DANNY MILLS today challenged the Football Authorities to let players have more of a say on controversial refereeing decisions.

The Blues England defender knew that overt criticism of referee Steve Dunn's performance at St James' Park would land him in hot water so instead he appealed for the gag to be thrown away.

"I can only back our manager fully," he said after the 4-3 defeat that brought the man in the middle a stern rebuke from Kevin Keegan.

"From the way the manager reacted when we came into the dressing room and the things he said to us obviously he was very upset and he had every right to be.

"If I make a comment as well I am likely to be in trouble and unfortunately that would mean getting myself in trouble for being honest and having an opinion.

"It doesn't appear as a player you can have opinions these days. People in the higher echelons of the game don't like it. It is OK for everyone to have an opinion on us but not for us to have opinions and if we do voice them we get usually get fined and or suspended.


"There were several instances throughout that game where the decisions made were bewildering. The manager is very, very upset and he speaks for us all."

Mills admitted that the Blues also contributed to their own downfall slightly in the seven-goal thriller with a less than error free second half showing.

"We have not played that well," he said. "Basically we have done ok but we have made one or two bad decisions that have cost us.

"Once we went 2-0 down we lost a little bit of discipline trying to chase the game, although we had a couple of chances to win it at 3-3.

"To come away from home, score three goals and come away with nothing is obviously disappointing but it wasn't helped by certain individuals!

"Shaun's pace up through the middle caused Newcastle all kinds of problems and he could easily have had a hat-trick but it wasn't to be and now we need to regroup and make progress in the cup.

"We feel we have the ability to bounce back and we know that a win on Wednesday could open the way for a good cup run."