By TheLongside.co.uk
November 14 2006

Oh no, it's Beeby! The Ref Assessor takes a look at the referee for our upcoming away fixture against West Bromwich Albion. Richard Beeby of Northamptonshire will be the man in the middle this weekend.

With Burnley having witnessed a poor performance by Peter Walton of Northamptonshire on Saturday, we will be hoping that when another referee from Northamptonshire takes charge of our match at West Brom we will be hoping to see a dramatic improvement. I do not think Burnley fans will be expecting to much though with the official being Richard Beeby.

Even if Beeby has a poor game on Saturday he will find it hard to be worse than his last appearance refereeing the Clarets. On that occasion he managed to ruin our 2-1 win over Millwall. He had been steady up till the half time whistle but then the over-reactions came after the half time whistle.

Beeby started by reducing Millwall down to ten men after comments Ben May had allegedly made to Frank Sinclair in the tunnel at half time. Sinclair and manager Steve Cotterill have admitted they heard no such comments. That was just the start though in a match where he lost control and for me over-reacted.

Jody Morris committed a foul on James O'Connor, Morris then proceeded to stand up and grabbed the Irish midfielder by the throat. The result was a correct red for Morris and an absolutely shocking straight red for O'Connor. The red for O'Connor was later overturned.

If that was not enough for Beeby he then red carded Lions keeper Andy Marshall after the full-time whistle. Beeby on that occasion also produced six yellow cards, the most embarrassing of which was given to Ade Akinbiyi for nothing more than a shoulder charge, it was a further indication of Beeby having lost control. Millwall picked up just two of those six yellow cards, one of those was for a brilliant tackle which Beeby somehow saw as a foul.

He has taken charge of the Clarets on one other occasion since Steve Cotterill has been the manager. The word to describe Beeby's performance on that occasion was also poor. It was a match that ended with Steve Cotterill sent to the stands, eight yellow cards, a red card for Micah Hyde and a twice taken penalty. The penalty decision and the red card were not decisions we could complain about as Gillingham ran out 2-1 winners. However Gillingham came with a physical attitude and that showed in their six yellow cards. However Beeby failed to take any action when McGreal was kicked by the corner flag and that lead to Cotterill complaining to the fourth official and then Beeby came across and sent him to the stands.

From these two performances it is hard to believe that he has refereed three matches in the Premiership. He has not refereed in the Premiership however since that performance at home to Millwall. The Millwall match was just two matches after his poor decision to send off the Barnet goalkeeper Ross Flitney against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Carling Cup. This red card was also later overturned but it ruined Flitney's night at the home of the Premiership giants.

So far this season Beeby has taken charge of 16 matches and issued a half-century of cautions with 50 yellow cards. He has also used his red card four times.

He will be assisted by Mr. James Cox and Mr. Mark Hutchinson. The 4th official will be Mr. Andy Hendley.

In our two previous matches we have seen a late change to the referee, I do not think too many Burnley fans will be to disappointed if it is a hat-trick of referee changes.