‘I’m guilty, no problem, but they were two big moments at Newport’

Chesterfield manager Paul Cook has admitted emotions got the better of him in the incident that led to a charge of improper conduct from the FA.

But, he says, they came out for a valid reason.

Cook has admitted the charge which relates to his sending-off at half time of last week’s defeat at Newport County.

He was deemed to have used “improper and/or abusive and/or insulting words towards a match official” before and after his dismissal.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup tie against Yeovil Town, Cook said: “I have responded. I am guilty of the charge. Absolutely guilty. Not a problem.

“I don’t want to get in any more trouble because clearly I have had enough charges that the FA know me quite well.

“The brutal truth is that two massive football decisions went against us that have been highlighted to us as the wrong decisions.

“21 minutes. Handball, sending-off. The next five minutes, a clearly onside goal.

“What would the game have looked like had the referee given the penalty and the lad been sent off?

“Us managers, we get offered up. My language at half time wasn’t good. My behaviour wasn’t good.

“I apologised to the FA and to the Referees Association but also, managers are getting sick and tired of this now.

“We have had too many moments this season to look back on and moan about; too many apologies.

“The brutal reality is that the standard of refereeing isn’t in a great place at the minute and the referees don’t need shouting and screaming at. They need to be educated and improved for the benefit of our game.

“Clearly my emotions got the better of me. Totally frustrated, totally angry at what I’d seen and they come out, but they come out for a very valid reason.

“I will get fined and probably banned.

“I’m guilty, no problem, but they were two big moments at Newport.”

It was suggested to Cook that managers could get together and voice their concerns about officials as one.

“I am not going to any more of the referees’ meetings. There’s no point,” he said.

“I feel like (referees’ chief) Mike Jones is on speed-dial to me. I’m sure he is speed-dial to every other manager in the league.

“The referees need help and support. We need to help officials referee games better.”

Cook touched on the issue of referees these days being fast-forwarded quicker, possibly because more were needed for VAR rooms, thus impacting the level of officials working lower down the pyramid.

“I haven’t got the answers,” he added, “but I do know the level of performances we are operating in at the minute, they’re not good. That’s not a criticism because I want to be supportive and watch the referees get better.

“As managers we go to (referee) meetings. We go to too many meetings.

“We are all getting fined and sent off and yellow cards but in reality a lot of them are in relation to what we are seeing. Hopefully we can come to a conclusion of improvement in officials because our game needs them.”