Jon Brady: Northampton boss wants better decision-making after Aaron McGowan ban
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Jon Brady was appointed Northampton manager in May 2021
Northampton manager Jon Brady wants improved "alignment" between football's governing bodies and referees to ensure better decision-making.
Cobblers defender Aaron McGowan is serving a three-match ban after being sent off for violent conduct against Crawley on 4 March.
The club's appeal against the Football Association decision was rejected.
Brady accused Crawley's Jack Roles of "kidology" in the lead-up to McGowan's dismissal by referee Ross Joyce.
The Town boss told BBC Radio Northampton: "I spoke to Mark Jones the other day, head of EFL referees, and asked about alignment between the EFL refs and the FA. There doesn't seem to be any alignment and he agreed.
"He's telling me it shouldn't be a red card for Aaron McGowan, maybe it shouldn't even be a yellow.
"When are these people going to get together and have a bit of alignment, so they're all singing from the same hymn sheet, with a better understanding of each other, instead of one doing one thing and another doing another? It's hard to take."
Speaking immediately after the game, Crawley manager Scott Lindsey said of the McGowan dismissal: "I didn't really see it. But I did think the standard of the officials was poor. There were a few things and it just became a mess in terms of the officials for me."
Brady said inconsistency was the biggest problem for managers and players.
"We were briefed at the start of the season about play acting - I talked about kidology the other day. What message is it sending out to players in our league, young Cobblers fans at the game, watching and they see Jack Roles get away with a stamp and rolling around on the floor holding his back, holding his face? It's shocking.
"It's sending a bad message out for the future of the game. He gets away with that and they talked about that at the very start of the season."
Northampton drew 1-1 at Hartlepool on Saturday - with McGowan unavailable - and are fourth in League Two, three points outside the automatic promotion places.
They host eighth-placed Mansfield Town on Tuesday, and with a number of injuries in the squad Brady said it feels like his side are "fighting against everything".
"It's just finding a way at the moment. We're not going to give up on this. We believe we can still do it, [but] Tuesday night we need everyone together again," he added.
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