Building on number 5, acknowledge that the skills need to be a good on field referee aren't the same skills needed in the VAR booth. And get rid of arbitrary criteria like only intervening when an error is 'clear and obvious' for something that is factual and verifiable.
What reforms are needed re: refereeing in the PL
- Referee remuneration, career prospects, ethics.
Agreed. Pay must be commensurate to standards and expectations. The key aspect to this, though, is that the pay increase must come with clearer standards and expectations from a legitimately higher authority than the referees themselves. Fail to meet standards, fail to get PL games. Simple as that.
- Referee visibility
I don't really agree with this. The identity of the refereeing team should be transparent and readily available information, especially if point 1 is adopted. This is a key part of accountability. With the increased pay, however, I do think its reasonable to put strict rules on referees themselves in terms of what they are allowed to do and say in public, what kinds of media appearances they're allowed to make, etc. Breaching those terms for fame (or infamy) should constitute grounds for termination.
- Refereeing selection
Many good points here. Bias is fine, actually. The idea that it doesn't exist is absurd, so my solution would be to simply have more referees, and to assign referees based on self-reported biases.
- Conflict reporting & resolution
Generally agreed. However, managers yell at refs because refs respond to being yelled at, are incompetent, and are corrupt and deserve to be treated as such. Mitigate these problems in the refereeing pool, and you then have the ethical standing to start cracking down on manager and player behavior. It's not an aporia - refereeing improvements must come first.
Self-reporting biases should be normalized and de-stigmatized at every level of referee recruitment and training. Refs should probably not be refereeing games involving their childhood clubs, whether or not they feel they can be objective. Have more refs, pay them more, and select from the pool based on performance and known biases. This protects everyone, including refs.
- Governance reform
PGMOL must be disbanded. Referees should probably be governed by the FA as a final decision-making authority.
I think we also need to get rid of the subjective clock. Time-wasting shouldn't even be possible.
Perhaps more radically, I believe we need to add a referee. The lone schoolmaster/cop model is just not a good one. Running the diagonal seems so ridiculously old-fashioned at this point. Put a ref in each half, let them have a quick chat for big decisions, let them choose whether to go to a monitor as well as VAR recommendation, play what they see on the big screen, and give the 4th official a mic to explain decisions. Allow referees to consult with each other in general, and have them explain any yellow, red, or penalty decision. The fact that fans often only learn what a card is for after the match is over is ridiculous.
VAR must be entirely reformed, and be considered an different skill set. Game-day refs should be in the VAR room as consultants only, while the VAR should be specially trained for that purpose. They should advise on literally every single decision when requested, no weird rules. If a corner is contentious, they should just say who kicked the fucking ball out.
Furthermore, the Guidance Handbook should only be used to create more measurable and clear interpretations of the Laws of the Game, and never provide additional discretion or ambiguity. Furthermore, I see no reason why clubs should be subject to interpretations they don't agree with. Any new "guidance" should be ratified by representatives of the clubs in some way.
The biggest problem is fundamentally cultural. You could implement all or none of these changes, but there still needs to be a new, visionary plan that is well-implemented to radically transform refereeing at every level of the game. This includes recruitment and training. We need new understandings of what referees actually do. I very strongly disagree with the idea that referees are there to "manage" games. This is not only archaic, but an essentially impossible task. Referees are there to call the game for maximum fairness and safety, not to play the psychologist or the schoolmaster. They should make and explain decisions according to the laws of the game + any clarifying interpretations agreed upon by the league they are working in. The qualities that should be ingrained through training and awarded through promotion should be consistency, accuracy, speed, comprehensive understanding of the laws, and maintaining the respect of players and coaches - maybe even fans! These are the people they serve, because these are the people who are the game. If referees can hold a high standard (they must) then they can begin to expect such a standard from others, and deliver harsh sanctions on those who do not meet them (i.e., when Arteta goes ballistic at the fourth official, or Klopp tries to eat a linesman's head).
It's the biggest most watched, most well paid league in the world.
Yes by all means pay them more, but also bring in the best referees from around the world. That helps remove the bias accusations.
And yes the referees body should be accountable to the Premier League. They are tarnishing the brand.
I think there should be ex referees in the media though. if done properly it could help young kids who want to be referees learn some more.
Asterix we need to solve the VAR/referee thing.
I was watching two exco members in a meeting recently. One was presenting. The other noticed funny numbers and started asking out of interest. The presenter was clearly not having it out. Later I saw them outside, and it was clear the presenter was taking the interrogator to task.
It's not easy to build cultures where people are open to dialogue and being questioned. So I do not think it's a small task to solve the VAR-Referee dynamic and a lot of thought needs to be put into it. The referees will not accept a non-referee in the VAR room, so the solution will require somebody qualified (whether PGMOL or not) who is empowered to call out the referee. But likewise the referees will need to be trained to listen and distance themselves from decisions
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Claudius Debate: i think one of the big issues here is that once a referee has leaned in and given a decision (penalty, red card), we rarely see him reverse it due to this idea that "we do not want to re-referee the game". that's incredibly stupid. you've spent millions on technology and extra eyes. use it, and create an environment where it's okay to tell the leader that "hey, you got it wrong, we are going to reverse your decision". and also lean on data to encourage referees to take a second look.
Absolutely this. The point of it should be to ensure the correct decision, not to back up the mate in the middle. We're all human and you can't get everything right in real time, that's why the technology should be there. Football could learn a lot from how it works in say cricket or rugby where there is no problem with reversing the on field decision if the replays show it to be wrong and you generally get to hear the whole discussion explaining the decision on TV too.
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That's how a firm's organised. The executives lead the various business activities, the Board oversees the executives with the purpose of challenging them, the second-line is tasked with ensuring risk is correctly identified and mitigated, and the third line audits aspects of the business as an additional layer of security. That's three layers of defence against poor decisions, notwithstanding the business which should have it's own measures in place to identify and mitigate all forms of risk.
The risk of a wrong decision will always exist. VAR was supposed to come in and mitigate that risk by correcting the ref when necessary. Instead, they're in cahoots with each other, when they should be independent from one another. The sad thing is we're more likely to see VAR removed from the game before there's any reform. Blaming the tool instead of the people using the tool.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/fa-statement-myles-lewis-skelly-red-card
Suspension overturned.
In a surprise to literally no one besides Oliver and the PGMOL. Good news for MLS and the club, but lets see how this shakes out with PGMOL. They will not be too happy about it.
USArsenal casting my mind back to the game, I’m actually really annoyed. Not only did they dismiss MLS, we had to sacrifice Nwaneri. They denied two children an opportunity to grow. It’s heinous.
I wonder if there’ll tread carefully around us for a few weeks given the media attention. They will want us to know who is boss down the line though. They will not enjoy being fucked around with
They’ll give us a dodgy penalty or something so that they can counter the claims of bias. Then it will start again
Claudius I wonder if there’ll tread carefully around us for a few weeks given the media attention. They will want us to know who is boss down the line though. They will not enjoy being fucked around with
Are you sure you don't think these guys are corrupt? 
Claudius Not only did they dismiss MLS, we had to sacrifice Nwaneri. They denied two children an opportunity to grow. It’s heinous.
This is a bit of a reach. Denied two children. Heinous. Really?
It’s a terrible decision. I actually don’t think it’s the worst in recent years. The only reason I think the footballing world has thrown their collective toys out the pram is because they know their player could have been the one making that tackle. MLS could have been any one of the dozens of players up and down the country every weekend making tackles like that, so they’re now exposed.
Martinelli’s double yellow? Rice’s time wasting red? Trossard’s time wasting red? Saliba’s header? Those don’t happen to other clubs so they’ve been amusing incidents that don’t threaten them in any way. Now it’s real though, now it could be them.
QuincyAbeyie i associate corruption with misuse of office for favors/cash.
I don't think that is what is happening here. What is happening seems to be an abuse of power. They've created a small, closed group that holds an inordinate amount of power over a larger group. They know they have leverage because they are a valuable resource so should typically be tricky to replace. This power means that they can go unchecked. But until I find solid evidence that they are being paid to throw games, I will avoid calling them corrupt.
I don't really care if they make the wrong decisions on purpose because they're paid money for it or because they get a hard-on from it. I have an issue with them making the wrong decision on purpose, which it absolutely is if a VAR referee takes a decision to support his mate instead of what he thinks is right in isolation.
That’s not corruption, mate
Apologies, I should specify that what I care about is them making wrong decisions on purpose.
QuincyAbeyie you don’t even know if they’re making them on purpose. What you know is the outcome. We can all agree that the outcome is incorrect decisions and it’s detrimental to rhe game. But how do you know that they go out with conscious intent to cheat
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Claudius when you said "they will want us to know who is boss down the line" it sure sounded like they would want to make decisions that let us know who is boss. Did you just mean that they will let us know who is boss by trying to ref as fairly as possible as if nothing has happened?
If the VAR ref thinks one thing and says another to the on-field ref to back him, that's on purpose. Just the "don't want to re-referee the game" thing is admitting that they make decisions they don't agree with, i.e making decisions they know is wrong. Surely you don't think it's actually PGMOL's opinion that MLS should get a red card even if they say so. They would've back Oliver if he gave a yellow as well.