Swansea City manager Steve Cooper was beside himself with rage after a perfectly legitimate goal was ruled out by last nights referee Andy Woolmer. This row looks certain to run and run.

When a manager of a club contacts the governing body to complain and point out his concerns regards a referee and states his negativity towards him and the club is personal, you have to sit up and listen. Especially when that report was two days before the game that particular referee is appointed to manage. We have spoken before on here about bias, concious and otherwise in refereeing decisions, and with Cooper’s anger clearly evident post match, there is only one assumption to make.

It was personal

Direct Steve Cooper quote

"It was a performance I predicted from the official and one that I spoke to the governing body about a few days ago," Cooper said after Andre Ayew's superb solo effort had cancelled out Adam Reach's first-half strike for Wednesday. "My prediction was right. One thing was for sure, that, whatever the decision was, it was not going to us. It's personal unfortunately. "There were a few warning signs with the appointment, and maybe my gripe isn't just with the performance on the pitch. Maybe it's with how he came to be here."I don't want to say too much, because we know who loses in these situations, and it's me and the club with a fine. "I thought I knew where things were going to go, and sometimes I don't get things right, but I did with this one."

Cooper was never happy with Woolmer’s appointment

Cooper also felt that Swansea midfielder Korey Smith was fortunate to escape serious injury following a second-half challenge from Owls substitute Liam Shaw. Smith could clearly be heard telling the Wednesday bench that it was a "red card offence" and Cooper said: "He's got an awful gash on his calf. Another swipe at Woolmer’s poor management of the game. Fans of both sides will probably admit their frustration today in the light of the handling of the game. Constant interruptions from the referee, changed calls for Swansea corners and decisions reversed clearly displayed the referee was leaning towards the away side. However, was it malicious or just incompetence ? Cooper confirmed this in his post match press conference, and for once we have to agree. It was a very odd decision. Even the top pundits agree.

Sky Sports pundit Tony Gale tried to explain the decision but failed to see any infringement or foul on the goalkeeper ( Woolmer has allegedly said that’s why he blew up ) and called the decision shocking. The governing body for referees have yet to comment but it’s almost certain Cooper will face a misconduct hearing, and we hope that gives him the opportunity to reveal his full reasoning for his call to them reporting his concerns. This was Woolmer’s first appointment this season at a swans game, but he did referee five games last season. Clearly something within those games concerned Cooper greatly.

Already on the end of a very dubious decision at Bristol City this season and some extremely questionable match management at Coventry this will fuel Cooper’s fire most certainly. in his post match press conference after defeating Rotherham Cooper said when talking about referees ‘ We could do with some luck, couldn’t we ?’

It isn’t good enough that coaches and managers work tirelessly day in and day out to have their work undermined by what is clearly now for personal reasons. If that is the case the allegation is serious, very serious. Woolmer’s conduct and integrity has been questioned, so we hope Cooper, a reasonably new manager at this level can adequately prove his assumption. He has been brave in saying what he did, he backs it up with his pre match phone call to make it clear this was not a good idea, and as was reported last night. This won’t go away quickly.

Leave your comments below or come and discuss your feelings on Andy Woolmer and Steve Cooper’s reaction on the football forum

Photo: Action Images

Swansea City Polls