Everton boss Sean Dyche says managers should be given more leeway for their behaviour on the touchline because of the amount of emotion during a game.
Dyche will watch Saturday’s visit to Manchester City from the stands after receiving his third yellow card of the season last weekend against Tottenham.
He was booked by referee Michael Oliver after protesting against what he called “really bad decisions”.
“I think there should be a bit more tolerance,” Dyche said. “The fourth official is there and if deep down they are thinking the referee might have that one wrong, I don’t see why you are booked for it.
“That’s the moment when they should use a bit of their game understanding and say ‘OK, he maybe got that one wrong but we need you to stay in the technical area’. I think that can be a calming down moment.”
At the start of the season referees’ chief Howard Webb said he was “determined” that officials did not “turn a blind eye” to bad behaviour as it was having a negative impact at grassroots level.
“It is important our officials differentiate between emotion and passion, but for too long officials have not been able to make that differentiation too well or they have turned a blind eye to certain things, maybe thinking it was best not to draw attention to what might have been perceived as an error on the field,” former World Cup referee Webb said.
But Dyche believes if officials showed more empathy it would calm down exasperated managers.
“The fourth [official] doesn’t have to agree with me but could go ‘just slow yourself down’, to calm the moment,” he said. “Whereas if you are going outside your box and doing what you are doing all the time that is different, it’s your own fault - but not when it’s something like that.”