Former referee Graham Poll has labelled Joey Barton's proposals for players to be able to sue football officials as "ridiculous".

Barton made the suggestion on his Twitter account following his red card against Norwich at the weekend.

"I wonder how long it is before a football club sues a referee for making a bad decision?" the QPR midfielder tweeted.

Poll, 48, responded to the suggestions, telling BBC Sport: "That is a ridiculous comment. The referee does his very best, just like a player.

"Are we saying that supporters should sue footballers who get themselves sent off or miss open goals? Of course we're not. It's a sport and it needs to be treated as such and that comment is, quite frankly, ludicrous."

Rangers have formally appealed the decision made by Neil Swarbrick.

Written by
Pascal Lemesre