ROY KEANE provided a brilliant response when Howard Webb revealed that Fifa are trialling a bold rule change that he suggested.
Former Premier League referee Webb, 53, joined Keane and Co for a wide-ranging conversation on officiating.
Having hung up his whistle in 2014, Webb became the chief refereeing officer for the PGMOL in 2022.
In his job, the Yorkshireman has had a hands on role in the implementation of VAR in the Premier League.
This week he joined Keane, Gary Neville, Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Wayne Rooney on Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet.
During the conversation, Neville brought up that Keane had recently suggested changing the implementation of technology in officiating to a system in which coaches would receive one challenge per match.
Asked if this was something that could be feasible, Webb revealed: “We’ll only really know by seeing it in practice.
“Interestingly enough, at the moment is the Under-17 Women’s World Cup, England are playing there, we talked about it earlier Jill, and we’ve just finished the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia, the 17s is in Dominican Republic.
“They’re using this on trial, so each coach has two challenges a game, it’s called…”
At this point, Webb was interrupted as Wright slapped Keane on the arm and joked: “You’re wasted here!”
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Keane, 53, then joked: “I’m wasted here! I should be working for Fifa or something.”
Through laughter, Scott quipped: “Can you imagine Roy, head of Fifa?”
The former Man Utd skipper then put on a pretend stern face as he replied: “What’s wrong with that Jill? What’s wrong with that?”
As Neville howled with laughter, Keane continued: “I’ve worked at the highest level, I’ve played at the highest level… I’m sitting here eating chocolate.”
Webb went on to boldly claim that there have only been two VAR errors so far this season, a significant reduction on the number recorded at this time a year ago.
He said: “I don’t think we managed expectations well in terms of VAR. We knew it was always going to be a situation where it was going to do well on those clear situations, the ones where you think, ‘That’s clearly wrong on first view’.
“We have this independent panel which has got ex-players on it, and they judge each decision each week, and according to the panel there has only been two VAR errors this season compared to 10 at the same time last year.
“We’ve been better at hitting the mark but that can change and we’re not going to get complacent, but it’s been better. For me, the biggest thing of all is that it’s been quicker.
“The average delay last season through VAR was 70 seconds per game and this year it’s 25 seconds.
“I said to the guys, ‘Don’t ponder for too long, if you see a situation that jumps off the screen then get involved, but if you’re having to think about it too much then just say check complete because we’ll leave it with the referee on the field’. That’s why the term, ‘Referee’s call’ is useful.”
TV sports presenters make a mint.
The biggest and best are signed up on yearly deals with the likes of the BBC, ITV and Sky for your viewing pleasure.
Laura Woods is dominating the media landscape at the moment, leading TNT Sports’ coverage and ITV’s.
Alex Scott and Jermaine Jenas are two of the fresher faces for the BBC’s sporting output.
Then, it’s the old guard of Gary Lineker and Mark Chapman who also command hefty fees for their Match of the Day programmes.
SunSport has taken a look at how those big names rank and compiled a list of the top 10 highest earning stars that grace our TV screens.
With number one worth a whopping £29.4million more than number 10!
Read the story and see the full list here.
