Doncaster Rovers 3 Portsmouth 4: Ryan calls for referee to be axed as Rovers go down

Hungarian Marco Futacs struck in the third minute of stoppage time for the winning goal which left Portsmouth, with three games to play, seven points behind fourth-bottom Bristol City, whose draw at Birmingham had ensured Rovers would be relegated.

But it was the decisions of the Hertfordshire official which left Ryan seething before, having been refused permission to speak to the referee, he re-emerged from the tunnel to give a more measured view of where Rovers go from here.

His comments seem sure to earn a rap from the football authorities but the man behind Rovers’ rise from the Conference to the game’s second tier in just seven years was unrepentant.

“The last time he was down here he gave two penalties against us against Southampton so he thought he’d do the right thing for Portsmouth and even things up,” claimed Ryan.

“I thought all four goals werequestionable. The third one was a definite handball and the fourth one was a definite handball. The first penalty looked outside the box to me. He gave a free-kick to start with and then changed his mind, I don’t know whether the linesman flagged.

“I thought the officials today were an absolute disgrace. First half okay, second half they absolutely slaughtered us.

“No-one cares if it’s little Donny Rovers. This referee knows my views about him, I’ll be speaking to the head of the referees and, as far as I’m concerned, he should retire or at least be suspended because that second half performance was the worst refereeing performance I’ve seen in 50 years of watching football and it sickens me.

“I don’t mind losing but it just sickens me because those guys tried so hard. I’m absolutely sickened to the core by the standard of refereeeing. I don’t mind going down, we can live with that, but I can’t live with referees favouring the big clubs because Portsmouth, despite being on the verge of liquidation, are still a big club.

“I think it is victimisation against the smaller clubs. I don’t think he gave a stuff today in the second half. The standard of refereeing is so bad that most of our games in the Championship in the four years we have been in there have been decided by refereeing decisions.

“It’s as bad as that. The Championship is very tight and all you need is a penalty – in this case two – to change things round.

“That was a game we should have won easily but the referee decided he was going to let Portsmouth win. I won’t use the words the fans used but I say it was a dereliction of duty today and Mike Russell should seriously consider retiring.

“We will rebuild in League One and, as we won’t be the little club we are in the Championship, maybe we will have a decent chance to get some reasonable fair play decisions. The referee decided the game today without doubt and I’m going to ask for his suspension. In fact, I think they should retire him. He’s shocking.”

The Rovers chairman has already revealed that relegation will cost the club £5m – a figure that pales into insignificance alongside Pompey’s debts of £58m – and knows there will have to be a restructuring.

While Rovers insist agent Willie McKay, the man behind their controversial policy of signing former Premier League players on short-term deals, has not been ditched, Ryan concedes there will be few dealings with him in the summer.

“The experiment in itself will not work in the same way but if Willie has a good player and he wants to bring him to us we will always listen to Willie, who has brought in some very good players to the club,” said the chairman.

“Things will change because he won’t be as interested with us being a League One club.

“It only really works in the Championship, that sort of arrangement. You are not going to get El Hadji Djouf playing in league three really.

“I think we have around 14 players out of contract and there will be a lot of changes but we willcome back fighting and do well in League One like the two Sheffield clubs have done. We will have a squad of around 22 next season. It will be a lot smaller obviously because we haven’t got the cash to splash around.”

Rovers will certainly be fine in League One if they show the same spirit and commitment which saw them surge into a 2-0 lead inside five minutes against Portsmouth, Habib Beye heading home from the inspirational James Coppinger’s free-kick before Fabien Robert pounced after Jamie Ashdown had parried from Chris Brown’s close-range attempt.

The game swung after the feisty Dave Kitson replaced Kelvin Etuhu to spark Pompey into life. The veteran won a penalty, Beye being dismissed for the trip from behind in the 57th minute and Greg Halford made it 2-1 before scoring from the spot again when James O’Connor was adjudged to have handled in a skirmish.

Coppinger cut inside to make it 3-2 to Rovers with a deflected shot but Kitson backed into Gary Woods and appeared to handle home the equaliser before again making the robust challenge which saw the ball drop for Futacs to relegate Rovers from the second tier for the first time since 1958.

Ryan is determined the wait for a return will not be as long this time.