When Stuart Attwell announced a disallowed goal to the whole stadium in the Tottenham v Liverpool game, it got a huge thumbs up from Stan Collymore.
It was the first time ever in English football that an official had broadcast his decision live over the PA system to those supporters present, and whilst it was, not unsurprisingly greeted with a chorus of boos at the Tottenham Stadium, Stan Collymore believes it could be a watershed moment for the game.
?The first ever in-stadium VAR decision announcement has just been made in English football
?Referee Stuart Attwell confirming Dominic Solanke’s goal for Tottenham vs Liverpool was offside
Still 0-0 in this @EFL Cup semi-final first leg #THFC #LFC pic.twitter.com/kV2S65Pcmo
— Neil Barker (@Mockneyrebel) January 8, 2025
Particularly from the respect of the constant ref bashing that appears to be ingrained in the fabric of the English game today.
Virgil van Dijk was critical of Tony Harrington recently by way of one example, whilst a controversial decision in another Liverpool game also did nothing for the credibility of those employed by PGMOL.
“We’ve seen so many referee-bashing stories in recent months – and over the years – which may well continue, but I think that the interesting thing is that we are now getting full transparency with decision making,” Collymore said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“[…] What’s happening now with refs being heard in the stadium is the first step in English football for it to watch what happens in other sports and other other leagues and learn from that. To see if it works in the Premier League. Now there’s no excuse.
“To hear a referee saying a goal is ruled out for offside, or whatever other decision comes to pass means that the noise and the nonsense surrounding why refs have come to certain conclusions ends on the day. I like that a lot.
“I think it’s one step towards hopefully a position in the next two or three years where referees are in a press conference after the game. They can come out and answer questions, and we’ll go ‘you know what, fair play.’
“Even if refs are demoted one week but back the next, we need to heal our relationship with officials.
“Anything that can be done to enable them to be clear, open and seemingly honest and with integrity gets a massive thumbs up from me.”
With Howard Webb now in charge at PGMOL, things have been heading towards a more transparent way of working given that Webb has been happy fronting up to TV companies to explain how contentious VAR decisions were arrived at.
Though some supporters are bound to see this latest development as the ‘Americanisation’ of the beautiful game, they can’t argue that decisions haven’t been explained to them, and they leave the stadium in the knowledge of why potential game-changing decisions were made.
The post Collymore’s “massive thumbs up” after what ref did in Tottenham v Liverpool game appeared first on CaughtOffside.
