A referee once branded by then QPR boss Ian Holloway as the “village idiot” is in charge on Saturday as QPR pay their first ever visit to the new Cardiff City stadium.

Cardiff City v QPR
Referee – Lee Probert (Wiltshire)
Assistants – Newbold (Leicestershire) and Richards (Carmarthenshire)
Fourth Official – Bratt (West Midlands)

After several games where we have had brand new referees in charge and therefore very little to talk about on LFW it is something of a relief to see an official we at least have a bit of history with listed for our game this Saturday. Several years ago the news that Lee Probert was in charge of a QPR match would have had me foaming at the mouth but very much like Mark Clattenburg, who was a right royal pain in the arse during our time in League One, Probert has improved immensely as he has gained experience at the highest level.

His downfall always was, and remains, a criminal lack of common sense. Sadly his decision as fourth official in the Man Utd v Arsenal game recently to make Arsene Wenger leave the touchline for kicking a water bottle, in frustration rather than dissent, when there was nowhere in the stand for him to sit and barely ten seconds of time left to play suggests this remains a problem. Wenger received an apology, and rightly so too – it was a classic Probert farce.

Cardiff fans probably have more reason to fear this appointment than us though to be fair – he was in charge of the meeting between these two sides at Loftus Road last season where QPR won 1-0 and Cardiff finished the game with nine men after Purse and Comminges were sent off. LFW gave Probert a mark of four out of ten for that performance that put him way down in joint 34th position on the 2008/09 referee league.

Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire) 4 I didn’t think Purse should have been sent off, a yellow card for me there because it was simply mistimed rather than dangerous or malicious. We should not be rushing to send people off. Comminges’ first yellow card was justified, I’ve no idea what he said to get the second but like I say I don’t go to football to see players getting sent off and I wonder whether a stern, final warning could have been administered instead. LFW Cardiff Match Report

He was however also in charge for the 3-1 home win against Burnley last season so it’s not all bad. Probert has refereed two games so far this season, and has not spared the yellow card in them either. He has dished out 12 yellows already n Birmingham v Portsmouth and Everton v Wigan. He was pretty prolific last season as well with 94 yellows and four reds in 35 matches working out at an average of 2.68 yellows a game.

In 2007/08 Probert was in charge of one QPR match, a 1-0 win at Charlton live on Sky where he awarded the R’s a penalty that we then promptly missed. His rating of seven in that match placed him joint fourth on the referee league.

Referee: L Probert (Wiltshire) 7 Very good performance from him for a change. Lots of good advantage rule played allowing the game to flow, kept the cards in his pocket for as long as possible and showed plenty of common sense. Allowed challenges on both goalkeepers to go unpunished, QPR took better advantage of theirs of course, so consistency there. Few dodgy decisions against us early on I thought but all in all quite impressive. I'll have to have a lie down. LFW Charlton Match Report

Probert is however probably best remembered by QPR supporters for a series of three incredible performances in our game in the 2004/05 season. He allowed a fixture at Wolves to continue through the second half despite the pitch being under a foot of water and QPR lost 2-1, he sent off Andrew Davies and awarded Sheffield United a ridiculous injury time penalty in a 3-2 defeat at Bramall Lane and he sent Jude the Cat off for looking too much like one of the QPR players (you would think the giant cat’s head and tail may have given it away) in a home match against Preston North End. Like I say, he seems to have calmed down recently.

Elsewhere this weekend Premiership referee Alan Wiley drops down into the Championship for the Steel City derby between United and Wednesday at Bramall Lane on Friday night. Trevor Kettle is back in the Championship with the Middlesbrough v West Brom fixture that was a Premiership game last season of course, Andy Hall has Crewe v Aldershot.

Looking further ahead to Wednesday and Premiership referee Michael Jones is the man in the middle for our big trip to Chelsea.

Photo: Action Images

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