Andy Hall, a referee with a chequered history with QPR if ever there was one, is the man in the middle at Loftus Road on Tuesday as the R's face Reading.
QPR v Reading
Referee – Andy Hall (West Midlands)
Assistants – Kendall (Bedfordshire) and McLaughlin (Bedfordshire)
Fourth Official – Linden (Middlesex)
Every week at the end of this short column looking ahead to our match officials for the forthcoming game we have a quick look around to see where the referees who have screwed us over in the past are wreaking havoc in the Football League. A name that always features amongst that paragraph is Andy Hall, the west Midlands official who has a frightening history when it comes to QPR games with Hooped red cards a plenty and just three Rangers wins from 12 matches he has taken charge of.
Of course every now and again one of those demons from our past actually gets appointed to a QPR fixture again and so it came to pass that on Tuesday night Andy Hall returned to Loftus Road to take charge of our home game with Reading. Now the eagle eyed amongst you will know that Hall is not biased, more incompetent, because you can spot his ridiculous grin on the Football League Show most weeks – normally after producing a ridiculous red card or penalty decision. The man is a shambolic match official, one of the worst, and my heart sank when I saw him listed as the man in the middle for this game.
Hall operates a firm book now and ask questions later policy with 42 yellows and three reds already shown this season in just 13 matches – 3.23 a game, compared with an average of 1.58 a game boasted by our referee on Saturday Russell Booth. He booked five at Hereford v Chesterfield on Saturday and showed five yellows and a red in the Bradford Notts County match immediately before that. His two Championship appointments so far this season, Sheff Wed 4 Scunthorpe 0 and Cardiff 0 Newcastle 1, have yielded four yellows and a red.
Last season he showed 111 yellows and four reds, including ten yellows in a single game between Tranmere and Oldham, in 32 matches – 3.468 a game. That included Reading’s 1-1 home draw with Cardiff where goalkeeper Adam Federici equalised for the Royals in stoppage time.
His last QPR game was in 2007/08 against Leyton Orient in the League Cup when the lower division side left Loftus Road with a victory and a penalty kick in their favour. He was also in charge of another cup disaster of ours at Northampton in 2005 but is perhaps best remembered for sending off both Clarke Carlisle and Stephen Kelly in a crucial end of season promotion decider with Crewe in W12 in 2003 that left the R’s hanging on with nine men when a victory could have seen them fight for automatic promotion on the last day of the season. The yellow cards given that day, Clarke Carlisle was booked first for not retreating at a free kick when it was fired at him from a yard away a spliut second after he'd committed the foul and then for challenging the goalkeeper for a cross, were ridiculously harsh.
There was also an infamous game at Preston in 2004 when having awarded the home side a penalty they didn’t want, had he played advantage for two seconds they would have scored anyway, he then panicked when they missed the subsequent spot kick and within seconds awarded them a second one for a non-existent hand ball. They scored, QPR lost 2-1. Hall was also in the middle for the infamous 4-0 cup defeat at Swansea.
Referee - Andy Hall 2 A miserable, ugly, poor excuse for a human being who needs to be banned from coming near a competitive sporting fixture of any kind. I take salvation in the fact that his gross obesity will cause him enough health problems to hopefully retire him early from the game. LFW Northampton Match Report
Referee - Andy Hall 2 Andy Hall is infamous along the corridors of Loftus Road. I will not repeat his previous indiscretions here but suffice to say that when he was announced as the referee for this game I went to find the cat to kick her (I didn't!). Hall was quite anonymous in the first half letting the game flow but he cancelled all that out in the second half by being constantly fooled by Palace players falling over and by not giving us any crucial decisions - namely the two penalty shouts. The two points I have awarded here are for his reasonable first half performance and the other is for the fact that he did not send any of our players. LFW Palace Match Report, 2006
Hall finished bottom of the 2005/06 referee league with his average mark of two out of ten. He finished joint 15th in the 2007/08 league for his Orient performance.
Referee: Andy Hall 6 a couple of weird decisions and a slighlty dubious penalty at second look, but to be fair, at first look I would have given it! But surprisingly, not a bad game and he certainly tried to let the game flow when he could. LFW Orient Match Report
His overall QPR record is 12 games refereed, three QPR wins and five defeats, three QPR red cards and one opposition, and a staggering 34 QPR yellow cards (in just 12 games!) compared to just ten for the opposition.
Elsewhere on Tuesday Trevor Kettle is also in the Championship with Ipswich v Watford while Rob Shoebridge, who currently props up our referee league for his one eyed display against Newcastle, has Sheff Wed v Preston.