He's No Friend of Preston's!

Kevin Friend

The performance of referee Kevin Friend has been the big talking point of Saturday's derby defeat to Burnley. There is no doubt that for the neutral, the game was an exciting and incident strewn match which showcased what an exciting and competitive league the Championship really is. Despite the millions of pounds Burnley received as parachute payments from the Premier League, they were outplayed and made to look very ordinary by a Preston team who had only scored one League goal before Saturday's game.
The first incident which has provoked much discussion is the injury to Preston's Joshua King following a dangerous foul by King. This foul went unpunished, but not only did the officials miss that but went on to turn a blind eye to the fact that the ball then went out of play, hit the prone King, nursing a suspected broken ankle and came back onto the pitch to allow Burnley to continue their attack. Had the officials acted correctly and blown for either, or both, of those infringements, then the tug by Jones, after which he was grabbed round the neck, hauled to the ground and then tripped would not have occurred and neither player would have been awarded a yellow card.
Later, this poor refereeing came back to haunt Preston, as Friend, influenced by an aggressive Burnley crowd, booked Jones a second time for taking 5 seconds extra to take a throw in. Referees are given the power to add time on following the end of the 90 minutes for any such time wasting, but the referee decided to hand Burnley a huge advantage by dismissing one of Preston's key players.
Following a terrific comeback by Preston which saw them turn a 1-0 deficit into a 1-3 lead, this was a cruel turn of fate, especially as it directly led to three quick goals from the home team who won by a single goal.
Friend himself states that the skills needed to be a good referee are "Knowledge of the laws of the game and very good man management skills". Sadly, neither were in evidence on Saturday. The actions of Mr Friend had a direct, negative and unfair impact on the game and if the FA are serious about wanting supporters and players to show respect for the officials on matchdays, then they have a duty to ensure that those charged with upholding the rules of the game are competent to do so.