Lee Mason, the man who sent off Gary O’Neil at Wembley and Shaun Derry at Old Trafford, is the referee in charge of Monday night’s crucial home game with Aston Villa.
Referee >>> Lee Mason (Bolton Wanderers), scandalous handling of QPR’s defeat at Manchester United in 2011/12 has made him a marked man among the Rangers support — was in charge for the famous 1-0 win at Chelsea and the play-off final win though.
Assistants >>> Simon Bennett (Staffordshire) and Mick McDonough (Northumberland)
Fourth Official >>> Mike Jones (Cheshire), refereeing Swansea v Leicester on Saturday.
In the split second of thinking time the former West Ham man, absolutely excellent for the first hour, elected to cynically chop his man to the ground. Russell sprawled across the sodden Wembley turf, his personal chance for glory robbed of him by illegal means. Rangers appealed, half-heartedly, that Clint Hill may have been covering around behind. Not unless he was about to be presented with a high-powered motorcycle for the last leg of the trip he wasn’t. Lee Mason whistled immediately and then, intelligently, gave himself plenty of thinking time by going across to speak to his assistant referee as the Rams massed around him screaming for retribution.
A red card, the first of O’Neil’s career, could be the only result.
It’s a moment that will be held up against QPR. The critics will say it typifies the club and the way it goes about its business. Ultimately promotion was won because Gary O’Neil, an overpaid journeyman midfielder, chopped down a younger, more talented player who was actually trying to score a goal rather than simply sit in and prevent them, and took a tactical red card for his team. There will be no mention of Derby’s poster boy Will Hughes — bright eyed academy graduate, coveted by Liverpool, supremely talented, intelligent, well brought up, educated, likeable — theatrically diving to the turf under no contact whatsoever from Richard Dunne in the first half trying to con a penalty from the referee. It was out of character, but it was cheating all the same, and it could easily have won the game 1-0 the other way.
Zamora drew back a boot back and met the ball on the instep of his left foot. For such a clumsy player, the technique and execution was perfection. Lee Grant, so often a miracle worker against QPR, could only watch it. The ball curled exquisitely around the goalkeeper and into the far corner.
Behind the goal - pandemonium. QPR supporters who’d never met were grabbing each other, kissing each other, hugging each other, punching each other, throwing each other around, and screaming. It was like a mosh pit at a thrash mettle gig. They heard the noise back at the Crown and Sceptre in the heart of Shepherd’s Bush where the troops would decamp later in the night to drink and relive. The ground moved. It was an extraordinary outpouring. I landed — literally — five rows further down the stand from my actual seat, shirt torn, legs bleeding. I turned around to look at the people I choose to spend my Saturdays with and picked them out one by one, scattered far and wide having — just 30 seconds previously — all been sitting together. Everybody was in floods of tears. And people dare to talk today about QPR being everything that’s wrong with football.
Bobby Zamora was booked for over celebrating, because Lee Mason is an emotionless droid.
Derby: Grant 6; Wisdom 7, Keogh 7, Buxton 8, Forsyth 7; Hendrick 6, Thorne 9, Hughes 7 (Bryson 66, 7); Russell 8 (Dawkins 67, 6), Martin 5, Ward 7 (Bamford 90+2, -)
Subs not used: Eustace, Sammon, Legzdins, Whitbread
QPR: Green 9; Simpson 7, Onuoha 7, Dunne 9, Hill 6 (Henry 66, 7); Hoilett 8, Barton 7, O’Neil 7, Kranjcar 5 (Traore 30, 7); Doyle 6 (Zamora 60, 7), Austin 6
Subs not used: Morrison, Suk-Young, Hughes, Murphy
Goals: Zamora 90 (assisted Hoilett)
Sent off: O’Neil 60 (professional foul)
Bookings: Zamora 90 (over celebrating)
Referee — Lee Mason (Bolton Wanderers) 8 My heart sank when I saw that Mason had been given this match, because quite apart from his history with QPR I just don’t think he’s a particularly good referee. Four Derby free kicks in the first five minutes didn’t bode well, particularly the one where Gary O’Neil executed a perfect tackle on Will Hughes on the edge of the area. But he did very well here, getting the Hughes penalty right in the first half (though not going as far as he should and booking the Derby man) and then showing enough gumption to not only give himself some thinking time, but also then getting the red card decision with Gary O’Neil correct. Points off for booking Bobby Zamora for over-celebrating — joyless prick.
Everton 2 QPR 0, Saturday April 14, 2013, Premier League
Everton kept the pressure high for the next 10 minutes. Jose Bosingwa lazily hauled down Seamus Coleman on the right and was deservedly booked. From the free-kick, Baines showed Everton are more than a one-trick one pony, and pulled the ball back to Gibson on the edge of the box. The former United man struck a cross shot into the goalmouth and somehow Distan and Fellaini, who were both unmarked, poked the ball wide from six yards. QPR defenders mesmerized, awestruck, dumbfounded, by a simple set-piece yet again.
QPR: Cesar 5, Onuoha 6, Hill 5, Samba 5, Bosingwa 4, Hoilett 6, Jenas 5, Park 5 (Taarabt 61 6), Granero 5 (Diakité 74 6), Townsend 6, Remy 7
Subs Not Used: Green, Ben-Haim, Mackie, Fabio, Bothroyd
Booked: Bosingwa (foul), Townsend (foul) Granero (foul)
Everton: Howard 7, Baines 7, Jagielka 6, Distan 7, Mirallas 8 (Heitinga 90 - ), Osman 6, Gibson 7, Pienaar 6, Anichebe 8 (Jelavic 81 - ), Fellaini 7 (Naismith 86 - ).
Booked: Gibson (foul), Pienaar (foul), Fellaini (foul)
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 5 Very quick to get the book out and turned a calm game into a scrappy affair. Didn’t really have to make a big decision, but the way he was going, would have got it wrong.
Chelsea 0 QPR 1, Wednesday January 2, 2013, Premier League
It could and should have been even worse for him had Marko Marin, drafted in for a first league start alongside Oscar and behind Torres in the space usually occupied by Mata, been sent off when he should have been. Three minutes in he launched into a wild challenge on Stephane Mbia that many referees would have quickly shown a red card for. Lee Mason, whose recent history with QPR saw his name roundly booed before kick off, deemed a yellow card sufficient. After halftime Mason whistled Marin again, this time for a cynical and deliberate shirt pull on Wright-Phillips as he attempted to join a counter attack. To release him once was generous, twice was incompetent.
Rangers appeared nervous at first. Marin, having escaped the early red card, had a 20 yard shot blocked on the edge of the box and then Luiz sent an improvised bouncing volley over the bar from the edge of the area. Bertrand, perhaps aware of Lee Mason’s propensity to award penalties against Queens Park Rangers for no reason at all, collapsed to the ground in embarrassing fashion after deliberately clipping his own heels to make it look as if he’d been fouled by Jamie Mackie — who was a yard away at the time and running in the opposite direction. For the second time in the opening 20 minutes Chelsea had reason to be grateful for the referee’s generosity — that was a stone wall yellow card.
The second half started with Marin sending a low cross right through the goal mouth that Moses failed to convert when it seemed easier to do so. Lampard had a shot deflected wide from the edge of the area leading to three quick fire corners — the last of which should have been given as a goal kick by Mason who would have faced a lengthy inquest from a crowd of visiting players had Ivanovic headed home off the underside of the bar rather than out off the top of it. The Chelsea fans roused themselves briefly as the thumbscrews were tightened, but foolishly channelled their energy into abusing QPR’s international quality goalkeeper. It added determination to Cesar’s laid back demeanour and when Luiz had a shot blocked on the edge of the box and the ball rolled invitingly to Torres the giant goalkeeper sprang from his line in a heartbeat and remained upright long enough to produce a stunning save. Later he dived to save at Moses’ feet.
Chelsea: Turnbull 7, Azpilicueta 6, Ivanovic 6, Cahill 6, Bertrand 5, Luiz 7, Lampard 6 (Ramires 79, 5), Oscar 6, Moses 5 (Mata 75, 6), Marin 5 (Hazard 60, 6), Torres 4
Subs not used: Hilario, Cole, Ferreira, Piazon
Bookings: Marin 3 (foul)
QPR: Cesar 8, Onuoha 7, Hill 8, Nelsen 7, Da Silva 8, Derry 8, Granero 7 (Park 90, -), Mbia 8, Mackie 7, Hoilett 6 (Wright-Phillips 15, 5), Taarabt 9 (Dyer 90, -)
Subs not used: Cisse, Faurlin, Ferdinand, Green
Goals: Wright-Phillips 78 (assisted Taarabt)
Bookings: Hill 85 (foul)
Referee — Lee Mason 6 Generous with Marin, who could easily have been sent off to begin with and then surely should have been later for deliberately pulling back Wright-Phillips. Generous with Bertrand, who should have been booked for an obvious dive in the penalty area. Must shake this cowardice that he regularly displays when refereeing big clubs at their own ground if he is to progress as a referee.
Manchester United 2 QPR 0, Sunday March 8, 2012, Premier League
Lee Mason was our referee on Sunday, miserably failing throughout to uphold the one basic of officiating in any sport — remain fair and impartial. Mason was neither.
Now that’s quite an allegation to make so let me pick out two incidents you may have missed during this encounter to back myself up. Take, for instance, the irrelevant and non consequential throw in awarded to Manchester United in the sixty fifth minute. A block tackle, a loose ball, a 50/50 throw in decision up in the air. The linesman, Ceri Richards, who’d already erred horrendously when United took the lead, stared blankly at a dreadfully positioned referee without a clue between them of what should happen next. There they stood, staring at each other, for five seconds or more. Faced with a situation where they genuinely had no idea what to do they awarded the throw to United. And that was the default setting for the afternoon: if in doubt give it to Manchester United.
This was the second occasion this little guessing game had gone like this. Earlier in the day Adel Taarabt swung over a free kick that deflected away from Clint Hill at the back post and out for a corner on the far side. Except Mason, incorrectly positioned again, hadn’t seen the flick and apparently neither had Richards. So they stood and looked at each other and did nothing again, and then when it was clear neither knew what had happened they awarded a goal kick to Manchester United. If in doubt, award the decision to Manchester United.
Incidentally Lee Mason is from Bolton, lives in Bolton, is chairman of the Bolton Referee’s Association, has a younger brother who used to play for Bolton and has been spotted by Bolton fans going to support Bolton Wanderers when he’s not refereeing. Bolton, you may recall, are one place and one point above Queens Park Rangers with just six games left to play this evening.
I mention this simply because somebody at the FA believes that all these Bolton connections mean that Lee Mason should not referee Bolton matches, just as QPR-supporting Mark Halsey never gets any of our games. Somebody somewhere clearly believes that he would either be incapable of refereeing Bolton Wanderers fairly and impartially, or at the very least appointing him to one of their games would leave him open to such allegations, so they don’t give him their matches. Why, you have to wonder, is it therefore acceptable for him to referee the games of the teams immediately around Bolton at this stage of the season?
Three minutes later Mason had the whistle in his mouth again, awarding a free kick to Ashley Young on the edge of the area after midfield enforcer Samba Diakite had left a leg hanging out. Rooney took it again, it was deflected again, and this time Kenny was forced into an excellent full stretch save.
Mason wasn’t quite so keen on the whistle and enforcement action in the tenth minute though when Rooney launched into a horrendous, knee high, two footed hack through the back of Diakite on halfway. In fact despite it being a clear red card tackle Mason decided a mere free kick with no further action was sufficient, and there was a sense QPR had been lucky to even get that. Buzsaky then had the temerity to shoot wide from long range before the status quo was restored.
Just before the quarter hour Rooney slipped a through ball into Ashley Young, three yards offside throughout the move, who then dived pathetically in the penalty area under next to no contact at all from Shaun Derry. Any other team at any other ground would have found themselves defending a goalkeeper’s clearance from an offside free kick, or potentially picking up a yellow card for a flagrant bit of cheating. Here at Old Trafford things are different. Penalty, red card for Derry who had captained the side to begin with, Rooney goal, game over, Mason semi-aroused, Bolton Wanderers breathing easier.
Man Utd: De Gea 6, Rafael 6 (Jones 74, 6), Ferdinand 6, Evans 6, Evra 7, Valencia 8, Scholes 7 (Cleverley 74, 6), Carrick 8, Young 7 (Giggs 61, 7), Rooney 7, Welbeck 7
Subs Not Used: Amos, Park, Hernandez, Pogba
Booked: Rafael (repetitive fouling)
Goals: Rooney 15 (penalty, won Young), Scholes 68 (unassisted)
QPR: Kenny 8, Onuoha 6, Ferdinand 7, Hill 8, Taiwo 7, Diakite 7 (Wright-Phillips 71, 6), Derry 6, Mackie 7, Taarabt 6 (Smith 71, 6), Buzsaky 6, Bothroyd 5 (Campbell 81, -)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Young, Zamora
Sent Off: Derry 14 (denying goal scoring opportunity)
Referee — Lee Mason (Bolton) N/A The dictionary definition of a referee is "a fair and impartial person who administers the rules of a game or sport.” As he was neither fair nor impartial and failed to administer the rules of association football correctly throughout I don’t really see how I can mark him as a referee. His performance, at various times, ventured into being corrupt.
Liverpool 1 QPR 0, Saturday December 10, 2011, Premier League
And so it continued. Suarez, investigating possibilities down the QPR right this time, fed Maxi in with a glorious reverse ball but then showed his human side by toeing the ball horribly wide of the post from a presentable position after the Spaniard returned possession to him. Within four minutes he’d hit the deck in the penalty area in what is becoming trademark theatrical fashion, butAlejandro Faurlin’s challenge was rightly deemed legal by referee Lee Mason, and then jinked his way to the byline down the left again, cut the ball back again, and watched with resigned frustration as a penalty area populated only by blue and white hooped shirts gratefully received the ball. There is no such thing as a one man team, but Liverpool weren’t far off it on Saturday.
Rangers endured a halfhearted, and fairly pathetic, penalty shout from Glen Johnson seven minutes before half time with Armand Traore accused of offending against him but Lee Mason waved it all away and miraculously QPR went down the other end and managed a shot on goal. Not a particularly dangerous shot on goal it must be said, high into the Kop from a distance on the ludicrous side of ambitious by Shaun Wright-Phillips. He’s been unlucky not to open his QPR account so far - with dodgy offside calls, goal line clearances and the woodwork denying him against West Brom, Newcastle and Wolves — but he looks like a frustrated man in front of goal now, wildly thrashing at any half chance from any range.
Things didn’t get a lot better for Neil Warnock who then lost Anton Ferdinand to a hamstring injury after he was badly fouled bringing the ball out from defence by Charlie Adam. Once he’d been helped from the field and replaced by Bradley Orr (Luke Young filled in at centre half) Lee Mason awarded a drop ball when he should have been preparing his yellow card. An incredible decision. Not important in the grand scheme of things but so obviously wrong it was hard to believe your own eyes when it happened.
Mason didn’t improve much — awarding a corner to Liverpool just after the hour when you could see from the far end of the ground that it was a goal kick, and then as good as admitting he was wrong by awarding QPR a free kick for a non-existent penalty box offence almost before Adam had even delivered the ball. Not the finest quarter of an hour of refereeing we’ll see this season.
Liverpool sent on Craig Bellamy for Maxi Rodriguez with predictable results. He immediately fouledArmand Traore and delivered a volley of abuse to referee Lee Mason, then he curled a free kick into the side netting with half the crowd believing he’d scored after Young fouled Suarez, and finally he was yellow carded much to his own disbelief for basically being Craig Bellamy. A ten minute cameo to basically sum up the man.
With a minute to go, Alejandro Faurlin hit the deck in the box with what appeared to be a shameful attempt to con the referee into awarding a penalty. Certainly Martin Skrtel felt so, the defender leaned over Faurlin as he lay on the ground and delivered a barrage of abuse into his ear but video replays later suggested he may actually have been kicked in the chest after all. Bradley Orr was denied by Enrique with a clearing header at the far post after more good work from Traore.
Liverpool: Reina 6, Johnson 7, Skrtel 7, Agger 7, Enrique 7, Maxi 7 (Bellamy 78, 6), Adam 7, Henderson 6, Downing 8 (Shelvey 86, -), Suarez 9, Kuyt 7
Subs Not Used: Doni, Carroll, Coates, Carragher, Kelly
Booked: Agger (foul), Bellamy (dissent)
Goals: Suarez 47 (assisted Adam)
QPR: Cerny 9, Young 6, Gabbidon 7, Ferdinand 7 (Orr 50, 6), Traore 7, Mackie 6 (Hill 78, 6), Barton 6, Faurlin 7, Wright-Phillips 6, Smith 5 (Campbell 66, 6), Bothroyd 6
Subs Not Used: Putnins, Derry, Buzsaky, Connolly
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 7 Not a lot to argue with here — the replays back Faurlin’s case for a late penalty but at the time it looked like he was attempting to con the officials and they only get one look at it so hard to argue with them now when I agreed at the time. Points off for his mad ten minutes in the second half that included the crazy Ferdinand incident where we lost a centre back for two to three weeks after a nasty tackle by Charlie Adam and didn’t even get a free kick for it.
Cardiff 2 QPR 2, Saturday April 23, 2011, Championship
The sloppy defending continued on the quarter hour, although QPR were perhaps a little unfortunate to be defending at all after J’Lloyd Samuel had overrun the ball down the left flank and then taken an obvious dive to win a free kick from Bradley Orr — one of the few decisions referee Lee Mason got wrong on the day. Peter Whittingham whipped in the free kick from wide and Cardiff appealed for a penalty after Dekel Keinan hit the deck at the back post after clashing with Heidar Helguson. It looked to me, from the far end of the ground, like they’d just got tangled up with each other and it was the very definition of six of one and half a dozen of another. From the resulting throw in Cardiff were able to find Burke completely unmarked in the area and he drilled wide when well placed to do better. I’ve written in my notes around the half hour mark that the game seemed to be settling down. QPR were keeping possession better than they have in the three most recent games, though still not doing so that well, while Cardiff were happy, mostly through Whittingham, to keep pumping balls in behind the QPR defence and turning what seemed to be a very nervous back four around. Lee Mason showed a yellow card for the first time in the game when Whittingham deliberately thrust up and arm to bring a ball down and prevent it going through to Bradley Orr who would have been flying into space down the right had the ball reached him but overall there was little to choose between the sides at this point and the game seemed to be calming down.
I cannot possibly describe to you therefore just how frustrating it was to concede another goal having weathered the early Cardiff storm. Some repeat themes led to it — a ball in behind QPR into the right channel had the defence in trouble and Jay Bothroyd was given far too much time and space having collected it to do as he wanted. On this occasion, rather than shooting, he crossed into the area and after the ball had been deflected into his path by Matt Connolly’s hand Bellamy lashed the ball into the top corner to give his side the lead. Lee Mason held his hands aloft to indicate that an advantage had been played and a penalty would have been awarded anyway had Bellamy not scored.
A foul on Smith by Quinn wide on the left gave Taarabt a chance to cross from wide but he overhit and missed the seven waiting players in the penalty area. Then Tommy Smith, who certainly wasn’t having his best game for the club, kept a Paddy Kenny pass in right on the touchline and set up Routledge to cross for Helguson at the back post. The big Icelandic striker became embroiled in a wrestling match with Quinn as the cross arrived and when both players crashed to the floor Mason awarded a free kick to Cardiff — whoever was the man on the goal side was always likely to get that decision, had it been Helguson Rangers could have had a penalty.
Rangers conceded another free kick, right at the other end of the field, almost immediately. Burke moved the ball past Gorkss on the edge of the area and then ran into the Latvian who could hardly get out of the way but was penalised by Lee Mason anyway. The free kick seemed perfectly placed, right of centre and right on the edge of the area, for Peter Whittingham to try with his left foot and although he did just that his shot was poor, drilled low and straight into the wall which held firm.
Having penalised Gorkss when he couldn’t really get out of the way Mason then booked Quinn in a similar situation, Routledge was the man blocked off on this occasion as he steamed forward in a pacey counter attack. Taarabt’s free kick was delivered into a better area than his last attempt but Bywater flew off his line and claimed it well.
Mason, having added three minutes to a first half with no injuries or substitutions, then added just two to a second half of several stoppages and four substitutions but Cardiff were a spent force by this point while QPR had missed their one big chance. A draw was a much better result for the Londoners anyway, and the reaction of the players when the whistle duly followed said everything about what the result and performance meant.
Cardiff: Bywater 6, McNaughton 6, Quinn 7, Keinan 6, Samuel 6, Burke 6 (Emmanuel-Thomas 77, 6), Whittingham 7, McPhail 7, Olofinjana 7, Bellamy 8 (Chopra 87, -), Bothroyd 8
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Rae, Hudson, Blake, Matthews
Booked: Whittingham (handball), Quinn (foul)
Goals: Bothroyd 6 (unassisted), Bellamy 35 (assisted Bothroyd)
QPR: Kenny 8, Orr 6, Gorkss 5, Connolly 6 (Hall 80, 7), Hill 6, Derry 7, Faurlin 6, Routledge 8, Smith 5 (Agyemang 69, 7), Taarabt 8, Helguson 6
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Buzsaky, Hulse, Ephraim, Miller
Goals: Taarabt 10 (assisted Faurlin), 71 (assisted Routledge)
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 8 One or two soft decisions, and Cardiff are as usual complaining bitterly about a penalty appeal of theirs he waved away but I think he called that one right. Overall he refereed the game very well, giving it every chance and only handing out cards when absolutely necessary. He’s not normally my favourite referee but he was excellent here.
Bristol City 1 QPR 1, Friday October 22, 2010
City sensed their chance. They loaded the left side of their team with Rose, Stead and Haynes in an effort to exploit the space left when Walker ran forward for QPR. Frustration started to grow in the visiting ranks with Walker rightly yellow carded for a show of dissent when he tried to take Stead on, lost the ball and then fouled his man on halfway. A second yellow card quickly followed for Derry who fouled Marvin Elliott to prevent another swift City counter attack — that one looked harsher from referee Lee Mason, but Derry was too busy delivering a volley of abuse to Adel Taarabt who had lost the ball again to create the problem to complain to the referee. He did find time to ask a question of Mason a minute later though when Elliott committed exactly the same foul on Kyle Walker in exactly the same part of the pitch and the exact same situation but was let off with just a warning.
Then in the final seconds of three added minutes Shaun Derry hooked an improvised shot over James who watched with heart in mouth as it dropped a foot wide of the far post. Derry was actually lucky to still be involved in the game at this stage as just a minute earlier he was the subject of a terrible tackle from Danny Rose back in his own half. Two footed, off the ground, late and nowhere near the ball it was as clear a red card as you’ll see all season and why Mr Mason chose to only issue a yellow when he’s usually not shy of handing out cards like confetti at a wedding only he knows. Rose strikes me as an enthusiastic player rather than a nasty one, so I’m not for one minute suggesting that he meant to hurt Derry or even execute the challenge in the way that he did, but it was an absolute horror all the same and the red card should have been out before Derry even hit the ground.
Even from that chance though Rangers immediately looked vulnerable to a quick break and Faurlin was harshly yellow carded for holding Stead as City broke down field.
There were further corners for Rangers, and a late half hearted penalty appeal from Marvin Elliott who felt Clint Hill had impeded his advance towards a back post cross, but having worked so hard to get back into the game there seemed to be a feeling among the QPR players that a point wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world while City for their part seemed so deflated by the late set back a second coming was well beyond them.
Bristol City: James 7, Carey 6, Caulker 8, Fontaine 7, McAllister 6, Adomah 6 (Cisse 58, 6), Elliott 6, Johnson 5, Rose 7, Haynes 5, Stead 8
Subs Not Used: Gerken, Hunt, Stewart, Clarkson, Sproule, Pitman
Booked: Rose (foul), Elliott (foul)
Goals: Stead 16 (unassisted)
QPR: Kenny 8, Walker 8, Gorkss 6, Connolly 6, Hill 6, Derry 6, Faurlin 7, Ephraim 5 (Smith 57, 6), Taarabt 5 (Agyemang 78, 7),Helguson 6 (Hulse 64, 6)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Orr, Hall, Mahon
Booked: Walker (dissent), Derry (foul), Gorkss (foul), Faurlin (foul)
. Goals: Agyemang 84 (assisted Smith/Connolly)
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 6 My main criticism of him, as it always has been, is more a general point about the way he controls games rather than any specific criticism of anything he did tonight. I like a referee that calms situations, has a word on the run, and man manages players rather than flashing cards around. Mason always behaves like the kid that was bullied at school and now has a chance for revenge but doesn’t really have the self confidence to carry it out in any kind of serious way. So he hands out cards. For everything. Most referees start from a free kick and work up from there, but Mason’s starting point seems to be that everything is a booking. I thought Derry, Faurlin and Elliott were very unlucky to be booked here and it was never a six card match in a million years. The one genuinely nasty tackle in the game was from Rose and when a red card was surely the only option Mason showed yellow. Not a good referee.
Aston Villa 0 QPR 1, Wednesday September 24, 2008
Rangers also had cause to worry about the referee. I’m always wary of Premiership officials refereeing Premiership teams in situations like this because as soon as the lower league side takes the lead all the decisions start going the way of the big clubs and sure enough, probably with the incorrect decision to award QPR a corner for the goal still fresh in his mind, Mason started to award one questionable free kick after another to the home side. The most farcical saw Di Carmine, introduced for Agyemang with 25 minutes to go, chase Zat Knight down to his own byline and then watch perplexed as the big man fell over under no contact whatsoever and picked the ball up on his way down only to be awarded a free kick himself. Ledesma was harshly penalised for a foul that looked like a good tackle and Delaney was booked for a poor lunge on Craig Gardner - Villa quickly followed this up with bookings of their own for Gardner and Cuellar as frustration started to set in.
Parejo stung the keeper’s hands with a low drive eight minutes from time but QPR’s attacking ambition was becoming more and more limited with each passing minute and whenever they did venture into the Villa half Mason immediately whistled against them and the ball came flying back over their heads.
Aston Villa: Guzan 6, Gardner 6, Cuellar 6, Knight 5, Shorey 6, Osbourne 5 (Routledge 67, 5), Petrov 5, Barry 5, Ashley Young 7, Harewood 4 (Agbonlahor 67, 6), Carew 7
Subs Not Used: Friedel, Delfouneso, Davies, Salifou, Reo-Coker
Booked: Cuellar (foul) Gardner (foul)
QPR: Cerny 7, Connolly 7, Hall 8, Stewart 9, Delaney 5, Mahon 7, Rowlands 8, Parejo 8, Ledesma 8 (Balanta 90, -), Buzsaky 7 (Leigertwood 81, -), Agyemang 6 (Di Carmine 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Camp, Blackstock, Gorkss, Ephraim
Booked: Delaney (foul)
Goals: Stewart 58 (assisted Parejo)
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 4 Not too bad at all for the first hour but after getting the corner decision so badly wrong in the lead up to the goal he then seemed desperate to even things up. Some strange decisions given from that point on reaffirming my dislike for Premiership refs when Premiership teams are losing to sides from lower divisions. Look after your own and all that, he certainly did his best for them in the last half hour.
Leicester 1 QPR 1, Saturday September 15, 2007
It took fully 20 minutes for QPR's long ball game to yield any kind of result. Finally one of the punts dropped around the penalty area and Blackstock was able to knock it back to Rowlands who volleyed over under pressure. Blackstock was clearly growing frustrated again as the half wore on and that only increased when he chased Bruno N'Gotty down to the corner flag and successfully robbed him of possession only for referee Lee Mason to award a generous free kick in the home team's favour.
Three minutes later though the inevitable Leicester goal arrived. Mikele Leigertwood gave the ball away in a poor area and then Damion Stewart foolishly left his foot in on Campbell after Leicester worked the ball into the penalty area. Mason quickly pointed to the spot. It was maybe a little soft, and Campbell certainly went over very easily, but he was heading away from the goal and offering little threat to QPR so Stewart should have left him well alone. The ever impressive Iain Hume stepped up and sent Camp the wrong way.
Rangers got a let off from the officials soon after though when Hume crossed for Cort to finally find the target with a header but a late flag from the linesman ruled the goal out.
Leicester: Fulop 7, N'Gotty 6, Kisnorbo 8, McAuley 7, Sheehan 7, Hume 8, Clemence 7, Wesolowski 7, Porter 8 (Kishishev 78, 5), Campbell 7 (Chambers 73, 5), Cort 5 (De Vries 90, -)
Subs Not Used: Henderson, Newton
Booked: McAuley (foul)
Goals: Hume 63 pen (assisted Campbell)
QPR: Camp 7, Cullip 8, Stewart 6, Rehman 5, Barker 5, Rowlands 5, Leigertwood 6, Bolder 5 (Ephraim 72, 8), Moore 3, Blackstock 6, Sahar 5 (Nardiello 46, 7)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Curtis
Booked: Leigertwood (foul)
Goals: Leigertwood 82 (assisted Rowlands)
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 7 Well refereed with only a couple of cards. The penalty looked pretty blatant to me at the time and I'd certainly have been furious if we'd been denied a spot kick in similar circumstances.
West Brom 3 QPR 3, Tuesday October 31, 2006
Lee Mason didn't help their cause when they finally got Cook running towards the goal in a three on three only to be pulled right back to the halfway line for a free kick. Obviously Mr Mason, who remember bought that shocking dive from Gavin Williams and awarded a penalty to Ipswich at Loftus Road in August, wouldn't know the advantage rule if it wandered up and stole his wallet.
In the end that decision played into QPR's hands because, clearly embarrassed and apologetic to any QPR player that would listen, Mason quickly awarded a free kick for absolutely nothing right on the edge of the box right of centre. Lee Cook took the set piece - he feigned to chip it to the back post and then sent a curling effort an inch wide of the top corner with the keeper beaten.
WBA: Zuberbuhler 5, Watson 6, Perry 5, Davies 4, Greening 8, Ellington 7 (Phillips 72, 7), Gera 8, Albrechtsen 8, Kamara 9, Koumas 8, Wallwork 7 (Hartson 85, -)
Subs not used: Chaplow, McShane, Hoult
Scorers: Ellington 8, Kamara 40, Kamara 54
Rangers: Royce 8, Bignot 7, Rehman 4, Gallen 6, Ainsworth 5, Lomas 6, Cook 7, Stewart 7, Blackstock 6 (Nygaard 62, 6), Smith 6, Mancienne 6
Subs not used: Milanese, Ward, Rowlands, Jones
Bookings: Smith, Lomas, Bignot
Scorers: Stewart 45, Gallen 47, Nygaard 77
Referee: Lee Mason 5 (Lancashire) Did a half decent job overall but there were four terrible decisions in the second half that really stuck out. Lomas and Gallen were both penalised for winning the ball, Lee Cook was denied a run on goal by his lack of advantage rule knowledge and then to make up for that he gave QPR a free kick on the edge of the area for nothing. Also booked Jimmy Smith very harshly. Ably assisted by the young linesman from the Colchester game - there's always lots of very bizarre flag waving when he's around and last night was no exception, much to the home fans' disgust!
Prior to that Mason refereed a 3-1 home defeat by Ipswich in Gary Waddock’s time in charge that featured no cards, but a very debatable penalty being awarded to the Tractor Boys. He was also in charge for a 2-1 defeat at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest in 2004 and a 3-3 draw at Rushden and Diamonds when Gareth Ainsworth scored one of the QPR goals of all time and eight yellow cards were shown.
Last season Mason sent off six players, including Gary O’Neil at Wembley, and booked 111 in 36 games (3.111 bookings a game). He booked eight in Manchester United’s 3-2 home win against Stoke before Christmas — his biggest haul in a single game that season. He made it through a game without showing a card only once in the whole campaign.
The season before he made it all the way to May, some 27 appointments, before producing a red card only to then send three players off in his last three games. Overall he showed 108 yellows in 30 fixtures (3.6 a game), including nine in Chelsea’s remarkable 5-4 League Cup success against Manchester United which was his biggest single haul of the season.
In 2011/12 he finished with 80 yellows and three reds from 32 appointments. He started like a maniac, booking 19 players in his first three games of the season, but calmed somewhat in the second half of the season.
Mason was always rather card happy before that, and his hefty total of 135 bookings and five reds across 33 appointments in 2010/11 averaged out at about four cards a match. He showed eight when Arsenal beat Everton 2-1, and nine when Chelsea drew 3-3 against Aston Villa.
The season before he showed 106 yellows (3.02 a game) and seven reds in 35 games, the majority of which came in the Premiership. His highest total in a single match was seven yellows and a red in a bad tempered game between Birmingham and West Ham.
Championship >>> Gavin Ward has Reading v Blackpool, Stuart Attwell Sheff Wed v Norwich.
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