Premier League officials are scared to go against their colleagues, according to an ex-PL ref (Image: Getty/Express Sport)
A former referee has claimed current top-flight officials are scared to correct their colleagues’ mistakes on contentious VAR decisions as he called for major changes to be introduced.
Jeff Winter, who oversaw 185 matches in the before his retirement in 2004, exclusively spoke to Express Sport about the issues arising in the game concerning the controversial video review system.
The 69-year-old has demanded action from the authorities because VAR is creating “controversy every single week” rather than eliminating issues and errors from officials.
Winter also questioned why some officials are not brave enough to stick with their on-field decisions, suggesting some unnamed referees are conscious of selling their colleagues short.
“There are referees who think ‘if I go against Michael Oliver, the best referee in this country and I’m in my first season, is that going to look good?'” Winter said, speaking on behalf of FreeBets.com.
“I’d love to see some referees say ‘no, I thought it was a bloody penalty, I’ve given it as a bloody penalty’. These slow motions [replays], some tackles look horrendous when shown in a still frame. But in real-time, it’s an attempt to win the ball.”
When asked what can be done to fix the issue, Winter believes that PGMOL director Howard Webb should be given carte blanche to tweak VAR and urged the game’s lawmakers to stop ‘fiddling with interpretations’.
“Howard Webb, who I consider to be a good friend of mine and excellent referee, if he is given the tools and power to lead his group of referees without the constant tweaking and fiddling with interpretations, [he can] get VAR sorted,” he added.
Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter wants VAR changes (Image: Getty)
“VAR as I understood it, was supposed to help referees to pinpoint a ‘clear and obvious error’ being made. I always quote the same old boring one, the Thierry Henry handball in France versus the Republic of Ireland in the qualifier.
“I don’t blame the referee, the referee couldn’t see it, the assistant referee couldn’t see it. It was a form of cheating. [If you ask] 100 people about a decision ‘is this a penalty or handball’, you’re going to get a 50-50 split on whether it was or wasn’t.
“But something like that [the Henry incident], a clear and obvious error where no one can blame the referee? Great! Let’s have VAR for that.”
“[Look at] goal-line technology, all those idiots who used to say ‘everyone can see the ball was clearly over the line’, we now live in a world where the system can say the ball was over the line by a millimetre.
Jeff Winter wants PGMOL chief Howard Webb to have the freedom to change VAR (Image: Getty)
“Now, despite what we say week after week that we don’t want to re-referee the game, that’s exactly what we are doing.
“I’m not involved anymore, but I would think that the confidence of the officials has been battered from hell to high water because they keep tweaking what is a handball, what isn’t. A decision that you would have seen clearly given is now being referred to [VAR].”
As it stands, the only revision currently being considered is a challenge system, which would allow managers to challenge two decisions per game.
It underwent a successful trial at the Women’s Under-17 World Cup in September and could be rolled out into men’s football next year as part of an extended trial.