Calamity Ref For Cheltenham Trip

Crewe and Cheltenham will have to overcome a rather controversial referee this weekend if they want a fair result.

Danny McDermid will be the man in the middle and he is not known to shy away from controversy. At the end of September he managed Leeds’ trip to Gillingham, where soon made it onto Leeds’ very, very, very long list of people to hate.

McDermid booked 7 players, sent off both Leeds strikers and sent Leeds manager Dennis Wise to the stands. He then added just enough time for Gillingham to score a last second equaliser in a 1-1 draw.

The drama didn’t stop there, as Leeds fans targeted McDermid as he left the pitch. As he walked (or ran) towards the tunnel, he was pelted with missiles as a group of Leeds fans tried to break the barrier to, well, question his decisions.

Dennis Wise was far from happy after the game, accusing the referee of telling him to ‘f*ck off’. At least McDermid did something right that day.

It wasn’t the first or last time McDermid had upset several thousand people in one go. A few days later he was to blame for Swindon going down to a 2-1 defeat (or so they say).

Also on the list of his calamities is; sending off a Colchester’s Duguid before reversing the decision after realising he hadn’t been booked. He sent of Salisbury’s Tom Bond for a professional foul when Bond was not actually the last man. He blew for full time after witnessing a Crawley player handball inside the box against York City. Former Notts County manager Steve Thompson said McDermid was the worst referee he had ever seen whilst Oldham manager John Sheridan blasted him for failing to book Yeovil’s Chris Cohen after a reckless challenge.

And they’re just the highlights.

The Alex and Cheltenham are almost certain to be in for an interesting afternoon on Saturday. McDermid has so far given out 22 yellows and 4 reds in 6 games this season.

Last year, in his first league season, he gave out 96 yellows in 26 games, with four sending offs.

His assistants will be Mr A Davies and Mr M C Dexter with Mr N Radford as the fourth official.