs to be done now," Heckingbottom said. "The referees are killing the game, absolutely ruining it. This is not me moaning about the result. I said it at half-time and when we were 1-0 up as well."
He continued telling Sky Sports: "The officiating is appalling. It's not about the football decisions, just game management. My worry is that all the focus is on the yellow cards, time-wasting, the new guidelines. The focus all of a sudden comes onto time-wasting, so they're dictating how we play. If you play to take goal kicks from the back, you set up one way, and if Spurs go against that, that dictates the decision you make."
Heckingbottom also expressed his sympathy for McBurnie for receiving a second yellow card late on. "You see all the frustration," he said. "Both teams, both sides, both teams taking the mickey out of the ref and to sum it all up, we get Ollie McBurnie sent off for telling the referee someone's pulling his shirt."
The Sheffield United boss concluded that it was "sad" what was happening to football and that the officials "simply do not know the game". McBurnie himself tweeted after the match, "Not even allowed to speak to referees these days but certain teams/players allowed to run up to them multiple times in a game with no problems."
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