Steve Coppell has launched a stinging attack on referees by claiming they favour the Premier League big boys.
The Reading boss has already seen two of his players sent of with just two games of the new season gone.
Kalifa Cisse was red-carded by ref Mike Dean in the defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday after protests from Blues striker Claudio Pizarro.
It came hot on the heels of Dave Kitson's dismissal in the draw at Manchester United on Sunday.
But Coppell believes those players would not have been sent off had they been playing for one of the top teams.
He claimed: “I still maintain that if it was a United player on one of ours then Kitson’s challenge wouldn’t have been a sending off.
“And then on Wednesday night there was a foul on John Oster before Cisse was sent off. Yet the referee or fourth official didn’t say anything about that.
“I still say the ref wouldn’t have seen any contact and instead he just went on the very strong reaction.
“To a certain extent every team outside the big clubs have to put up with that.
“I think there is, certainly unconsciously, a ‘big-team reaction’ and everyone else has to put up with it.”