Sam Barrott, fast tracked onto the Premier League list last season, takes charge of our Sunday trip to Norwich.
Referee >>> Sam Barrott (West Riding), aged just 30 he was promoted onto the Premier League list last season. This is his first Championship game this term.
Assistants >>> Wade Smith (Stockport) and Constantin Hatzidakis (Kent, stop it)
Fourth Official >>> Oliver Langford (West Midlands), Championship’s most experienced referee.
Bristol City 0 QPR 1, Saturday February 18, 2024, Championship
Bristol City: O’Leary 7; McRorie 5 (Sykes 75, 5), Vyner 5, Dickie 6, Roberts 5; James 5, Williams 5 (Gardner-Hickman 58, 5); Mehmeti 4 (Conway 58, 5), Knight 6 (Mebude 58, 3), Bell 7 (Cornick 26, 5); Wells 4
Subs not used: Twine, King, Tanner, Bajic
QPR: Begovic 6; Dunne 7, Cook 6, Clarke-Salter 7, Paal 6; Field 7, Hayden 7 (Colback 78, 7); Chair 7, Andersen 7 (Hodge 69, 6), Willock 7 (Smyth 90+1, -); Dykes 6 (Frey 78, 6)
Subs not used: Archer, Fox, Cannon, Larkeche, Armstrong
Goals: Chair 41 (assisted Andersen)
Bookings: Hayden 37 (delaying restart)
Referee – Sam Barrott (West Riding) 6 We didn’t seem to get a lot out of him, though obviously I’m coming at it from a position of bias. My main issue, and it was the same with Steve Martin in the Huddersfield game recently, is the sudden inconsistency in when we do and do not stop play for an injury. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding, but I was under the impression we stopped play immediately for head injuries and everything else you wait for the next natural break in play unless it’s clearly something horrendous. Now I’m seeing games called to a halt for all sorts of other very minor things. Sam Bell, to be fair to him, was genuinely injured, but he’s not going to bleed to death of a hamstring pull is he? Play wa stopped, Bristol City argued the toss about and then obstructed the drop ball, and we end up with Begovoic shanking a dodgy back pass into the dugout for a City throw when it should have been our ball, on the attack against ten men. Against Huddersfield Michael Helik knew he was injured, knew he was about to be taken off, but trundled up to attack a corner anyway, and then as soon as it was taken sat down on the floor – Rangers should have been allowed to counter attack against reduced numbers, instead Helik was indulged with a stoppage. What’s occurring here?
Rotherham 1 QPR 1, Saturday November 4, 2023, Championship
"All of that is a product of us being unable to take our chances when they’re presented to us, and that’s going to be Cifuentes’ biggest hurdle to clear as he moulds the team to his principles and desires. Ilias Chair’s one match ban for five yellow cards, the final one of which was for stupidly kicking the ball away in the first half, will not help in next week’s game against Bristol City.”
Rotherham: Johansson 7; Lembikisa 6, Morrison 5 (Ayala 87, -), Odoffin 6, Bramall 6; Cafu 6, Tiehi 5, Rathbone 6; Onyedinma 7 (Eaves 87, -), Hugill 6 (Nombe 71, 5), Clucas 5 (Kelly 61, 7)
Subs not used: Phillips, Revan, Appiah, McGuckin
Goals: Kelly 70 (assisted Bramall)
Bookings: Bramall 21 (foul), Clucas 37 (foul)
QPR: Begovic 5; Cannon 6 (Kakay 90, -), Dunne 5, Cook 6, Paal 6; Field 5, Dixon-Bonner 7, Smyth 5 (Richards 63, 4); Willock 6 (Armstrong 80, -), Dykes 4 (Adomah 80, - (Kelman 90, -)), Chair 7
Subs not used: Archer, Larkeche, Duke-McKenna, Drewe
Goals: Chair 50 (assisted Paal)
Bookings: Chair 19 (kicking ball away)
Referee – Sam Barrott (West Riding) 7 Rotherham seemed bitterly unhappy but I thought he was very decent. Some slight, niggling inconsistency with the Chair booking (which was correct, however petty) not then being followed up with cards for players, say, running off with the ball up their shirt and dropping it 20 yards away so QPR can’t take a quick free kick. Seven minutes added to the end felt very skinny given the goals, injuries, substitutions, and a prolonged faff about with their communication system. But these are minor first world problems, compared to some of the Championship officiating we’ve seen this season this guy was a dream.
Barrott is a former Halifax Town junior who took up refereeing when serious injury ruined his hopes of a playing career at 15.
A Premier League debut last season is a pretty meteoric rise for the fast tracked official who only joined the EFL list in 2020/21, a season spent entirely in Leagues One and Two with 86 yellows and four reds in 32 games. In 21/22 he did a hefty 144 yellows and three reds in 37 games across the bottom two divisions before stepping up with four Championship games among his 40 appointments (118 yellows, four reds) in 22/23.
From there, with just the four Championship games under his belt, they elevated him onto the elite list for 23/24 where he started with Fulham v Sheff Utd in October and ended with 15 top flight appointments in a hefty workload of 43 games. He finished with a play-off semi-final between West Brom and Southampton and final between Bolton and Oxford in League One. Norwich lost 2-1 at Rotherham, 5-2 in a cup game with Liverpool, and drew 1-1 at home with Bristol City in their appointments with him.
A highly rated official then. This year 12 of his 14 games have been in the Prem, with the other two in the League Cup. This is his first Championship game. He’s booked 71 played (5.07) and sent nobody off to this point.
Norwich are 1-1-2 from four appointments with this referee, QPR 1-1-0 from two.
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