Peter Coates: 'Big clubs get the beneficial refereeing decisions'

Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has said that he is "sick" of the Premier League's big club's getting beneficial refereeing decisions against his side.

Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling appeared to handle an attempted clearance from Marc Wilson before going on to win a penalty in the same attack as the Potters lost 5-3 to the Reds on Sunday.

Coates told the Stoke Sentinel: "The game changes when the referee gives a penalty for the merest of touches. The player (Sterling) dived. There was also a handball by Sterling before the penalty, one the linesman didn't see, and that is a game changer.

"We are again victims of poor refereeing and I am sick of it. We had it against Newcastle and Tottenham, and now Liverpool. You get fed up with it because these are big decisions that affect the games you play in, so you are bound to get very upset by it.

"It is well known that the big clubs, especially at home, but often away too, get the big shouts. I am not questioning any referee's integrity, it's human nature. It's always been like that and it never change."

Mark Hughes's side are currently 12th in the division.