FA Cup: O’Leary accuses refs of having Smith ’agenda’

Leeds manager David O’Leary could find himself in hot water with the Football Association after accusing referees of ganging up to victimise Alan Smith.

The 21-year-old was sent off for the sixth time during yesterday’s explosive and controversial FA Cup third-round defeat to Second Division Cardiff at Ninian Park.

Smith had seemingly emerged from the shadows of his red card for an elbow on Aston Villa defender Alpay just six weeks ago, only for this latest dismissal to immediately plunge him back into the darkness.

The Leeds striker’s contentious career hit a new low on the stroke of half-time as he attempted to fend off the unwanted attentions of Andy Legg as the left-back had a firm hold of his shirt.

Smith, in trying to free himself and run on, blindly and accidentally caught the 35-year-old Legg in the face with his forearm, the defender then holding his mouth as he fell to the ground.

It would appear that Smith’s reputation - not for the first time - preceded him as referee Andy D’Urso did not hesitate in issuing the red card, to the fury of O’Leary who then remonstrated with fourth official Clive Wilkes on the touchline.

Smith, who has now been sent off five times for Leeds and once at England Under-21 level, dismissively waved his hand at D’Urso and the card which has haunted him throughout his days with Leeds.

Following the match, O’Leary then launched a critical attack on referees in general in relation to the way they treat Smith, comments which the FA may well look at.

‘‘Alan was harshly done by, disgracefully done by,’’ stated O’Leary. ‘‘The referees show no benefit of the doubt with him, they jump on him straight away.

‘‘There have been times when they have quite rightly sorted him out, but on other occasions he is a victim. To me, they now have an agenda.

‘‘There were tackles beforehand, one especially which nearly broke Rio Ferdinand’s ankle, and tackles afterwards on Jonathan Woodgate and others which went unpunished.

‘‘If Alan Smith had made them then I wonder if he would have received the same lenient treatment as the Cardiff offenders?

‘‘You only have to look at the game at West Ham the other night, when there were tackles by players and nothing happened, yet one challenge from Smith and he gets a yellow card straight away.’’

When asked whether he was confident D’Urso would rescind the red card, as he did with Newcastle skipper Alan Shearer in a game with Charlton recently, O’Leary added: ‘‘I’m not confident on anything.

‘‘That’s because I believe when they (referees) are enjoying their recreation on the sunbeds or swimming up and down a pool and talking together in their free time, there is an agenda with Alan Smith.

‘‘They all have their little chats and jump on him very, very quickly. I’ll keep an open opinion on whether they will change their mind on Alan Smith.’’

O’Leary is undecided as to whether he will appeal, as he said: ‘‘I will have a good think about it. But I wonder if it’s worth it.’’

Legg concedes he is not ‘‘a cheat’’ and did not try to deliberately get Smith sent off as he said: ‘‘At the end of the day I’ve caused the foul because I’ve held him.

‘‘He was trying to shake me off and he’s caught me and it’s one of those things. I was too close to him to see if he really thrashed his arm at me or not, but he has made contact and cut my mouth.

‘‘If you raise your hands then you’ve a chance of going off, but I don’t like to get players sent off. I’m an honest player, but he’s made contact, so the first thing you do is hold your mouth and go down.

‘‘I don’t wish to be known as a cheat. I never have been and never want to be. But he’s got the brunt of it because he’s got sent off and I’ve got booked.’’