Meet the Ref – Sheffield Wednesday

Monday, 12 April 2021, 7:00
1 min read

Tuesday night’s referee is Matthew Donohue.ย  He will take charge of the Swans for just the second time this season, the other being the 1-0 win over Rotherham at the Liberty back in November.

He has 21 Championship games under his belt so far this season, with 60 yellow cards and 4 reds being the total card count for the referee who was appointed to the Select Group 2 officials list at the start of the 2019/20 season.

He started refereeing at the age of 14 and was appointed to the list of assistant referees in 2014.ย  ย He ‘hung up his flag’ in 2016 to concentrate on refereeing and has steadily climbed through the ranks – National Leagues North and South in 2016, National League National and Premier League 2 in 2017 and National Group (EFL Leagues One and Two) in 2018.

He left his job as a PE Teacher when he was promoted to the Select Group 2 list.ย  Shortly after his appointment he found himself at the centre of controversy in a game between West Brom and Charlton when he sent off the wrong player.

There were just twenty minutes of the game in question to go when the bizarre incident happened.

Donohue tried to send Grady Diangana off, for a foul committed by Nathan Ferguson. The Baggies defender put in a rash tackle on Chris Solly, but rather than send him off, he proceeded to show the card to the West Ham loanee.

After protestations from Bilic and his players, he overturned the decision, eventually coming to the correct decision.ย  The annoyance of West Brom was only then increased when he awarded Charlton a late (soft looking) penalty to earn them a point and deny the Baggies a home win.

โ€œItโ€™s nothing personal, but the problem comes when they tell you, you canโ€™t talk about the referee,โ€ Bilic said when asked about Donohueโ€™s performance.

โ€œI can, in a nice way or whatever, I can be permitted to give my opinion.

โ€œEspecially games like this, with the greatest respect to Charlton, it was a decision that took away the win for us.

โ€œIt doesnโ€™t matter if I am West Brom manager – that is not a penalty.

โ€œThat is beyond me to be fair.

โ€œSeriously I feel sorry for him (Donohue),โ€ he continued.

โ€œI know itโ€™s difficult. I am the first one to say we need VAR.

โ€œWe need VAR because itโ€™s difficult for them – wow what a job they have to do.โ€

Donohue will be assisted by Nik Barnard and Rob Smith whilst Geoff Eltringham is fourth official.

Images courtesy of Getty Images, Athena Picture Agency and Swansea City Football Club.

Phil Sumbler

Been watching the Swans since the very late 1970s and running the Planet Swans website (in all its current and previous guises since the summer of 2001 As it stood JackArmy.net was right at the forefront of some of the activity against Tony Petty back in 2001, breaking many of the stories of the day as fans stood against the actions where the local media failed. Was involved with the Swans Supporters Trust from 2005, for the large part as Chairman before standing down in the summer of 2020.

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