Leeds United v Preston referee decision will baffle Daniel Farke - formal apology already sent for past error
Leeds United felt aggrieved with a controversial call during their trip to Preston in December.
The EFL have confirmed John Busby will referee Saturday’s meeting between Leeds United and Preston - having failed to send Ben Whiteman off for a nasty challenge in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
Leeds were left absolutely perplexed by Busby’s decision to not give Whiteman a second yellow card at the least following a late and reckless challenge on Jayden Bogle during December’s feisty 1-1 draw. The midfielder had only been booked for a cynical trip of Brenden Aaronson four minutes prior and could easily have been dismissed, with Daniel Farke booked for his remonstrations in the dugout.
Paul Heckingbottom subsequently took his combative midfielder off at half-time - as clear a suggestion as any he was lucky to stay on - before admitting he could see why Leeds were left frustrated. YEP chief football writer Graham Smyth gave Busby a 2/10 in his post-match ratings, adding the official was in danger of losing control, missed fouls for both sides and failed to stamp out time-wasting.
The overwhelming consensus was that Whiteman should certainly have been sent off, with former referee Dermot Gallagher suggesting the second tackle could have been a straight red in itself. Farke insisted the ‘nasty foul’ was at least a yellow card and pointed to the midfielder’s half-time removal as a hint opposite number Heckingbottom knew as much.
Leeds vs Preston referee confirmed
Leeds received another formal letter of apology from the PGMOL following that incident, with Leeds Live reporting Busby himself wrote to the club acknowledging a mistake was made. He hasn’t officiated a Whites game since but will be at Elland Road for the reverse fixture on Saturday.
The EFL have confirmed Busby will take charge of Saturday’s massive Championship meeting, with Mark Russell and Matthew Smith his assistants and Lewis Smith between the dugouts as fourth official. And while Farke was not drawn to publicly criticise the referee in December, his return for another potentially feisty affair could be a major talking point if big calls are missed again.
Farke was left fuming on Tuesday night after two perfectly good Leeds goals in a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough were incorrectly ruled out for offside. The first, from Ao Tanaka, was in fact ruled out by the same assistant who had wrongly chalked off goals against Coventry City and Millwall, taking him to three significant errors against the Whites in eight weeks.
“I'm really struggling to find proper words for having the same assistant ruling out three good goals in eight weeks for offside,” Farke said. “If they were difficult to see I could live with this. Why do we keep sending this assistant to games for Leeds United? If he is there out of coincidence with mistakes against us, at some point you should protect him. I'm not sure why he's always the assistant for us and rules out goals that should stand. We're playing for such a big reward, going up to the Premier League, millions of pounds.”
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