The referee in charge of tonight’s game is Graham Poll, whose ears will still be ringing from the criticism handed out to him by Alex Ferguson on Sunday when he didn’t do a Mike Riley and award Manchester United penalties.
To upset the Manchester United manager even more he sent off Alan Smith with just two minutes remaining. He went for a challenge on Richard Dunne who is the only other player to see Poll’s red card this season in an early season 2-1 defeat at
It is two seasons ago since the Clarets last had Graham Poll as referee, on that occasion it was the FA Cup and our 1-1 draw at
This season, apart from the two red cards, he has handed out 45 yellow cards in 17 games. Those games have included World & European Cup ties, Premiership games and just the one Championship game between
You are twice as likely to be booked by him if you are playing for the away team this season with 15 of those yellows going to home team players and 30 to away team players.
It would be nice if he would keep his cards in his pocket tonight – we certainly cannot cope with any more suspensions at the moment.
He will be assisted by Dave Babski (
Previous Burnley games:
Season | Opps | V | Res | Y | R | Burnley players carded |
a | ||||||
2002/03 | Fulham | a | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | West |
1999/2000 | Brentford | a | 3-2 | 1 | 0 | Little |