Kinnear described Martin Atkinson as a "Mickey Mouse" referee after he failed to award Newcastle a free-kick shortly before awarding Fulham a penalty.

Danny Murphy scored the decisive spot kick - and Kinnear said: "There was a blatant foul prior to the penalty.

"We have got the Mickey Mouse referee doing nothing."

Earlier this month Sunderland manager Roy Keane was charged with improper conduct by the FA over his actions towards Atkinson in the tunnel at half-time during their 5-0 defeat at Chelsea.

The FA has been a running a respect campaign this season - part of which promotes better behaviour towards referees.

It is not the first time that Kinnear has complained about the standard of refereeing in the Premier League this season.

Last month he was angered by referee Rob Styles' decision to send off Habib Beye in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City.

Kinnear said at the time: "He's made an error that cost us (referring to the penalty award)," said Kinnear.

"It just doesn't stop but that's the standard of refereeing in this country.

"It happens week-in, week-out. There's always a smart answer like 'someone was obstructing my view'.

And Kinnear, 61, has been no stranger to controversy since taking temporary charge in September after Kevin Keegan's departure from St James' Park.

At one of his early press conferences, he launched a furious attack on the media, swearing 52 times.

He attacked the "scandalous lies" after several newspapers claimed he had turned up to take training to find there were no players there, when in fact no training had been scheduled.