West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce has said that managers should be allowed to criticise a referee's performance.
The Hammers lost 3-2 to Everton on Saturday and had Mark Noble sent off by referee Lee Mason.
Allardyce was angry with the decision to show Noble a red, but refused to openly criticise Mason in fear of being fined.
The former Blackburn Rovers boss then urged the FA to relax their stance towards managers who question match officials in post-match interviews.
"We all have to be careful because we get brought up about what we say about the referee and we get fined," Allardyce told reporters. "What I can say about it is; do I agree with that? No. Why? Because that's the wrong sort of protection for referees as far as I'm concerned.
"If we want to make the referees better then, they've got to be criticised like us all. We all get criticised in this game but for me to say too much about how I felt the referee was today then I would get myself into trouble and the last thing I want to do is give the FA any of my money that I work really hard for.
"I'll relook at the performance of my team and the referee tomorrow and make the report to the delegate how I see fit."
West Ham face Cardiff City in the League Cup on Tuesday night.
Sam Hughes
