Referee Simon Hooper, video assistant ref Michael Sailsbury and assistant VAR Richard West have all been omitted from this weekend’s Premier League fixtures after dropping a clanger during Manchester United’s win over Wolves.
United won 1-0 through Raphael Varane’s second-half goal, but they should have conceded a late penalty after Andre Onana smashed into Sasa Kalajdzic and Craig Dawson in the final minute of injury time. Replays clearly showed that Onana – making his Premier League debut – missed the ball entirely, instead making contact with the two Wolves players.
Hooper waved away the on-field protests, before a lengthy VAR check by officials at Stockley Park. However, rather than request Hooper re-watch the incident on the pitchside monitor, his initial decision was upheld, much to the dismay of Wolves boss Gary O’Neil.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the defeat, O’Neil revealed that Jon Moss, manager of the Premier League’s elite group of officials, had admitted that the visitors should have been awarded a spot kick.
“We have just spoken to Jon Moss and fair play to him for coming straight out and apologising and saying it was a blatant penalty and should have been given,” he said. “I spent the afternoon with him today, gave up a lot of my day and preparation around trying to understand the new guidelines and trying not to get myself booked on my first game with the new guidelines, which I failed in.
“Fair play to Jon for saying it was a clear and obvious error and he cannot believe that the on-field ref did not give it, cannot believe that VAR didn’t intervene. It probably made me feel worse actually because once you know you are right you feel worse about leaving with nothing.”
And following the admission from the PGMOL, all three officials have been left off the appointment list for this weekend’s top-flight fixtures. It’s the second time in a matter of months that Sailsbury has been pinged, having been dropped in April following errors during Brighton’s controversial defeat to Tottenham.
Erik ten Hag – unsurprisingly – suggested he agreed with the decision, as his side earned a fortuitous opening-day win: “It is about the referee and VAR. I think the two players from the Wolves, they came together and Andre didn’t interfere. The action from both of them, first was the touch on the ball, I think from Dawson and then came Andre.”
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher slammed the decision and stated that the call was so clear, it should have been made on the pitch by Hooper. “When you look at the images, I feel the referee on the field should get it,” he told Sky Sports.
“If you see where Simon Hooper is stood and how far Andre Onana comes, he comes a long way and Simon can see it all the way through. Onana crashes into the player and it just has to be given as a penalty. It’s got to be a foul.
“I think the VAR should have overturned it. But I wonder if referees are being told there’s a higher threshold and nobody really knows where that threshold is, because one person’s tolerance level is slightly different from somebody else’s. I think the VAR Michael Salisbury has pushed it to the absolute limit. It should be a penalty on the field without a doubt and I thought the VAR should have intervened.”
