Bruce offers referee apology

Steve Bruce has revealed that he sent a letter to referee Lee Probert apologising for his rant after watching his Wigan side lose away at Chelsea. The Latics boss was unhappy with the official's performance, particularly when he failed to notice what Bruce thought was a blatant push in the back by Blues ace Frank Lampard on defender Mario Melchiot as he rose to head the late winner.At the time the former Manchester United skipper was furious and argued that referees favoured the bigger teams.But the 49-year-old has had a fortnight to mull things over and has now accepted the error of his ways."I wrote to the referee of the Chelsea game, expressing my views that I was wrong," he said."I was caught up in the heat of the moment and you sometimes say things you regret. I've been in the game a long time now and I try to take a look at things and coming back on it now I was wrong to criticise him."I hope he accepts my apology."CriticismHowever, the former Birmingham manager admitted that he would not be taking back his stinging criticism of referee Stuart Attwell.At 26, he is the youngest official in the Premier League, but even that did not save him from criticism after he refereed a bad-tempered affair at the JJB Stadium against West Ham where both Carlton Cole and Lee Cattermole were sent off.Both Bruce and counterpart Gianfranco Zola were critical of Attwell's performance with Bruce believing that Hammers captain Lucas Neill should have also been dismissed."The one thing I don't want to do is criticise referees, and to be fair I felt for Stuart Attwell," he added."He has been pushed through because they think he has a talent and unquestionably he has. But I said at the time that maybe it was a little too early for him."In the Premier League given the intensity and ferocity they have to make sure they're not going to be sidetracked and have the presence to be in control of the match."Unfortunately, I think Mr Attwell got it wrong."

Source: SKY_Sports