Veteran Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is the latest Premier League manager to completely trash the behaviour of the referees.
He joins Mikel Arteta, Gary O’Neil and Roberto De Zerbi as high-profile detractors of the PGMOL and VAR.
Crystal Palace lost 2-1 to Liverpool in the last minute on Saturday in a game featuring two controversial penalty calls and a soft red card for Jordan Ayew.
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A dejected Roy Hodgson spoke to TNT Sports afterwards, and clearly felt the result was dictated by the officials.
It’s important here to avoid ‘old man yells at cloud’ stereotypes here. Roy Hodgson, while an older manager, is quite softly spoken and doesn’t yell. He even specified that his biggest concern is not VAR, but the attitude of the referees and lack of clarity around certain rules.
“The refereeing and the referees, the referees’ incentives,” he said.
“I’m absolutely sick about the handball interpretations. I’m sick about these yellow cards for time wasting. I’m sick about player behaviour. All through the game we’re trying to do our job. The coaches who set this game up unbelievably well are trying to get a bit of advice out and every time they step forward, they get even close to me, the guy’s screaming at them to sit down again. I’m sick of those things.
“I’m afraid I’ve been in football a long time and games like today make me realise that when the day comes to leave it behind I won’t be missing anything.”
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Aside from fairness and integrity, which are valid concerns considering all the poor decisions, there is the spectacle to consider. What do we gain from five minute stoppages in play, or by finding any possible reason to disallow a goal?
When the PGMOL points the finger of blame towards managers and clubs, it’s hard to see a road towards a rise in standards.
