Blackpool boss: QPR draw was the right time to make a stand

Pool’s head coach was in an animated mood after his side’s last game before the international break, the 1-1 draw against QPR at Bloomfield Road.

It was a game littered with controversy, with the Seasiders having a goal wrongly ruled out for offside while QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng was lucky to avoid a red card later in the game.

Reflecting on his comments ahead of tomorrow’s return to action against Swansea City, Critchley admitted: “I suppose people would say it was out of character for me, but at some point I just felt I needed to say something and make a stand.

“It wasn’t so much the decisions in that game, we just felt in the previous six or seven games that big decisions had gone against us. I can’t honestly remember a decision that had gone for us.

“If there had been a penalty decision for the opposition or a sending off...you know as a coach sometimes when you’re standing on the side and you think ‘ooh, we might have got away with one there’ or ‘I think that might have been a penalty’ or ‘I think he’s lucky to stay on the pitch’.

“I don’t remember the opposition having those types of incidents against us, but we’ve had a lot in the other games.

“Going back to when we played Nottingham Forest, Hull, Middlesbrough, I can recall loads of incidents. Blackburn, as well, when their first goal is offside.

“At some point you’re thinking it can’t continue, so it probably just got on top of me that evening and I felt it was the right time to say something.

“It just so happened it was live on Sky at the time, but it doesn’t matter if it’s live on Sky or not; it needed to be said.

“That doesn’t mean it’s going to help us going forward, but they do say it evens itself out over the course of the season so we’re due quite a few decisions going in our favour.”

The Seasiders regularly raise these issues with the refereeing body and Critchley insists he tries to be as understanding as possible.

“We like to think we give honest feedback about referees and sometimes you get an explanation,” he added.

“I’ll use the Nottingham Forest example.

“We should have had a penalty before half-time from a corner when it hits Lewis Grabban on the arm, but I can fully understand why that decision wasn’t given.

“It was extremely difficult for the referee to see that, nearly impossible, but the linesman can’t see it from the other side.

“Even though I protested for a handball, and it was handball, I can totally understand why it wouldn’t be given.

“However, when you look at some of the other decisions, I don’t understand and that’s where you need the referees to be just a little bit more humble and put their hands up and admit they made a mistake. Like I do and the players do.”

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