{{primary_category}}
{{/primary_category}} 
'No influence on the officials' – Neil Warnock makes yet another baseless claim about Leeds
Leeds United fans don’t like Neil Warnock and the former Whites manager always takes his chance to get a backhanded dig in.
Last time it was about the ‘leaky’ Leeds defence, after a run of five wins in a row without conceding a goal.
His latest is that Leeds are going to have to win promotion without the help of officials, who he claims are intimidated into giving decisions because of the crowd at Elland Road.
Talking in The Athletic Warnock said, “I think Elland Road is an amazing place, I’ve managed there and it is an extra man.
“When there’s no crowd, there’s no influence on the officials at all. Whereas you officiate in front of 35,000 at Elland Road and you are under pressure — make no mistake about that. But it won’t affect referees or linesmen now.”
Ask any Leeds United fan about officials at Elland Road and you’ll get a stream of complaints.
Subscribe to Football Insider TV now
That might be the norm among football fans of any club but Leeds fans can actually back up their discontent with cold, hard stats.
Halfway through Bielsa’s first season, Leeds were on a ridiculous run of 58 games without a penalty, until Peter Banks gave us one against QPR in December 2018.
In total that season, Leeds were awarded three penalties.
So far in the 19/20 season, we’ve had five penalties, one less than title rivals West Brom.
If that’s evidence of undue influence on matchday officials, we’d hate to see what it would have been like without the fans leaning on them.
Leeds have got to the top of the Championship and the brink of the Premier League by playing the sort of football that fans could only dream about under Warnock.
In other Leeds United news, Sky Sports pundit: This is what every pundit is saying about Leeds ahead of clash v Cardiff