'You could end up in the Championship!' - Referees warned about the danger of Wolves matches as Gary O'Neil takes pop at Anthony Taylor

Referees were warned by Gary O'Neil to be «careful» when officiating Wolves matches after Anthony Taylor was dropped to the second-tier for mistakes.

WHAT HAPPENED? Following Callum Wilson's contentious penalty kick in Saturday's 2-2 draw against Newcastle, the Wolves boss was left incensed. Replays seemed to indicate no contact, but referee Anthony Taylor handed the Magpies a spot-kick, declaring that Hwang Hee-chan had tripped Fabian Schar. The five-member PGMOL independent panel, which examines the judgements made by officials, ruled 4-1 in support of VAR reversing the call and unanimously declared that the penalty shouldn't have been issued. Taylor has been dropped to the Championship and will oversee Preston's match against Coventry.

WHAT THEY SAID: O'Neil said at a press conference: «I saw the numbers in the review they do on Tuesday which was 5-0 in favour of a penalty not being given on-field, and 4-1 in favour of it not being overturned by VAR.

»I think Anthony Taylor's doing the Championship game this weekend — that's three referees who've been relegated on the back of refereeing us, so you need to be careful when you referee Wolves because you could end up getting relegated the following week!

«That's Man Utd, Luton and Wolves now. I haven't received an apology and I don't want one. They're not going to help, but hopefully, the level improves.»

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Taylor's demotion comes after Simon Hooper's, who was dropped to officiate Leicester's victory at Rotherham after Wolves' 1-0 loss to Manchester United on opening day, in which they were denied a penalty when Andre Onana elbowed Sasa Kalajdzic. The second person demoted was Josh Smith, who was officiating his first Premier League match when he was