Trevor Kettle, a referee with a long and inglorious history when it comes to officiating QPR matches, is the man in the middle for Saturday's game at Blackpool.
Blackpool v Queens Park Rangers
Referee: Trevor Kettle (Berkshire)
Assistants – Kettlewell (Lancashire) and Wright (Merseyside)
Fourth Official – Jones (Merseyside)
Things probably aren’t about to get a lot better for QPR on the match officials front – no sooner have we dodged Andy Hall than our old foe Trevor Kettle comes lumbering into view on the horizon – card already in hand. He’s like a fussy old woman this bloke, a real pain in the backside, and all we need for what is already looking like a fruitless trup to the frozen north on Saturday.
Here’s a frightening thought, he has yet to send anybody off this season. He has however shown 61 yellows (3.21 a game) in 19 matches, our referee on Tuesday Andy Woolmer had shown half that amount in the same number of games, and has only stayed below two cards in a match on two occasions this season. Last year he showed 100 yellows (2.94 a game) and ten reds in 34 matches.That included two yellows in QPR’s 2-0 defeat at Ipswich in November where LFW rated him at 7/10 and placed him sixth on the referee league.
Referee: Trevor Kettle (Rutland) 7 Mr Kettle’s highest ever mark on this site, and a rare quiet and uneventful game from this normally wild match official. Both yellow cards were justified and all he really did wrong was buy a couple of dives from Parejo and Di Carmine. For once he kept his cards in his pocket and was hardly noticeable which is excellent and made a refreshing change. Big improvement, credit where it’s due. LFW Ipswich Match Report
His last Blackpool game was their 2-1 win at Plymouth last season when, astonishingly, nobody was booked. In 2007/08 he showed an astonishing 145 yellows (4.027 a game) and six reds in 36 matches. That included 14 yellows in his two QPR matches – against Charlton at home and Preston away. Needless to say his marks on this site have rarely been great – we may as well cut straight to the history of Kettle and QPR.
Referee Trevor Kettle (Rutland) 3 Neutral fans may as well not bother going to games when this guy is in charge. If you could bring together eleven of the greatest Brazilian players of all time in their prime and eleven of the greatest Argentinean players of all time in their prime he would still turn a game between the two into a stop start load of old rubbish and bore the tits off you. The whistle is never out of his mouth. Everything is a foul. Every aerial challenge between two players trying to win a header is a foul. Every coming together on the ground is a foul. Every shoulder push is a foul. Every piece of physical contact is a foul. Every foul is a card - seven yellow cards in this one and really only Mawene and Stewart deserved them. Seven yellow cards in a game with two fouls. Whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle until you just can't stand it any more. To make matters worse still he was assisted by an abysmal linesman who gave some quite perplexing decisions in favour of Preston on the night. I hate this referee simply because I know however much I've paid to get in will be a waste. If he'd been in charge of Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3 it would have finished 0-0. LFW Preston Match Report
Referee: Trevor Kettle (Rutland) 4 As detailed above, a poor official. Really badly positioned for just about every decision he has to make and another seven yellow cards shown – of which I’d say only three or four were just. So many of the cards he hands out are for dissent at decisions he’s made a mess of. LFW Charlton Match Report
A low average mark of 3.5/10 then, and 33rd on the referee league.
He was even worse the season before though when, in two QPR games, he managed to allow Southampton a goal after a challenge on the keeper and then disallow a QPR one in identical circumstances and then book just about every player on the pitch, and a few people in the stand as well, in a comedic display against Stoke City at Loftus Road. An average rating of 1.5 landing him very firmly in last place on the league ladder that season.
Ref: T Kettle (Berkshire) 2 Incompetence of the worst kind because it only affected one of the teams. Incompetence that goes against both sides is forgivable because referees are only human but the goal that was and the goal that wasn't were a disgrace to the refereeing profession. How can there be any justification for that decision? All we ask for is consistency. This useless idiot probably couldn't even spell the word. Scandalous. LFW Southampton Match Report
Referee: T Kettle (Berkshire) 1 A quite astonishing display of refereeing. Mr Kettle, people have not paid £28 to watch you handing out cards. Put your ego away and do try and let the game flow. Of the eleven cards shown I'd say six or seven of them could have been dealt with by having a quiet word on the run or just calming things down. Booked early for very little to put himself under pressure and then just spiralled out of control. QPR of course get fined now by the authorities - there should only be one party being punished after this shower and it certainly isn't our club. A staggering level of incompetence from him for the second time this season. Unbelievably bad. LFW Stoke Match Report
Kettle did manage a five for his handling of a 1-1 draw between the R’s and Derby at Loftus Road in 2005/06.
Ref: T Kettle (Berkshire) 5 Apparently well-known for loving a card he got his wish two minutes from time when Moore harshly got his marching orders. He did manage to only produce two yellows though and let the game flow during the first half. Become too involved in the second half and disrupted play too much. LFW Derby match Report
Normally at the end of this column I tell you where all the other known lunatics are this weekend but as we’re sadly about to be subjected to Trevor Kettle ourselves it’s sort of missing its headline act. Andy Hall has Doncaster v Watford and then Blackpool v Sheff Wed during the week. Premiership referee Mike Dean is down in League One, but that appears to be a decision based on the relatively close proximity of Colchester and Norwich (though you wouldn’t pop from one to the other for a bag of chips) and the Paul Lambert factor in that fixture.