With one excellent and one terrible performance in QPR matches to his name so far, it will be interesting to see which Nigel Miller turns up on Saturday.

Sheff Utd v QPR
Referee – Nigel Miller (Durham)
Assistants – Green and Parker
Fourth Official – Naylor

It seems everybody in football is searching for consistency. Managers, players, coaches and pundits all talk about the word like it’s some form of holy grail – very few of them ever seem to realise that when you’ve lost eight of your last ten matches it’s not consistency you need, you’re actually very consistent indeed.

Referees too strive for consistency – and their detractors often hold up their lack of consistency as a key weakness. What is a penalty one week or with one referee isn’t a spot kick seven days later with a different referee. Many managers trot out the time honoured line about not minding if the referee is crap as long as he’s consistent. Of course that’s nonsense – if ten Crystal Palace players go down in the penalty area and the referee books each one of them for diving I can’t imagine you’d hear too much about how good it is to see a consistent referee from Neil Warnock.

Referees, and everybody else in football, are human beings which is what prevents absolute consistency and makes things so interesting. There’s no better example of that than our referee for the trip to Sheffield United on Saturday. Nigel Miller has incredibly managed to finish top of our referee league and almost bottom of it in the two and a half seasons it has been running so far.

Two seasons ago he finished top, with a mark of nine out of ten for his handling of our defeat at Wolves.

Ref: N Miller (Co Durham) - 9 - The Wolves fans were going a bit mad with him but they do that with every ref! Miller could have been awarded a penalty but it was a fifty fifty call and in letting the game flow and keeping the cards in his pocket this guy is a good bet to top our referee league come May. One point deducted for an appalling effort at a moustache. – LFW Wolves Match Report

Then last season he made an astonishing pig’s ear of another QPR defeat, this time at Hull, and was awarded a measly three out of ten for his efforts. He, as the saying goes, had one.

Ref: N Miller (Co Durham) 3 - QPR Rivals Referee of the Year? If we'd given him a medal I'd like to choke him to death with it tonight. Shambolic display from start to finish. Gave some ridiculous decisions in QPR's favour for the first hour and then after failing to card Kanyuka for the worst challenge of the season so far on Forster set about awarding everything to Hull. Failed to award a blatant penalty when Cook was tripped and then sent him off for complaining. Allowed time wasting, stopped play for one head injury and played on for another, carded for something and then didn't even award a free kick for the same thing moments later. Lost it big time, a horrific performance. – LFW Hull Match Report

So far this season Miller has shown 39 yellows (1.857 a match) and five reds in 21 games which is a pretty decent average. His last Sheffield United match came right at the start of the season when the Blades beat Chesterfield in the League Cup at Bramall Lane. Last season he showed 108 yellows (2.7 a match) and 10 reds in 40 matches which is a considerably higher total than he’s heading for this season. That of course included the seven yellows and one red he handed out in a particularly brainless display in the Hull v QPR match.

Hopefully something in the middle of the two contrasting performances he’s offered us so far shouldn’t hinder us too much.

Elsewhere this weekend Jarnail Singh has a Championship match again, Charlton v Blackpool, while Andy Hall has the League One game between Crewe and Leeds on Monday night – expect sparks to fly in that one. You’ll be able to see just what a pig’s ear he makes of it as well, the game is live on Sky Sports One from 7.30pm. My bet is on two red cards – get on it.

Photo: Action Images

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