Liam Manning calls referee a ‘disgrace’ amid Bristol City defeat vs Sheffield United, he tried to get decision changed

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It’s safe to say Liam Manning is not happy after seeing his Bristol City side fall to a 3-0 defeat to Sheffield United in the Championship play-offs, but there’s only one person he blames.

Bristol City were always the underdogs heading into the Championship play-offs, but at home against an inconsistent Sheffield United side, they surely fancied their chances.

However, from the get-go, Bristol City were on the back foot, and they never managed to recover throughout the first leg of the semi-final.

Sheffield United’s opener was ruled out for offside, but later in the first half, a real moment of controversy emerged, with Rob Dickie giving away a penalty and being sent off for dragging down Kieffer Moore.

From there, United stormed to a 3-0 win and controlled the game. The Blades now have one foot in the final already, but Liam Manning is not giving up hope.

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What Liam Manning said about Ollie Langford after Bristol City defeat

The decision to send Dickie off has been called into question by fans, pundits, and everyone involved in the match, really.

Talking after the game (via Sky Sports), the Bristol City boss was fuming with the referee, Ollie Langford, for the crucial red card decision.

He said: “It’s quite clear what changed the game, ultimately. It’s a disgrace. We even called Kevin Friend [at the PGMOL] this week to raise our concerns [about referee Ollie Langford].

“If you look, we had him at Oxford and he got a decision wrong. When Luton played Coventry he got another decision wrong. You just know it’s going to happen and that’s the frustration.

“Double jeopardy we got told. Rob makes a clear attempt to play the ball for me. Worst case he gives a penalty.”

Still, Manning is not letting his team get their heads down ahead of the reverse fixture on Monday night.

He added: “We’ll go into Monday night believing. We’ve performed well there this season, and in the first 40 minutes we were good tonight.

“There have been numerous comebacks in the history of sport, and we’ll be ready to go on Monday.”

Anyone who plans to watch the Championship play-offs second leg between Sheffield United and Bristol City next week could well see a truly miraculous comeback if Manning has his way, but it’s surely very unlikely now given the deficit between the two teams, no matter how much Bristol City believe in themselves.

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Ollie Langford has caused trouble all season

We suspected Manning might be unhappy about Langford being involved in the game before a ball was even kicked, and sadly, we were correct.

This is a referee who, in recent weeks, has sent off both Trai Hume of Sunderland and Jay Dasilva of Coventry City for very, very soft fouls.

He’s impacted the play-off teams before, and he’s done it again tonight with this decision against the Robins. Sadly, that call may well have killed Bristol City’s play-off hopes entirely.

How a referee with this kind of record has been allowed to officiate such a big game is beyond us, but here we are. If this is the best the PGMOL can put forward, then something has to change.