City are reporting referee Rob Lewis to the Football League for swearing at a player.

The club will make a formal complaint against him of verbal abuse during Tuesday’s defeat at Macclesfield.

Craig Fagan is thought to be the player involved in the incident, which allegedly took place when he was shown a yellow card.

Phil Parkinson was fuming with Lewis over the penalty decision for Macclesfield’s winner and his all-round handling of the game. They are now calling into question his “lack of respect”.

Head of player development Archie Christie said: “We are making a complaint about the ref for verbally abusing our player.

“Two players have come to me who were within earshot at the time and confirmed what they heard. To verbally abuse one of our players like that is totally unacceptable.

“They want a respect campaign which we all work very hard towards and this reeks of double standards.

“They expect us to respect officials but if that’s the case, players should receive the same respect in return. If you want it, you’ve got to give it back."

Full story in today's Telegraph & Argus