I have to be sincere. – A former referee offers his opinion on an important Sunderland vs. Middlesbrough decision.

Regarding Dan Neil’s dismissal during Sunderland’s loss to Middlesbrough, Jeff Winter has said.

Former official Jeff Winter admitted that he was taken aback when Dan Neil received a second yellow card during Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Sunderland.
Dan Neil is dismissed in a crushing Sunderland loss.

Even though the final score implied that Boro would have an easy day, the game was very close up until Neil was controversially given a red card in stoppage time of the first half.

A late tackle on Josh Coburn earned Neil an early caution, and just before halftime he received a second caution for dissent.

That obviously had a significant impact on the game, as Michael Carrick’s team completely destroyed the hosts after the break to win easily in the end.

But the decision changed the course of the game, and Tony Mowbray and everyone associated with Sunderland were dissatisfied with the outcome.

Commentary from Jeff Winter on Dan Neil’s dismissal

Winter, a former Premier League official and follower of the Boro, was another to weigh in on the issue, telling The Cat’s North East breakfast program that he was taken aback by Gillett’s choice.

To be completely honest, it left me perplexed because, if the Sunderland player had used vulgar and abusive language and it was that awful, a straight red card should have been issued; a second yellow, we assume, would have followed for dissent. We don’t know whether the referee has been engaged in a constant struggle or whether he has been given a final warning. I’m not trying to defend the referee.

“I can only explain it in that way. In a football game, you must be able to sell it if you want to dismiss a player. For disagreement, you don’t want it to be a stupid one. I’d like to think that under those circumstances, using the sarcastic language we could employ as referees back then, I would have made it perfectly clear to him that this was it.

Was this the best choice?
This was a peculiar one, as Winter notes, and since we don’t know what was spoken, it’s difficult to state with certainty that Gillett was mistaken.

The referee has precedent for this, though; last season, Mario Lemina was sent off for Wolves for alleged dissent, even though replays suggested he didn’t do much at all.

It’s uncommon for a player to be sent out in today’s game for this, although as was previously noted, we are unsure of what was said. But Neil will feel betrayed, and it’s obvious that it had a significant influence on the outcome.

Now though, it’s occurred, and Sunderland will just be concentrating on bouncing back when the international break is over.