Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior has called on referee Paul Tierney to “focus more on his job” and said he will contact the referees body PGMOL after Tierney was in the centre of his side’s pre-match huddle on Saturday.
Before their Premier League clash against Newcastle kicked off, the Chelsea XI gathered around the centre circle for their final words before the start of the game.
Chelsea went on to lose 1-0 at the Bridge, courtesy of an early Anthony Gordon strike.
A huddle in the centre of the pitch is a practice that Liam Rosenior’s side have used before games in recent weeks.
But this time referee Tierney was standing on the centre circle and was subsequently caught in the middle of Chelsea’s huddle, holding the match ball.
It made for a rather amusing but unprecedented scene before kick-off as Chelsea’s players were forced to talk to each other in the huddle across Tierney.
But Rosenior was not happy with Tierney and said he would be going to the PGMOL to get a further understanding of what happened.
“I’m respectful to the game. My players made a decision that they wanted to be around the ball, to respect the ball and show unity and leadership,” the Chelsea boss said.
“That is not my decision. That is a decision between the leadership group and the team. There is nothing that they’re doing with that huddle that is disrespectful to the opposition.
“If Paul had focused more on his job, which was to make the right decision, we’d have a penalty today,” he said. “I don’t think anyone can say that Woltemade doesn’t kick Cole Palmer down in the box.
“I didn’t speak to Paul today, I didn’t think it was the right thing. But I’ll be speaking to PGMOL. I’ll be speaking to the refs. Just trying to get an understanding of what happened.”
Former Premier League referee and ESPN contributor Andy Davies said the incident was not a good look for Tierney or the Premier League.
“The more I watch the pre-match Chelsea huddle with referee Paul Tierney not moving from the centre circle, the less I understand his decision to stay put and not allow them to have their moment,” he told ESPN.
“Tierney would have done his homework, he would have known that the Chelsea ritual was likely to happen, so why did he hold his ground and not take the opportunity to move to a more neutral position?
“The Chelsea players, in fairness, didn’t seem worried by Tierney’s presence, however the optics don’t look great for the PGMOL, Premier League or Tierney raising their profile unnecessarily.”
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Information from PA contributed to this report.
