Keane wants refs to front up

Roy Keane has called for referees to be made to explain their decisions.

Keane, who was no stranger to the officials during his playing days, believes top officials should reveal the reasons for their actions to both managers and the media after games.

The Sunderland manager made his comments as an investigation into Graham Poll’s handling of last weekend’s controversial clash between Tottenham and Chelsea, during which England skipper John Terry was sent off, continued.

The 35-year-old, who felt his side had been given a rough deal in their 1-0 Coca-Cola Championship defeat at Norwich last week in which Premiership referee Mike Riley turned down two penalty appeals, backed Jose Mourinho’s call for officials to be more accountable.

He said: “Mourinho made a point last week, maybe referees should go and have a chat with the media and explain why a decision went against you. There would be no harm in that.

“I would look to defend referees, they have literally an impossible job.

“But especially the experienced people like the Graham Polls of this world and the referee last week from our game, who came down from the Premiership, you would think there is no harm in coming up and explaining you decisions instead of not even looking at you or speaking to you.

“It is not trying to hang anybody, I wish would just come in after the game and say, ‘Those are my reasons’.

“If you make wrong decisions, you have to hold your hand up and there is no harm in that. I would not have a problem with that.”

Keane’s interest in the debate is perhaps understandable after he tried and failed to get an answer from Riley following former Manchester United and Celtic team-mate Dion Dublin’s challenge on Daryl Murphy and a claim for handball against the same man at Carrow Road.

While admitting he is trying to turn over a new leaf in terms of confronting officials, the former Republic of Ireland skipper was unhappy with the referee’s response, or lack of it.

He said: “I have come into the job and I am not going to go down the road of criticising referees or abusing them for every decision or chasing them down the tunnel.

“Far from it – I probably did that enough when I was a player. I am trying to change that side of it.

“But it is frustrating. The standard of refereeing, from watching other games, is down at this moment in time. Having said that, they have got one hell of a hard job.

“But from our point of view last week, a couple of decisions that went against us I thought were blatant penalties, and everyone was surprised.

“I did try to speak to him after the game very politely, but they have nothing to do with you, they will not even look at you, which is disappointing from a manager’s point of view because we have got to go to speak to the media and explain why we think things have happened.

“I quite politely asked him ‘What about the decisions?’. I did not swear, I was not aggressive, but they do not even look at you.

“I am sure if the referee looked back on the decisions against us, he would admit he got it wrong.”

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes, a former team-mate of Keane’s at United, admitted referees may need extra help.

“They possibly need to in certain situations,” he said. “Goal-line technology springs to mind. It’s something that needs looking at.

“We were hurt in the Bolton game by a decision that we felt should have gone for us.

“Goal-line technology would have resolved that in seconds, so there are certain areas that need looking at.

“You can’t fundamentally change the game as it is because it’s a great product and millions are watching it and have an interest in it.

“If you start tweaking too many fundamentals of the game then you are on dodgy ground.”