Coughlan offers olive branch to match officials after Hoops' defeat

Waterford FC manager Graham Coughlan used the aftermath of Friday night's 3-2 defeat to Shamrock Rovers to raise concerns over the relationship between managers and match officials, revealing that his "phone number is there" if football's authorities want his input on improving standards and communication.

Still frustrated after seeing his side's unbeaten run ended at the RSC, Coughlan picked up a yellow card on the touchline during the contest and admitted that was one aspect of the night that particularly annoyed him.

"I don't like picking up yellow cards, to be quite honest, that's not me," he said.

Coughlan felt Waterford winger Tommy Lonergan had been fouled near the sideline without sufficient action being taken, prompting his intervention from the technical area.

"I asked the question. Tommy was smashed on behalf of the line and I just felt there was no advantage to it whatsoever," he said.

However, rather than focusing solely on individual decisions, the Blues boss broadened the discussion to what he believes is a wider issue concerning communication between officials, players and managers.

"For whatever reason, there was no verbals, there was no anger, but look, I'm used to it," he said.

"I've been here three months and the way they speak to me, not only to me, I would guess to everybody, it needs to be spoken about, it needs to be addressed."

In one of the more striking moments of his post-match media briefing, the former Republic of Ireland international effectively extended an invitation to the authorities overseeing referees to engage with him directly.

"My phone number is there. I'm not going to go through media or on social media or anything like that," he said.

"If whoever's in charge of the officials would like maybe a manager's view or an experienced view to help and to make the game better, I'm more than happy to speak."

Coughlan stressed that any such discussion would be constructive rather than confrontational, insisting his aim would simply be to improve understanding between all parties involved in League of Ireland football.

"Not disrespectfully or angrily, but I would certainly help the way relations are between players, relations between managers and the way we get spoken to on the side," he added.

The Waterford boss also appeared unhappy with some key decisions during the game, including an offside call and the amount of injury time played. He noted that the match finished a minute earlier than he believed it should have after four minutes of additional time had been indicated.

"There were lots of questions tonight, we had lots," Coughlan said.

But despite his frustrations, he stopped short of blaming officials for the defeat, acknowledging that Waterford's own shortcomings contributed to the result.

"To win games of football here, you need everything to be spot on and things weren't as spot on as they should be for us tonight," he said.

"I do think not only ourselves, but I do think other people could have done better this evening as well."

While disappointed with the officiating, Coughlan's message was clear: criticism alone is not enough. Instead, he wants greater dialogue, better communication and a collaborative approach to improving standards across the game.