Premier League referees have been given the green light to continue freelancing in far-flung countries after it emerged it played no part in Liverpool’s offside goal fiasco.
The unprecedented blunder that saw Luis Diaz’s goal wrongly disallowed during Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in September was compounded by the revelation that the video assistant referees behind it had been part of a team that was allowed to take charge of a competition in the United States. Arab Emirates just two days earlier.
The worst Var crisis in the world’s richest league prompted Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (the referees’ association) and the Football Association to agree to a review of the policy to allow match officials to oversee matches outside the agreements between FIFA and UEFA.
Howard Webb, the head of PGMOL, has now revealed that “no link” has been found between Darren England and Dan Cook returning to Britain after a long-haul flight on the eve of the Spurs-Liverpool match and their inability to make a connection. to cancel the match. -field decision to disallow Diaz’s goal.
Webb said: “With regard to that particular trip to the Middle East, no link has been found to the error. Of course we know it caused noise.”
Telegraph Sports We’re told that the policy governing whether referees, assistants and Vars can work as freelancers in distant countries has remained unchanged as a result.
Webb, under pressure to crack down, added: “Each request will be considered on its own merits. But we will only consider an overseas national federation approach provided that it provides a development opportunity for the officials and that it does not have any impact on their availability to serve the competitions for which we exist.
“Any such request would have to be approved by the PGMOL board. That is our position.
“We haven’t had any requests since then. No one has set out to do that.”
Among those raising concerns about the aftermath of England and Cook’s blunder was Keith Hackett, one of Webb’s predecessors as head of PGMOL.
“I understand they did their shift on Thursday evening, which means they will have been in the air for at least seven hours on Friday,” Hackett said. Telegraph Sports.
“This affects their recovery and a loss of sharpness in their performance. If they were in Europe on a Thursday during my term of office, they would not be in office until late Sunday or Monday at the earliest. This is yet another example of poor management of these professional athletes and real changes must be made to stop these increasing errors.”
Fear of conflict of interest
There were also fears that allowing referees to work in the Middle East could increase the risk of conflict of interest, although there is no suggestion that this was an issue in the Spurs-Liverpool case.
England and Cook have both been in the UAE, where Premier League champions Manchester City own, alongside referee Michael Oliver, who was allowed to take charge of a Saudi Pro League match earlier this year despite Newcastle United’s ownership links with the Gulf state.
This was said by a top executive of the Premier League The times: “There must be an issue around fatigue for these long trips in a short time. We have absolute confidence in the integrity of our officials, but from a fans’ perspective it is important to remove any possible suggestion of a conflict of interest by a referee being paid to cover a match in Saudi Arabia or the UAE , where the league has the same ownership as one of our clubs.”
England, Cook, Oliver and Stuart Burt were cleared to cover Sharjah’s match against Al-Ai after an approach was submitted to the Football Association.
It is not unusual for officials to work matches abroad on a Thursday evening, for example in European competition, before returning to action on English soil the following Saturday. Those who have traveled are usually given off-field roles, such as Var.
Sorry Howard Webb, but our top referees work very hard – freelance comes with real risks
I have to question the wisdom of Howard Webb in allowing his Premier League referees to officiate matches abroad freelance.
Our top officials are already working hard and carrying out additional tasks abroad entails real risks.
Matches abroad usually require travel over a three-day period, which can be tiring, especially if the match is in Spain, where kick-off is usually at 10pm.
Serving in the Middle East or even Asia involves a long-haul flight and of course the heat and dehydration conditions can be very taxing.
With a busy schedule over the Christmas and New Year period, our officials have to travel across the country, usually also covering many kilometers driving and competing.
I have no doubt that the requests from abroad that land on the desk of the Head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited will be for the services of our two best referees, Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor.
When Webb, the current PGMOL chief, and Mark Clattenburg announced their retirement as referees in England, they both signed lucrative contracts as referees in Saudi Arabia at different times. The formation of the Saudi League made it inevitable that they would look for our top officials.
Oliver and Taylor will also be in regular demand, which would obviously include the appointment of English assistant referees, along with a video assistant referee (another Premier League official).
Taylor and Oliver already work hard in the Premier League, often for the most demanding matches. So far this season, the Premier League website shows that Taylor (12 games) and Oliver (11) are once again at the top of the table in terms of number of appointments. After they have done their refereeing stint, they are normally the fourth official or Var at Stockley Park the next day. They must also attend regular meetings of the PGMOL for training and performance review sessions.
As well as being our top two Premier League players with World Cup experience, they are also part of the UEFA Elite Referee Panel appointed for top-flight Champions League and Euro qualifiers. This season, Oliver made seven appearances in the Champions League and Taylor six. In addition, Taylor has also taken charge of three qualifiers for the 2024 European Championship and Oliver two.
The standard of refereeing in the Premier League is often – and sometimes rightly – questioned at the moment and I would suggest that Taylor and Oliver need to ensure that they are not overworked and that they are given sufficient time to recover.
Their workload must be taken into account. There is always the risk that if officials, like Taylor and Oliver, were to do extra work abroad, they could be injured and become the target of a lucrative contract to serve full-time abroad and prematurely end their careers with the PGMOL to end, as was the case with Clattenburg.