Michael Skubala Makes Psychologist Admission As Yellow Card Count Drops

It felt at times like referees were sales reps for Clinton’s earlier in the season, they gave out so many cards to City players.

I did a bit of analysis and concluded that almost all of them were justified, and it seemed like we were developing something of a problem. Ryley Towler got suspended, Conor McGrandles is just a game away, and two yellows ended Rob Street’s afternoon against Wigan.

I did my analysis on September 8th, and since then, things have improved. Before that date, we’d picked up 23 yellows (and two straight reds) in just seven League One matches. Cause for concern?

Not so much. Since then, we’ve picked up just six in four matches. Going from 3.2 to 1.5 per game is a steep drop, but it’s not by accident, as Michael explained in his pre-match press conference on Imps+.

“It’s a bit of balance,” he said, when addressing the booking situation. “So it’s conscious conversations to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.

“We’ve got a psychologist in the building as well who helps the players to understand that as a group.”

Given the recent news that Scott Fry is staying on as a set-piece coach, it’s another great example of how the club leverage different angles to try to gain a competitive advantage.

Michael pointed out that at times, it was as much about the game as anything, with ties against Mansfield and Plymouth drawing a lot of cautions.

“I also think it was the nature of the games in some ways and how it felt. So you can’t get too caught up in it because sometimes it is football and it felt like they were just coming really early for us.

“I also think there’s something and there’s elements of, as I always say, the refereeing starts to become a bit more realistic than the new rules and laws coming in and spending ages on those types of things.

“I think it’s a combination of things. I wouldn’t say it’s (the improvement) down to one thing. But like you say, it seems to be a bit more normal than it was at the start of the season.”

The recent Exeter City game was the first League One outing in which no Imps were booked since Wimbledon away, although we did get a red card in that game. It’s the first league outing with no card for us since Shrewsbury in April.