Why can’t referees just get things right and give Leeds penalties? — Square Ball 14/3/25

Shove yer apologies

Written by: Chris McMenamy

Tristan Crama committed a comically graceless foul on Wednesday night, frantically pushing Dan James in the face as he zoomed past the Millwall full-back late in the game. In the face! The referee, Dean Whitestone, waved play on through a series of incomprehensible gestures. The typically diplomatic Elland Road crowd reacted, as it often does, with a wave of anger and incredulity but it quickly gave way to resignation. This happens every week, after all.

Every team thinks the refs are biased against them and I’ve often been guilty of trying to find the conspiracy in something banal like a Sheffield official presiding over Leeds matches. The odd dodgy decision here and there tends to lend itself to the theory that the EFL really are corrupt and they want Leeds United to remain their little Champo cash cow forever. But when it’s every week? Not even whichever megamind replaced Shaun Harvey would be stupid enough to be that obvious about it. Incompetence reigns supreme in modern officiating, not conspiracy — no matter what terminally online Arsenal fans might say.

It has been (almost) funny to watch some of the utterly baffling decisions that have gone against Leeds this season. I’m sure there have been several that benefitted Leeds also, but I don’t care to remember them. I’ve curated some of my favourites from the 2024/25 campaign.

A penalty so obvious that Brenden Aaronson could have made a successful whiplash claim, but it still wasn’t the most egregious incorrect decision that night. Leeds were leading 2-0 against Frank Lampard’s Coventry City™ in the 52nd minute when Aaronson arrived into the penalty area just as Dan James cut the ball back to him. Joel Latibeaudiere took exception to such attacking intent and went through Aaronson like an enema. It was such an obvious penalty that I didn’t even feel the need to shout at the TV, at least until referee Dean Whitestone waved play on.

Thankfully Leeds were cruising to victory and it didn’t really matter. Junior Firpo scored a third as the game petered out, adding a little punctuation to the performance. The Coventry players showed how much they’d grasped their manager’s methods by moaning at the referee until the linesman’s flag went up for an offside that never was. A merciful flagging? Perhaps, but it’s not like they were deserving of mercy.

“We got a call saying we should have got a goal vs Coventry [when Gnonto scored]. And today, the same assistant gives the same offside decision [against Aaronson]. This annoys me a lot,” said Daniel Farke after Leeds’ win against Millwall on Wednesday night. Aaronson’s ‘offside’ assist for Joel Piroe’s ghost goal might have been a tight call, but the lino has no credit in the bank to be given the benefit of the doubt.

Kudos to him for staying committed to his total incompetence. At least he’s consistent.

Let me set the scene. It’s December and Leeds are a goal down away at Preston. Ben Whiteman is booked for cynically tripping Aaronson in the 32nd minute. Moments later, Jayden Bogle meets a breaking ball just outside the Preston penalty area and is immediately clattered by Whiteman. The tackle is off the ground and out of control, and Whiteman’s attempt to act innocent is almost as bad as the lunge that seems certain to end his afternoon.

But referee John Busby had other ideas. Despite Whiteman walking up to him like a guilty dog being asked if he’d shat on the carpet, Busby decided to show leniency. Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom subbed Whiteman at half-time, the universal sign for getting away with one.

This one stung at the time and probably set me on the path to seeing the incompetent officials for what they are: professional authoritarians who are just trying to do their job, badly. Should Leeds end up being promoted in May, we’ll look back on this ridiculous decision as a tolerable oddity that makes the Champo what it is.

Tyrhys Dolan lost control and swung his entire frame — legs first — directly into Junior Firpo. It’s the type of tackle you see clipped on social media because people will have their thoughts on it being a red card. Some might miss the good old days when you could lunge two-footed at a man’s knee and get away with a brief telling off, but not me.

I wanted to see Dolan walking, but referee Lewis Smith let him off with a yellow card. Marcelo Bielsa taught us that we shouldn’t crowd refs, but sometimes it feels like they need direction, a helping hand to guide them into making the correct decision. How many rolls should Junior Firpo have done to convince Smith that he had been clattered recklessly? Four? Five? We’ll never know.

Blackburn held on to win 1-0. Perhaps they were helped by Smith’s ludicrous leniency, but Leeds were also quite awful against John Eustace’s side so it might not have mattered either way. At least Dolan was nice enough to give us Leeds fans someone other than Daniel Farke to blame.

Portsmouth’s Matt Ritchie kicked Dan James with a welly usually preceded by a “HAVE IT!” in the school playground. Referee Rob Jones stood a few yards away, watching on and letting play continue before he rubbished the Leeds players’ cries by making ‘the ball’ gesture to them. The ball, really?

I found it hard to be too annoyed by this decision. It was simply too bad to lose much sleep over. I wish I had the self-confidence that Jones displayed in being so boldly wrong on live national television. It would be commendable if it didn’t end up playing some part in Leeds’ wholly predictable 1-0 away lunchtime loss at Fratton Park.

It’s another penalty that VAR would have given. Is that a good thing? Is VAR a necessary evil? Hopefully I’ll be able to give you an answer on that in a year’s time. The answer will probably still be no, however.

Chris Wilder brought Gustavo Hamer off the bench after an hour, the idea being to protect Sheffield United’s 1-0 lead against Leeds. Hamer was unfit, and it showed. He kicked his way about the pitch for thirty minutes as Leeds took control and won 3-1. Hamer was booked after a lunging tackle from behind on Bogle, despite his protests that it was his first foul.

He gave Rodon the scumbag’s shove off the pitch and tried to do the same to Dan James later on. After he needlessly clattered Willy Gnonto in the 86th minute, Pascal Struijk reminded referee David Webb that Hamer was already on a yellow and should be waddling off the pitch.

As you can imagine, Webb was having none of it. Making a tough decision? He’s a career referee, not a brain surgeon!

I guess the moral of this piece is to point out that Leeds have had plenty of bad decisions go against them this season and we look forward to seeing QPR re-enact Nakhi Wells handball goal from 2019/20 on Saturday, not that we’re holding grudges or anything.