Curle accuses referee Young of 'total lack of respect' after Hull City defeat

Keith Curle has accused referee Alan Young of showing a 'total lack of respect' for not following through with his promise to meet the Town manager after last week's defeat to Hull City.

Curle was critical of Young's performance during the 2-0 defeat and had planned to speak to the referee after full-time about some of his controversial decisions.

"I asked the referee if I could have a word with him at the end and he said he needed to check the protocols to see where I'm able to speak to him," said Curle in his post-match interview at the time. "So I'm just waiting to find out on that."

But following Saturday's loss at Bristol Rovers, Curle revealed that meeting with Young never took place, much to his disappointment.

"I'm always courteous and I'm always respectful but I was very disappointed last week because I asked the referee, in the right way, if I could speak to him after the game which is my entitlement," said Town's manager. "But he was disrespectful because he didn't even wait and give me the opportunity to give him my opinion of his performance.

"I marked him down because I think it was a total lack of respect. I am a respectful person and I won't go in ranting and raving and demanding an apology for poor decisions and anything like that.

"It's about getting an understanding for them to improve and for that to happen, they need lines of communication so when a manager asks to speak to you in the right manner, the least you can do is show the respect that I think that warrants and merits."

The standard of refereeing in the EFL is often called into question and Curle believes officials would improve if managers were allowed to speak to them more often instead of filling in forms after every game.

"Unfortunately, they send in a form that they demand that we fill out for the referees to improve," he added. "But I want to speak to people.

"Rather than it being a tick box exercise, let me go and speak to the referee and give him my opinion and also get his version of events face-to-face. Surely that will help us all to improve?

"I just think it was disrespectful and I don't understand why because I spoke to him in the right way and asked to meet him wherever he deemed acceptable and he said that would be fine.

"But I did the press and when I came back, I was told he went straight out of the door without attempting to find out where I was - and I was only at the end of the tunnel."