THE Football League are investigating a complaint about referees giving pre-match interviews after Stoke City boss Tony Pulis was left angered by a piece in the Ipswich Town programme.

Derek Davis

THE Football League are investigating a complaint about referees giving pre-match interviews after Stoke City boss Tony Pulis was left angered by a piece in the Ipswich Town programme.

Pulis was livid that match referee Keith Stroud made a comment about the two sides playing different styles in the match-day magazine for the Blues v Potters game on January 15 that ended 1-1.

The bit that so incensed Pulis was in response to the question 'And what are you expecting from today's match?' where Stroud answered 'The best home record takes on one of the best away records, so I'm really looking forward to it. There is also a difference in the way the two sides' play, which should make for an interesting afternoon.'

It was that last paragraph which upset Pulis who insisted this showed the referee had pre-conceived ideas about the two teams when he should have an open mind before every game.

He complained to the Football League and now the League's chief of referees, David Allison, has written back promising to look into the matter.

Pulis said: “He (Allison) was conscious of the fact the referee had possibly pre-judged a situation and should not have made the comment.

“I'm all for people having their say when it comes to football, but there's clearly certain areas a referee should steer clear of because it can make subsequent decisions, like the refusal of the penalty we should have had that day at Ipswich, all the harder to take."

Many clubs print interviews with the match day officials in their programmes and it is usually a complaint that referees do not give interviews after matches to explain decisions.

Stoke entertain Ipswich at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday and Pulis should be happy with the official who is Mick Jones, who comes from neighbouring Cheshire.