Former referee Mark Clattenburg has claimed that referees are now scared to make mistakes for fear of being suspended by PGMOL Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb.
Gladiators ref Clattenburg believes it is a move that has seen officials take as long as possible when consulting VAR to avoid errors. Time taken over decisions and the resultant pause of games has been a source of frustration for fans and Premier League teams alike.
The London Stadium was the latest venue to host VAR frustration after West Ham saw two goals ruled out in their draw against Aston Villa. Michail Antonio saw an effort cancelled out when a cross connected with his hand, before Tomas Soucek was judged to have handled the ball when David Moyes' side looked to have won the game at the death.
The VAR check took in excess of five minutes before sending Jarred Gillet to review his pitchside monitor. The Australian official prompted furious protests from the Irons as he decided the goal did not count.
Clattenburg believes that Gillett ultimately made the correct decisions in ruling each goal out. However, the 49-year-old is less impressed by the time taken for decisions.
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He told the Daily Mail : “Both VAR decisions at West Ham were correct because the ball touched the arm before going in the goal.
“But five minutes is a long time in football. If you are looking at it for a minute, two minutes, and you haven’t made a decision, we need to move on. PGMOL under Howard Webb have started to suspend people for making mistakes. His predecessor Mike Riley never did that publicly. Webb has, and the VARs now are so scared to make a mistake that they take as much time as they can.”
West Ham United manager David Moyes confronts referee Jarred Gillett (Rob Newell - CameraSport)Following his team's stalemate, Moyes put the spotlight on Webb in the aftermath of the game. The frustrated Scotsman said: "I’ve got nothing to say on the VAR decisions. You can contact Howard [Webb] yourselves and get the results."
Speaking about the length of time taken to come to a decision, Moyes provided a blunt reponse. He added: "It probably meant that they thought they’d seen something that was wrong. It’s up to them how long they take."
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