Clubs MUST NOT be able to choose who takes charge of their matches or football falls into disrepute… Amid the storm over Darren England’s VAR error, referee chiefs have to stand firm or see balance of power shift

• There have been calls for Darren England to be kept off Liverpool matches
• But regardless of his VAR mistake, this would be a dangerous path to go down 
• CLICK HERE to listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ 

At the start of last season Thomas Tuchel suggested Anthony Taylor should no longer officiate Chelsea’s matches, so irked was the German with the referee’s display in a 2-2 draw against Tottenham.

‘Maybe it would be better, maybe it would be better,’ he said when asked if Taylor’s removal from Chelsea matches was what he was seeking moving forward.

He added: ‘I don’t think that just some of the fans think that; I can assure you that the whole dressing room of us, every person thinks that.’

A £20,000 FA fine followed for implying bias, questioning the integrity of the match referee, and bringing the game into disrepute. 

Taylor was given Chelsea’s clash with Liverpool later in the season in a show of defiance that he could handle the Blues in big games. 

Darren England finds himself at the middle of a storm of controversy after his VAR mistake cost Liverpool a perfectly onside goal in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was fined £20,000 for heavily criticising Anthony Taylor 

Tuchel was incensed by Taylor’s performance in a 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham 

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It was a stance that told clubs: you will have no say on who referees your games.

Fast forward and now it is Darren England, the VAR behind the erroneous decision not to award Luis Diaz a goal in Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham after wrongly being called offside, that is being vilified amid calls for him not to officiate Liverpool for the remainder of the season.

Mail Sport understands that no decision to that effect has yet been taken and that while England has been taken off officiating duty this weekend following his ‘significant human error’, what happens moving forward remains unclear.

It could well be that the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) – the body which makes the refereeing appointments in England – keep him away from Liverpool’s games for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. 

It also could be that following a period of rotation – referees typically do not officiate the same team in a short period of time – he will again be on an officiating crew for a Liverpool game.

Ultimately, if clubs, managers or fanbases felt emboldened to believe they have power to dictate appointments of referees for their matches the game would absolutely be brought into disrepute. That is the crossroads the game is at.

Clubs – rightly – have no say on who officiates their games and any sense that they could put enough pressure on the PGMOL to influence such would drastically shift the balance of powers and set a worrying precedent.

The full intricacies of the VAR decision that went against Liverpool were revealed in an audio clip of poor communication and confusion between officials 

Hooper, the on-pitch referee disallowed the goal and then quickly restarted play 

VAR official Darren England (left) and VAR assistant Dan Cook (right) were dropped from their roles for upcoming fixtures after the high-profile error

Not only is refereeing chief Howard Webb eager for greater transparency, with the audio of the Diaz incident released and a new show on Sky sharing more VAR-to-referee audio as key incidents are analysed, several factors are already in place to ensure refereeing appointments are fair.

Factors include the referee’s overall experience, their current form, how often they have refereed the clubs involved that season, which team the referee supports and any forthcoming international appointments.

A referee is either competent to officiate any and all teams – aside from any personal affiliations that are declared before they take on the job – or they aren’t. 

That’s the bottom line. Picking and choosing which teams can avoid certain officials cannot and must not be allowed to happen.

And for all the vitriol being laid at England’s door for a mistake both he and the PGMOL know was ‘significant’ and far below the levels they demand of themselves, who in football doesn’t make mistakes? 

This has been a horrendous mistake but players and managers make them all the time. Talk of replaying matches is also farcical and eventually a sense of understanding of that needs to take hold. 

Jurgen Klopp called for the whole match to be replayed because of the mistake 

Referees’ chief Howard Webb must resist calls to take certain officials off certain team’s games

The history of sport is littered with mistakes, how far back do you go to fix them?

Gary Neville had it right when he posted the following on X: ‘The two officials (Darren England and Dan Cook) have been taken off their next games. Imagine how they feel this morning and let’s be human.

‘There should be consequence for such errors but in my opinion a couple of games out is more than enough. Think of it as a player suspension for a sending off.

‘This isn’t a sackable offence by any stretch so let’s remove that language.’

England, 37, is a FIFA-listed referee who was promoted to the Premier League’s pool of refs in 2020. 

Performance reviews are crucial and referees should be pulled out if they are below the required standard, but let’s not pretend England isn’t a competent official at the highest level.

Angry supporters point to his decision-making this season, particularly now in light of the error at Spurs. Perhaps some games out will bring both respite and time for him to reflect on why those mistakes have been made.

There will now be increased scrutiny on how VAR decisions are made and communication

A new state-of-the-art VAR Hub at Stockley Park was opened at the start of the year

He was the on-field referee when he stuck with the original decision to award Aston Villa a stoppage time penalty against Crystal Palace on September 16. It was a decision that the Premier League’s Key Match Incident panel later determined to be the wrong call. It was 1-1 at the time he awarded the wrongly-given stoppage time penalty, much to the chagrin of Palace as they would go on to lose 3-1.

As a VAR he also should have reinstated a Burnley goal against Nottingham Forest wrongly ruled out for handball. That game would finish 1-1.

The bottom line is that PGMOL have stood strong in the face of public pressure to stand down referees in the past.

They stood firm on Anthony Taylor. They stood firm on Paul Tierney – Jurgen Klopp pointed to a personal issue between Liverpool and Tierney when he said ‘I really don’t know what this man has with us. 

He will always say there’s nothing but it’s not true. It cannot be, I don’t understand that. It cannot be. I’m really not sure if it’s me, how he looks at me. I don’t understand it’ following a game earlier this year – and now they must stand firm again and have the courage of their convictions with Darren England too.

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