Good morning folks, wherever you are, I hope you’re well at the start of this new week.
The fallout from the Myles Lewis-Skelly red card rumbles on, and I think it’s important to say first and foremost that it shouldn’t. At this point, PMGOL could easily have said ‘Michael Oliver and VAR made a mistake, the card is rescinded, we all move on’.
Except that’s not what happened. In a Sky Sports report as early as yesterday morning, we heard that ‘The PGMOL’s position on the incident is the challenge is extremely late, the point of contact is high and video evidence supports that conclusion.’
Reporters were being briefed, presumably by Howard Webb (or whoever deals with their communications on a Sunday morning), that they were unhappy at how many pundits and ex-professionals agreed that the red card was unjustified. The quotation doing the round was they were ‘a little bit aggrieved at the tidal wave of criticism from ex players’, which they labelled ‘sensationalist’.
That report then went on to add ‘The refereeing body adds Oliver has been subjected to social media abuse.’ That was followed up last night by a longer statement saying they were appalled by this abuse and said the police were involved. It’s certainly an extraordinary response, (not unprecedented though – thanks to some folks in my replies who found examples from the past, albeit they are very rare), but one which I think says a lot about how this organisation is run.
I’ll say it clearly, although I’m sure you all understand this anyway, threats towards an official and his family are beyond the pale. There is no justification for that whatsoever. We’ve had a similar incident of late with one of our players, his family threatened by some keyboard warrior idiot, and it’s simply not acceptable. You cannot condone it in any way.
But the PGMOL response to this just demonstrates their arrogance, and lack of accountability. Despite the fact 99.99% of fans, Arsenal or otherwise, found that red card laughable, they’re doubling down. Despite the fact 99.99% of pundits, commentators and ex-players (bar one or two contrarians) have called the decision wrong, they’re doubling down. Referees make mistakes, we all know that, they are human beings. Every one of us has made mistakes in our own lives, professionally or otherwise, and it’s how you respond to those that really matters.
What you do is hold your hands up, take responsibility, and try to make amends as best you can. In this case, that’s not what is happening. PGMOL are trying to distract and gaslight football fans. And this isn’t just an Arsenal thing by the way. Fans of other clubs who sit there this morning having a good laugh at the whole thing need to be aware it could be them next week. And it won’t be so funny.
This is far from the first time I have expressed concerns with how PGMOL operates and is run by Howard Webb. I’ve tried, as much as possible, to be objective when it comes to the litany of bad decisions that have gone against Arsenal, but also when they make mistakes in games involving other teams. Being entirely partisan is of no use to anyone, they are a problem that affects every team in the Premier League, and all the other leagues they’re in charge of.
This response, however, shows just how out of touch and unfit for purpose they are. Webb, a former police officer with the South Yorkshire Police (look them up), is running this like some kind of constabulary force, with his referees the bobbies on the beat. Come for one of us, you come for all of us. Circle the wagons. Accept no criticism, admit to no wrongdoing – and in the full knowledge that football moves so quickly and isn’t that important in the grand scheme of things that no public inquiry will uncover the ‘truth’ years later.
Except we don’t need that, because we all have eyes. We all have access to replays and video footage. Everyone saw, not just Arsenal fans, that Myles Lewis-Skelly should not have been sent off on Saturday, and yet Michael Oliver couldn’t wait to get his red card out. We all waited for VAR to set him right, but even then the wagons were circled. Back up your mate, don’t make him look bad by having him change his mind.
And ultimately it’s so counter-productive. It undermines what little faith remains in this organisation. As I said, a referee making a mistake isn’t the end of the world, but referees and PGMOL not taking responsibility for an error of this magnitude is a big, big problem. Not simply because we now have to go through the appeal process – one I’m confident Arsenal can win based on the mountain of evidence they can produce about what is and isn’t serious foul play – but because they have chosen very publicly to make this a conflict, rather than an admission they got something wrong.
Accepting fallibility is human trait we can all get on board with; refusal to do that is something we find in the very worst people in every aspect of life. Sport, work, politics, whatever. We all know them, and they make everyone’s life worse. If you acknowledge a mistake, it doesn’t change what happened, but it allows you to build trust. Without it … well, here we are.
The irony, by the way, of Lewis-Skelly being sent off for ‘serious foul play’ when week after week these referees continuously ignore dangerous tackles and acts of violence on the pitch shouldn’t be lost on anyone. We’re supposed to believe elbows to the back of the head, studs on shins, scraping the back of someone’s Achilles tendon, two-footed lunges, and much more are not ‘serious foul play’ but this is? Come on, we’re not stupid.
Webb has clearly instructed his officials to take a soft-touch approach to those kinds of things, but a trip is now sufficient for a red card and a three match ban. Sorry, no. It’s not acceptable. PGMOL has, at the heart of its mission, a duty to protect players by way of upholding the laws of the game. They fail time and time and time again. They also have a duty to protect their employees, and all this response does is put Michael Oliver further under the spotlight and opens him up to more abuse and vitriol, because he is the guy front and centre while Webb lurks in the background waiting for his next TV show appearance.
They have got this one very, very wrong, and unless they come to their senses, every football fan, football club, manager, player, should be really worried. They are fundamentally failing everyone in the game, including their own officials. At this point, serious consideration needs to be given to how it is being run, and who it is being run by.
Either rip it up and start again, or start to seriously address the ongoing issues which have led us to this point. Don’t blame fans when you get something wrong. We can all see that for what it is. It’s a coward’s move.
And it’s obviously Howard’s move.
