Eagle-eyed Ipswich Town fans have spotted that James Bell, the man who has been assigned to referee Ipswich Town's home game with Charlton on Saturday, is a supporter of promotion rivals Sheffield Wednesday.

 

The Sheffield-born official’s support of the Owls was revealed by Plymouth manager Ryan Lowe in May 2021 after Argyle had been beaten 3-1 by Sunderland at Home Park.

"He was alright speaking to me before the game," Lowe, a former Sheffield Wednesday striker, told Plymouth Live.

"He was a Sheffield Wednesday fan and couldn’t wait to tell he used to sing my name on the Kop, and stuff like that. So I’m spending time with him, showing a bit of respect, and he’s talking fine to me.

"Then I wanted to talk to him at half-time, but he didn’t want to. I was happy to walk off the pitch with him, there was no malice in it. There was no bad language in it. I just said to him, 'Look, it's offside'."

Former Premier League and FIFA referee Keith Hackett subsequently told Football Insider: “James Bell talking about the fact he’s a Sheffield Wednesday fan, I don’t think that’s a clever idea.

“Okay, you have to declare your allegiance to a club pre-season and that’s where you should leave it.

“The allegiance to the club should not be chatted about. The reality is we’re human and we all do things differently.”

Bell has refereed two previous Town matches, the 2-0 FA Cup replay defeat at Barrow in December 2021 and the 3-0 defeat at Northampton in April the same year.

Ipswich Town have declined to comment.