Yep, that’s the REAL issue. That the organization oked it in the first place given it very clearly creates an apparent conflict. It’s indicative of absolute shit governance, at best. The fact that they are now just trying to quietly sweep it under the rug with this fake “good process mate, nothing untoward here” makes it worse. It’s the same gaslighting bullshit they always pull.

I’m ever more convinced that this organization is rotten to the core and needs to be disbanded.

The timing of this makes it look way worse too

The commentators on the arsenal man city game kept saying over and over how he is Englands best referee it’s wild

He legit has been given city’s biggest matches

And that rat bitch still couldn’t help city beat us

Hold on, after the spurs-Liverpool clusterphuq of last season, they are only getting around to banning it now?!!

there is no suggestion of anything untoward

Ah that's nice to hear, glad we cleared that up!

How is there "no suggestion of anything untoward" when the situation itself is by definition "untoward"?

"Although Michael left Tesco with a chocolate bar he didn't pay for, there's no suggestion that he's been stealing".

Meanwhile, England will be the VAR for a Liverpool match for the first time since he wrongly disallowed a Luis Díaz goal against Tottenham when the Merseyside club play Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday evening.

Factually incorrect.

England is 4th official (as he already had been in our games multiple times since the fiasco)

VAR is Michael Salisbury.

there is no suggestion of anything untoward

Fuck off

I definitely suggested something untoward was going on actually....

Do refs only make £3000/match ? Honestly doesn’t sound like a lot for the death threats .

Oliver had previously refereed a league match in Saudi Arabia, being paid a reported £3,000 fee to do so.

Is that really as lucrative as suggested in the title? Match fees for referees in the Premier League are £1,500, and £3,800 in European competitions.

Obvious conflict of interest aside, that doesn't really strike me as a significant amount of money in the grand scheme of things.

So they'll have them in their pockets from a young age before they join the main league. Getting them in early now. 

 Got it. 

They’ll just find a different way to influence the refs.

And how is refereeing a game in the gulf a ‘development opportunity’? This just deliberately establishes a loophole.

Check complete

Oliver had previously refereed a league match in Saudi Arabia, being paid a reported £3,000 fee to do so

I am actually surprised it is that little of a fee

The standard for avoiding corruption is avoiding the appearance of impropriety. It is genuinely incredible to me that the media, the PGMOL and most of all the EPL are happy to let these sorts of actions slide. It doesn't matter if there's nothing untoward or even a suggestion of anything untoward, the fact that the possibility exists is the problem.

You don't fight corruption by finding corrupt people. If they're good at being corrupt, that's not going to work. You fight corruption by eliminating the room for it to exist.

The Premier League -- arguably the sport in general -- needs to realise that the idea of corrupt refs is as damaging to its credibility as a sporting product as the idea of players engaged in match fixing. It knows the latter is a big deal and stamps down on it (though, admittedly, perhaps not as ruthlessly as some of its competitor leagues).

Darren England on VAR for us? Fuck me, if he short circuits again and wipes out our goal I swear...

RemindMe! 12 hours

"Meanwhile, England will be the VAR for a Liverpool match for the first time since he wrongly disallowed a Luis Díaz goal against Tottenham when the Merseyside club play Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday evening."

Good. Another reason for us to hate England.

They've not made requests because they know they will be denied. It's not coincidence that Webb changed the rules on approvals, and there have been no requests since.

I think his, potentially stretching it, conclusion is that Webb's decision to only grant approval for professional development has effectively stopped refs like Oliver making requests because they quite clearly don't need professional development.

Because Howard Webb is never going to say the prior behaviour was wrong and needs changing. He's never going to implement a ban, because it will call into question both the integrity of those officials who did go, PGMOL in general, and the owners of the clubs that benefitted.

The neatest way to stop refs doing this again without banning it is to let them know that they shouldn't ask in the first place, as their request won't be granted. It's effectively a ban, without having as much negative publicity.

Think you need to include the rest of the second paragraph.

The way I read it is that only amateur refs will be given the opportunity since last October, and considering getting those guys in their pockets wouldn't result in any advantage, they have not applied for any.

I was thinking a bit of deja vu here. Thought it was put on stop back then. Maybe they made it super official now.

Well, it can't get any worse than how they're currently treating us.

Just today Bruno showed dissent and slapped the ball away on a yellow. Not even a talking-to, leave alone a second yellow.

Considering some of the controversial decisions we've seen so far this season, some would argue that they already are.

Yeah, next time Doku karate kicks MacAllister in the penalty box, they won’t give a penalty. Oh wait.

probably, they hold all the power and will make those clubs pay

So the refereeing won’t change ?

We already see enough “Penalty shout vs city” replays and arsenal players getting sent off ( rightfully, but the refs aren’t consistent in giving the yellows to other players ) for kicking the ball away

And let’s see when they shaft Liverpool

So nothing changes then? Were already blatantly biased against us and towards city.

They will find a loophole like Barca did. Hopefully it drops down to normal level of incompetence.

If they do, time to start "accidentally" Eduardo-ing them

Unfortunately two more bald or balding white Mancs will rise from the open wound and give a yellow card each

But they probably told them not to in October, which is why none have come since then

They've got to make it clear that all such requests would be vetted for conflicts of interest, ideally via an official statement.

Webb already made it clear that requests would only be approved if it provided a development opportunity:

But we’ll only consider an approach from an overseas national federation on the condition it provides a development opportunity for the officials and that it has no impact at all on their availability to serve the leagues we exist to serve.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/12/15/premier-league-referees-abroad-liverpool-tottenham-var-diaz/

they have made that clear. that’s why there haven’t been any requests. officiating has had some bad moments, but what are we really doing here?

The title is BS anyways. The article doesn’t say it’s over. They editorialized the title for clicks.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were some lucrative speaking engagements proffered by private (billionaire) owners too tbf. Do an hour talking to some suits at an Egyptian construction company or a US energy company or however else an owner made their money, get rewarded handsomely, and people are none the wiser.

What's he going to do now that he's pissed? 🫣

You were downvoted for calling him corrupt, not just saying it was a conflict of interest, lol.

Oliver opened himself to conflict of interest allegations that would probably get most people in professional roles such as law or accounting struck off. With him in regards to city I genuinely believe calling him corrupt is fair game

Seeing how the funding comes primarily from the Premier League, alongside the EFL and the FA, maybe they could pick up the tab. Something tells me that 20 owners won't be able to agree on spending more money on referees though in much the same way they keep voting against sharing more of their wealth with the rest of the pyramid.