Respect for referees? How about some from them, says Stockport boss Gannon

By Chris Wheeler for the Daily Mail
Updated: 19:24 EST, 24 September 2008

The FA's Respect campaign appears to have fallen on deaf ears at Stockport County after their manager Jim Gannon launched an astonishing attack on match officials, accusing them of starting a witch-hunt against his club.

Gannon has promised to provide the FA with a dossier supporting his allegations, which he claims incriminates several officials he wants sanctioned. 

Jim Gannon: Will submit dossier to the FA

But last night it seems the only person facing an FA charge could be Gannon as Soho Square began to scrutinise comments that fly in the face of their new directive to show more respect to referees.

The 40-year-old goes so far as to accuse referees of lying in their match reports and officials of giving inaccurate evidence to tribunals, while claiming the match officials' governing body - the Professional Game Match Officials - briefs its members before they take charge of Stockport.

He said: 'I believe that referees we have reported negatively in the past are now not acting in an impartial manner when dealing with our matches. There have been many instances which have caused concern in the past 18 months. They include incorrect and improper sending-offs, foul and abusive language from referees, false statements in referees' extraordinary incident reports, false charges brought against us and inaccurate evidence given at FA disciplinary tribunals.

'Evidence even emerged of extraordinary pre-match 'briefs' prepared for the officials of our match, solely reporting on our team.'

Gannon's problems with the authorities came to a head last season when he claims he was incorrectly dismissed from the dug-out and then charged under an 'unwritten rule'.

He explained: 'I was found guilty of improper conduct on the basis of wholly inaccurate statements from all three witnesses - the referee, the fourth official and the referee's assessor.

'The FA representatives at the hearing acknowledged that incorrect testimony was given yet no action was taken against the officials in question.'

Gannon added: 'In life or in football, we cannot condone or accept people who lack integrity and we must make a stand against people who act in an improper manner.

'I have taken this course of action, not just for the benefit of Stockport but for the greater good of the game, so that we can restore complete confidence in referees.'

It is not the first time this year that Gannon has made a stand. In May, Sportsmail revealed how the Stockport boss refused to co-operate with Sky before the League Two Play-off Final against Rochdale because of a customer relations dispute over his defective satellite box.

An FA spokesman said: 'These comments have come to our attention and we will be looking at them very carefully.'