Leeds will look to amend themselves on Saturday following an abhorrent display at Old Trafford last week, but fans won’t be pleased to see who will be officiating the game against the toffees.
Darren England has been chosen to be referee of the Leeds United VS Everton game this weekend, but some Leeds fans, and also managing director Angus Kinnear, won’t be happy about it.
England hasn’t refereed a Leeds game since their 3-2 victory over Milwall at Elland Road in January 2020. Leeds went into half time 2 goals down due to some simply absurd decisions from England, which made the eventual comeback with goals from Patrick Bamford and Pablo Hernandez all the sweeter.
Stuart Dallas had a brilliant effort, that was destined for the centre of the goal, tipped around the post by Millwall goalkeeper Bialkowski. England decided to give a goal kick, even though the ball veered massively once Bialkowski had touched it.
England’s performance got worse shortly after, as Ryan Woods seemingly dribbled the ball out of play and then back in, moments before Millwall earned an equally questionable penalty to take a 2-goal lead.
The spirit showed by Leeds as they fought back to win the game was commendable, and sent Elland Road into pandemonium. Angus Kinnear commented that ‘EFL referees have challenges with handling the pressure of higher-profile occasions.
Leeds fans will be hoping that Darren England has improved as a referee since that game, as he takes charge of Leeds’ first home game of the season.
