Ryan shocked at charge over ‘telling the truth’

The Rovers chief has been charged with misconduct after accusing the official of putting in a performance that equated to a “dereliction of duty” as Portsmouth won 4-3 at the Keepmoat Stadium.

FA officials have indicated the charge relates to comments made by Ryan that appeared in the Yorkshire Post along with others broadcast by both Sky Television and the BBC.

Ryan, Doncaster chairman for 14 years, has requested a personal hearing and indicated he intends to contest the case in the strongest possible terms.

He said last night: “How can you be charged for telling the truth?

“I have even had Portsmouth fans complimenting me on my stance and everyone in the electric media came down on the side of Doncaster Rovers in this match.”

Doncaster were left fuming by Russell’s handling of the Pompey game on April 14 when two late goals for the visitors were enough to condemn Dean Saunders’s side to not only defeat but also relegation.

Replays showed that all four of Portsmouth’s goals could be considered dubious, something that left Ryan furious at the final whistle.

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the game, the Rovers chief told this newspaper: “I thought all four goals were questionable. 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 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 refereeing.

“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.”