Newcastle United’s Callum Wilson has revealed a Manchester United player bemoaned the ‘standard of referees in this country’ during the Premier League draw at Old Trafford.
Both sides were left angry at several decisions made during the goalless draw, with the hosts calling for a penalty after Sean Longstaff appeared to trip Jadon Sancho and Newcastle were denied a spot-kick after Wilson was felled by Raphael Varane.
United also argued with the referee Craig Pawson after a Cristiano Ronaldo goal was disallowed as the ball was not deemed to be in play from a Newcastle free-kick.
Red Devils manager Erik ten Hag was not impressed with Pawson’s display and marched towards the official at the final whistle of the clash.
Wilson says some refereeing decisions are becoming ’embarrassing’ and has revealed an unnamed Manchester United star slammed the ‘standards of referees in this country’ during another eventful afternoon in the Premier League.
The Newcastle and England striker also claims several United players conceded the visitors should have been awarded a penalty for the incident which imvolved Varane.
‘It’s actually getting embarrassing,’ Wilson said. ‘I don’t even want to get started on the decisions in our game but I was waiting for a goal kick and one of the United players says to me, “what’s happened to the standard of referees in this country?”
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‘I was thinking wow. That’s a foreign player saying that and they’ve not experienced it before.
‘I got wiped out and the defenders on their team are saying it should have been a penalty. I don’t even appeal now because I’m that fed up of going mad at referees.
‘If it’s going to be a penalty and the ref has missed it you’re thinking VAR is going to do its job, so I’m waiting for the ball to go out of play.
‘Then I go to him, “ref, what you saying?” He was like, “it’s never a penalty”. I was thinking why am I wasting my time here. They were basically trying to say I was going through a gap that wasn’t there.’
Since Sunday’s draw, United have been charged by the Football Association for failing to control their players as they surrounded referee Pawson.
Manchester United ‘failed to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion’, according to the FA charge.
Reacting to the charge, Ten Hag said: ‘I want to express that we have always accepted the ref’s decisions and it is also quite normal you ask why in the moment.
‘It was a curious incident and you ask as a team, why? My view is, quite quickly, you have to accept the ref’s decision and move on.
‘We are an example for amateurs, for youth and professional players. It’s quite clear and we have to know our role.
‘It was quite obvious the player touched the ball from Newcastle and our players took advantage of it. When you explain, it has to be quite soon.’
