Paul Robinson wants neutral doctor at stadiums amid Leeds United head injury controversy
We’re delighted to welcome former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Leeds United...
Paul Robinson wants neutral doctors to be posted at Premier League stadiums after Leeds United defender Robin Koch played on with a head injury in the defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.
Koch, 25, suffered a nasty cut to his head after a collision with Scott McTominay in the first half at Elland Road.
After having his head wrapped up, the German defender continued playing before eventually going off and being replaced by Junior Firpo in the 31st minute.
Via Sky Sports, brain injury charity Headway has slammed Leeds United’s failure to follow the correct procedures after Koch suffered his blow to the head.
The PFA has also called for temporary substitutes.
Robinson has now called on another measure to be introduced to take decisions away from players and managers.
“It’s always going to be the top of discussion until we get a neutral doctor into stadiums,” Robinson told MOT Leeds News.
“It’s the only way you’re going to have a player fairly assessed. It needs to be a neutral doctor at every stadium who’s got no bias and got no pressure from a manager or a coach to keep a player on the pitch.
“Nine times out of 10, the player wants to stay on the pitch and I’ve been in that situation myself, you don’t want to come off, you want to carry on playing when it goes against your better judgement and you need somebody else to take that judgement away from you.
“Robin Koch’s one looked like a nasty one from McTominay. It was on the blindside of him and he just turned around and got caught.
“It looked a bad one but we’re only privy to the information that we’re given but if you take a knock on your head like that, and there’s that amount of blood, you’d definitely suspect it’s something to do with the collision. It wasn’t a nice one to watch, you could see the impact immediately.”
Leeds say they did follow the protocol correctly and that Koch passed the on-field concussion screening tests.
The ex-Freiburg enforcer will now miss the clash against Liverpool on Wednesday.
In other Leeds United news, a double-page spread in a newspaper says that it’s the beginning of the end for this Elland Road man.