Tony Mowbray questions new refereeing guidelines following Sunderland’s defeat against Ipswich Town

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray says he feels sorry for referees and officials after new guidelines were introduced ahead of the 2023/24 season.

The Black Cats were beaten 2-1 by Ipswich at the Stadium of Light in their first league game of the campaign, despite dominating possession for large spells.

New guidelines from the PGMOL have told referees to add on more time for stoppages in play this season, meaning 13 minutes of additional time were shown at the end of the Ipswich fixture.

Referees have also been told to clamp down on time wasting, booking players for kicking the ball away, and show yellow cards to members of the coaching staff if more than one person is standing on the edge of the technical area.

Sunderland’s defeat against Ipswich followed a theme from last season, when the Black Cats won just seven of 23 league games at home.

When reflecting on the result and officiating, Mowbray said: “We try to win every game at home, and yet I think the stadium can sometimes inspire the opposition.

“You see them come down the tunnel with their phones out taking pictures, and then the game starts and they waste time from the first minute to take the sting out of the crowd.

“I’ve done it myself sometimes as a coach, sometimes when you go to a huge stadium you need to try to take the emotion out of the crowd and slow the game down, annoy them.

“What’s going to happen this year is that there are going to be huge times on the clock at half-time and full-time for timewasting. It’s going to be really interesting.

“The fourth official at Hartlepool told me that, normally, if that had been a league game there would have been 12 minutes added at half-time.

“Is this what football is going to be like now? Is it going to be 13 or 14 minutes added on? Is it right? I’m not sure.

“Managers getting booked and sent off over the weekend for ridiculous things.

“I’m not trying to deflect from the football match, I’m just asking if this is what we have to do for the next 40 weeks. I feel for the referees, for the officials.”