Darren England, the lead VAR responsible for the Luis Diaz goal offside controversy during Liverpool’s Premier League game at Tottenham, will NOT take charge of another Reds game this season.
The failure to award Diaz’s legitimate goal has been consistently in the headlines since Saturday night, with the failure of VAR leading to reviews and officials being stood down.
The PGMOL have since taken England and assistant VAR Dan Cook out of the spotlight and, incredibly, the Telegraph now report that the former will not be involved in any Reds game this season.
However, the 37-year-old will not be sacked for his part in what is one of the biggest VAR controversies, as he “retains the backing” from chief refereeing officer Howard Webb.
The Telegraph‘s line is that “it is unlikely that England will be in charge of Liverpool as a referee or VAR any time soon,” which was a move that former PGMOL chief Mike Riley deployed during his tenure.
It is a significant development, but one that does ensure there are to be no further incidents involving the two parties after what is to, hopefully, prove a defining moment for VAR and its procedures.
The audio between the officials was released on Tuesday and depicts a chaotic communication process that showed it took a replay operator to point out the mistake after the goal failed to be awarded.
England, who reportedly earns £150,000 per year salary – plus match fees – from PGMOL, informed on-field referee Simon Hooper of “check complete” after going through the quick offside process, but in doing so confirmed the on-field decision of offside.
Jurgen Klopp has since spoken on the matter and acknowledged it was a “mistake” but that “common sense” should have prevailed to find a solution seconds after they realised what had happened.
The manager gave his personal opinion that a “replay would be the right decision” but knows there are plenty of counter arguments to it.
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