The lead VAR for the Luis Diaz goal offside dispute during Liverpool’s Premier League game at Tottenham, Darren England, WILL NOT be in charge of another Reds game this year.
Since Saturday night, the failure of VAR to recognize Diaz’s rightful goal has dominated the news, prompting reviews and the standing down of referees.
Since the PGMOL removed England and assistant VAR Dan Cook from the headlines, the Telegraph is now reporting—incredibly—that the former will not take part in any Reds games this season.
The 37-year-old, though, won’t lose his job as a result of his involvement in one of the largest VAR scandals.
According to The Telegraph, “it is unlikely that England will be in charge of Liverpool as a referee or VAR any time soon,” which was a strategy used by former PGMOL director Mike Riley while in office.
It is a huge development, but it does assure that the two parties won’t be involved in any further incidents following what will, ideally, be a turning point for VAR and its processes.
The audio between the officials, which was made public on Tuesday, shows a disorganized communication process during which a replay operator was required to point out the error after the goal had been disallowed.
England, who apparently receives a salary of £150,000 annually from PGMOL in addition to match payments, told on-field referee Simon Hooper.
In subsequent comments, Jurgen Klopp recognized that it was “a mistake,” but that “common sense” should have prevailed to come up with a fix as soon as they realized what had happened.
Although the manager acknowledges there are many grounds against it, he stated his own opinion that a replay “would be the right decision.”
