Ben Speedie to officiate Sheffield United's match against Bristol City
Experienced EFL referee Ben Speedie has been appointed to oversee Sheffield United’s visit to Ashton Gate to take on Bristol City this Saturday afternoon.
The Blades faced their third defeat in four Championship matches on Wednesday night, losing 3-2 to Portsmouth at Fratton Park, a result influenced by the first-half sending off of summer signing Hamza Choudhury.
Choudhury, an international from Bangladesh, received his marching orders shortly before the interval after being shown two yellow cards by referee Oliver Langford.
He was correctly cautioned for a robust challenge on Portsmouth winger Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, but was controversially shown a second yellow nine minutes later after another collision with the Chelsea loanee.
Many believe Langford's decision for the second yellow was overly harsh, as Kavuma-McQueen had played the ball past Choudhury before colliding with him.
After the match, Blades manager Chris Wilder expressed his frustration over Choudhury's dismissal, questioning the player's positioning.
Wilder remarked: “Where does Hamza go? Where’s he meant to go? The boy has just played it round him and basically run straight into him. I think, personally, football people get that. People who haven’t played the game maybe don’t get that, and I thought that was the case.”
Wilder also made a passionate appeal regarding the current standards of refereeing in the Championship, urging for younger officials to be given a chance to demonstrate their abilities in the second tier.
He added: “Where are the young referees, the up-and-coming referees who should be refereeing in the Championship now, instead of the ones who, in my opinion, just survive to keep surviving? So, no doubt, we'll have another ‘survivor’ referee on Saturday. Where's the quality? Where are the ones coming through?”
It has now been confirmed that Speedie, who officiated Millwall’s 1-0 victory over Preston North End at Deepdale last weekend, will be in charge of United’s encounter with Bristol City.
He has officiated two matches involving the Blades during his career, including their recent 1-0 loss to Fleetwood Town in the third round of the Carabao Cup last month.
Speedie, who has issued 34 yellow cards in ten matches across all competitions this season, began officiating in the Championship during the 2024/25 season, overseeing three matches. Last season, he refereed seven second-tier games, including United’s 1-0 win over Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium.
This season, he has officiated ten matches across the Championship, League One, League Two, and the Carabao Cup, with four of those being Championship fixtures, during which he has issued 13 yellow cards.
Source: The Star