Referee Darren England will not lose his job after his high-profile VAR blunder at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but he will not manage Liverpool for the rest of the season.
The 37-year-old was on VAR duty at kick-off on Saturday night and mistakenly ruled out Luis Diaz’s opening goal in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat, despite admitting the Colombian was part of the team.
After considerable pressure, the PGMOL referees committee released audio of the error, which saw England wrongly believe the on-field call was for offside and therefore declared “revision completed” to confirm the goal – but the team on the pitch interpreted it as being offside.
The game resumed with a free kick for Spurs, after which the VAR could no longer intervene. England was visibly shocked by his mistake in tone as panic set in.
The error prompted PGMOL to improve and refine the VAR process and communication channels – although that was not enough for Jurgen Klopp, who believes the game should be replayed.
England was due to be the fourth official for Sunday’s Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford but was withdrawn, as was assistant VAR Dan Cook for Chelsea’s clash with Fulham.
They will also not feature in any capacity in the Premier League this weekend, while England were withdrawn as referees for Leicester’s clash with Preston on Wednesday
But the pair are expected to return to action after the international break, with The Telegraph reporting that England retain the backing of chief referee Howard Webb.
After a few weeks out of the spotlight during the international break, England are expected to be involved in matchday nine of the Premier League.
However, he will not officiate any matches involving Liverpool between now and the end of the season. PGMOL releases audio of VAR error in Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham
Webb’s predecessor, Mike Riley, generally steered referees away from clubs whose decisions had made them unpopular, but Webb wanted to move away from this approach.
In this case, however, he believes it would not be wise to put England in charge of games with Liverpool in the near future – either as an on-field referee or as a VAR referee .
Although Klopp has floated the idea of a replay, the IFAB – the global body governing the laws of the game – has no plans to change VAR protocols in light of the error and believes that the officials made the right decision by not following the game intervened .
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