Mowbray Wants More Referee Protection For Maddison

Last updated : 30 July 2015 By CNS Staff

Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray feels that James Maddison is not getting the decisions from referees who think he dives.

On Tuesday night at Cambridge United, Maddison went down and Romain Vincelot was cautioned for grabbing referee Fred Graham and remonstrating with him and speaking about this, Mowbray told the Coventry Telegraph's Alan Poole: “I understand how that works.

“if the referee thinks he’s gone over too easily on some occasions he let’s things go. But I don’t think we should blame James when that happens – you’ve got to ask the referee about that.

“It’s not an easy one, it’s a topic that people have talked about for 25 years or more, especially since the arrival of players from other countries where they have different ideas about physical contact.

“It’s always going to be an issue with James because of the type of player James is. His game is all about balance and movement; he likes to be in and around where it’s all happening so he can wriggle his way through, turning the opposite way to what people expect.

“Some times the defender hangs out a leg and he goes over it; some times he gets the decision, some times he doesn’t, but I can tell you that he’s taken some knocks and kicks over the last few games and I think he deserves more free-kicks than he gets.

“He’ll learn as he gets older that if he does go to ground too easily referees will hold that against him and when there is contact and potentially a penalty he might not get it.

"But there again referees have to give players like him a level of protection because these are the type of players supporters want to come and watch and that’s what the game is all about.“

More on this - http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/james-maddison-needs-more-protection-9753492