Burnley controversy prompts ex-Barnsley man to back Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom's referee rant

Heckingbottom was left incensed by the way in which his side’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur was refereed, launching into an impassioned rant in his post-match press conference.

In a section of the conference, he said: "It's not funny, the referees are killing the game at the minute – absolutely ruining it.

"I've no qualms about the result. From 0-0 I was telling our keeper to hurry up. We split (centre-backs) to play out (from goal-kicks). We play to Anel (Ahmedhodzic), we play to Bash (Chris Basham), and we play forward.

"We get out a couple of times so Spurs change. We put the ball down, Spurs change, so Wes has to make a different decision and he’s getting told to play. Why would you play then? Spurs have adapted to us so we have to change again and play something different.

"When he handles outside the box he gets booked. I've no problem with Peter but the referees are just showing how little they know about the game and they're directing it. How can that possible?"

There was further refereeing controversy in the Monday night meeting between Nottingham Forest and Burnley.

Lyle Foster found the net for Burnley but the goal was chalked off when a VAR check led to Sander Berge being penalised for handball.

Craig Davies, formerly of the likes of Barnsley and Chesterfield, shared a clip of the Foster incident on X and said: “The sooner you realise every word that Paul Heckingbottom spoke was the truth, the better.”