Darren England won’t be allowed to work on matches involving Liverpool after his error sparked embarrassment for the PGMOL.
England was the VAR official who failed to overturn the incorrect on-field decision to rule out Luis Diaz’s opening goal in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat by Tottenham on the weekend. He followed the correct process but then told referee Simon Hooper to allow the on-field decision to stand by mistake.jordan 7 greater china
The audio from the decision-making process has since been released by the refereeing body the PGMOL, who have also taken England and assistant VAR Daniel Cook out of the firing line for this weekend’s fixtures. The 37-year-old has also been told he won’t officiate Liverpool for the remainder of the 2023-24 season after Jurgen Klopp said he'd like the game to be replayed due to the “unprecedented” nature of the blunder.
However, The Telegraph reports that England won’t be sacked because he retains the backing of chief refereeing officer Howard Webb. That will please Klopp, who has reserved his fury for the decision itself, not the person behind it.
Asked about the officials in a press conference on Wednesday, he said: “That’s my view. I’m not angry with anybody. They made a mistake and felt horrible, but we shouldn’t go after people and they don’t deserve any further punishment.”
England will miss out on the £1,200 match fee he would have normally received for working on a Premier League game this weekend. He earns around £150,000 per year and has previously worked on Europa Conference League games as well as Champions League qualifiers.yeezy foam runner comfort
While working on the Diaz offside decision, England’s emotions were clear after the mistake was pointed out to him. He said: “They’ve restarted the game. I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. ****!”
After releasing the audio, the PGMOL said: "We recognise standards fell short of expectations and acknowledged the error to Liverpool immediately after the conclusion of the fixture.” They added that the need for efficiency should not come at the expense of accuracy and promised a “new VAR Communication Protocol will be developed to enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions”. A new step to the VAR process will also be added in an attempt to prevent the kind of mix-up which occurred in the Liverpool game.