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Ashton: We Need Answers, Howard Webb to Meet Us at Portman Road This Week Monday, 4th Nov 2024 20:27
Mark Ashton has revealed referees chief Howard Webb is set to visit Portman Road this week as the Blues chairman and CEO looks for answers regarding the various refereeing and VAR decisions which have gone against the Blues since the start of the season and in particularly over the last three weekends.
During the Manchester City game on the campaign’s second weekend, the Premier League champions were awarded a penalty after referee Sam Allison had reviewed footage following a VAR review, but a similar incident at the other end wasn’t even looked at.
Against Everton a fortnight ago, a penalty was awarded when Jack Clarke was tripped before referee Michael Oliver overturned the decision after VAR had intervened.
At Brentford, referee Lewis Smith initially gave a free-kick to the Bees after Harry Clarke had fouled Keane Lewis-Potter but again VAR looked at the incident and deemed that the infringement had taken place inside the box and the West Londoners were awarded a penalty.
It was Saturday’s game against Leicester which triggered Ashton to make a call to Webb, the chief refereeing officer for the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), Town having been denied what looked a stonewall penalty at 1-0 by referee Tim Robinson, who appeared to be in a position from where he couldn’t clearly see the incident.
According to manager Kieran McKenna, the claim was looked at by VAR but not overturned. The situation was compounded by Kalvin Phillips being shown a very harsh second yellow card moments later.
In the days since, various ex-players and former officials have pontificated on the penalty decision.
“I get frustrated and I get angry at things when they don’t go our way, but I thought Saturday was a real injustice,” Ashton told BBC Radio Suffolk’s The Blue Hour.
“And those who know me know I care passionately about this football club and I will give my last breath defending this football club. And I made that very, very clear to Howard Webb.
“I thought long and hard today about what I should and shouldn’t say, knowing I was coming on tonight, this has been planned for along time, so there’s no knee-jerk reaction.
“I live in a world where if I say too much I’ll be put on a charge, so what I’m going to say to you know is putting me on that line.
“But I’ve tried to be honest and open with this fanbase since the day I joined, so I’ll give the train of events as they unfolded on Saturday.
“I actually messaged Howard when we were 1-0 up because I had a sense of the way this was going to go. I’ve been in this game a long time and I could feel it.
“I messaged him simply and said, ‘Look, can we speak directly after the game?’. We spoke directly after the game and some of that conversation needs to remain private because I’ll end up being on a charge, I’ll end up being on a stadium ban, I’ll end up being fined, none of which worries.
“But the context of some of what I said to him was this. When we were promoted to the Premier League in the summer, I’d never worked with VAR ever, so it was very new to me.
“And the Premier League presented to me why we should support retaining VAR, Wolverhampton Wanderers had made a petition for it to be removed.
“We listened to Wolves and we listened to some other clubs and we listened primarily to the Premier League and on the basis of what I was told, we supported the Premier League’s decision.
“And a key part of that was how high the bar was going to be set for decisions to be overturned and overruled, and at what point VAR got involved in the game.
“If I was asked to make that vote again tomorrow, I can’t look you in the eye say I’d vote the same way because I am still angry, I’m still frustrated.
“I think what I’ve seen thus far with VAR, as someone who has spent a long time in the Championship, who loves and cares passionately about this game, from an entertainment perspective, I believe the games are worse off with VAR from what I’ve seen in my own personal view.
“All I ask for with refereeing and VAR is consistency and we have not seen consistency. I do not personally believe and my colleagues don’t personally believe we have seen consistency over the games.
“You go back to Man City, penalty at one end, not at the other end and I could go on and on about specific instances, and they’re not [consistent].
“All I look for is consistency and right now, I’m confused. I think as a coaching staff we’re probably confused.
“The culmination of that interesting, shall we say, conversation with Howard on Saturday night is that we will meet this week at Portman Road to discuss it because we need answers, we need to understand.
“I can’t understand some of the decisions that were made, the refereeing decisions and I struggle to under stand why we weren’t awarded a penalty.
“I’ve seen on international broadcasters today, former referees giving their opinion that it’s not a penalty. You cannot be serious. Come on, don’t just back your former colleagues. It’s a stonewall penalty.
“Then why isn’t it VARed, why isn’t it checked? I don’t know and I need to have answers. I need to have answers for my manager, I need to have answers for my coaching staff, I need answers for my key stakeholders and more importantly I need to have answers for this fanbase.
“But I go back to the beginning, this fanbase needs to understand I will give my last breath fighting for this football club and I didn’t enjoy that Saturday, I felt there was an injustice to everyone in this town and this county, and I want some answers.”
Meanwhile, Ashton reiterated that the Cobbold Stand rebuild is a long-term aim and revealed that building behind the West Stand is an option under consideration in order to prevent the club losing significant capacity when the 53-year-old Cobbold is knocked down as the club ultimately aims towards a 40,000-seater stadium.
The Blues CEO also said changing the manager won’t enter his head, that McKenna is going nowhere this season whatever happens with the Blues currently in the relegation zone.
Photo: TownTV
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Wolves tabled a motion to scrap VAR in the summer, but all 19 other Premier League clubs voted to keep it. Let's have another vote, and this time consult the fans.
Whoever from the referee association thought it was a good idea to put this pension plodder on, just shows the absolute incompetence of the referee'ing standards.
They bring on these referees to protect the referee, not to actually have a genuine open discussion, it's just a bloody PR stunt. What a pillock, this is just making the whole situation worse.
Howard Webb, you were actually an alright referee, sort this crap out and hire younger up and coming talent who has actually played the focking game.
Get rid of these plum looking failed footballers clinging on to some relevancy to still be part of the game.
Top man ,sort those biased lot out Mark. How we never got given the penalty is beyond me. If that had been Salah being bundled over at Anfield,it would have been given all day long.
refs don’t have a tricky job. They seem to make it hard for themselves and cannot work out what they find so difficult in the VAR room. Must ditch the pitch side monitors
Just exactly as I’d hoped and wanted ! HW has some very considerable ground to make up ; and it’s extremely interesting that MA actually phoned him during the P Rd match at the weekend !Little doubt there’ll be measured words of thought through censure behind ‘closed’ doors ,but also no doubt Mark Ashton will have powerful arguments to lay before HW. It’s not at all good that those operating VAR remain in and on the closest of terms with on field colleagues ; the ‘decisions ‘mentioned in this article all bear explanation ,no excuses, but it would be refreshing if afterwards HW arranged for last Saturday’s officials to also come along ! Mentioned often has been ‘ the line of sight ‘ ; BUT aren’t the Asst Refs supposed also to advise — did they and what did they see or say ? Equally ,was the Ref concentrating on action around KP ,rather than the crucial events ? MUCH needs ultimate explanation! Well done MA - and have a really open and forthright exchange of views with HW: there’s a lot at stake for Football ! COYB
The phrase is...contact with comsequence, well there plenty of that. Food on Stephen Warnock backing us too, basically astounded by Dermot Gallaghers opinion that it wasn't a pen. IWe as a club have been told to install VAR at Portman Rd.....well I may as well buy a Porsche and keep it in the garage!!! Well done Kmck and MA for speaking out and talking sense. I really do.believe we will.stay up and first win v Man utd, 100%
I think the issue is bigger than Howard Webb. Why is the PGMOL part owned by the premier league + football league? The referees need to be entirely independent and the Gov need to intervene.
I agree with Warwick blue. It won't get us the points back. At 2-0 on Saturday Leicester would not have come back. We would probably still have lost the Man City game.....even if the trip on Leif had given us a penalty....we are down at least a few points from where we should be. Interesting about Wolves....they were denied a win against Man City due to a debatable last minute VAR decision. I'm certainly no conspiracy theorist....and never thought I would say this but I think there may well be some subconscious prejudice against the PL's smaller clubs when it comes to big refereeing decisions..... I think the best we can hope for is that we lay down some sort of marker that we will not be quiet about this and I expect that Webb will have an uneasy day at PR. Rightly so
McKenna is staying. He’s the best thing to happen to the club for years. I support him and the team 100%! Don’t understand people who think otherwise. Mark Ashton is also a breath of fresh air.
The referee on Saturday was shocking and not just for the big decisions. Jamie Vardy,was up to his old tricks but didn’t get booked. Leicester’s goal, from where I was at, looked to have a number of fouls committed by Leicester during the play, right up to the goal being scored.
ThenLeicesters manager, postmatch, says they were the better side and should’ve won. Absolute *****!
The bias against Ipswich has been plain to see from game 1, when we received 3 yellow cards in the first half against Liverpool despite making fewer fouls. And the yellow cards have kept on coming although we are far from being a dirty team. We missed out on stonewall penalties last season and we thought we would have got them with the benefit of VAR. How wrong we were.
As an old pensioner I have watched the game for many many years and seen some good and some awful refereeing. I was prepared with the technology available to give VAR a go, but in the PL it has ruined the game, it's not the disruption or the time taken but the fact with all those video angles they can still get it wrong so many times. I don't remember the World Cup being so bad, but in England it has been a disaster, it's is literally ruining the game I love.
The bottom line to the officials should be, if you can't get it right, then just don't do it at all. I'd rather take the swings and roundabouts of decisions as long as justice is fairly administered and doesn't favour the 'big boys'.
Glad this is being persued - it needs to be. I don't like VAR but there is nothing actually wrong with the technology, it is the people behind it who are the problem. Are they even watching the same game?
Very pleased to read this but we should respect the fact that alot of what Howard Webb will say to Ashton will remain confidential. Every single media outlet has said it was a penalty but sadly the rules will be interpreted to say it was not because it was a coming together. It was no such thing. The Leicester player pole axed Chaplin to prevent a goal scoring opportunity. Westy is right, it is the people sitting in a van remote from the game and the context who are at fault.
Three is a big problem with football that extended across FIFA, UEFA, FA, EPL and PGMOL and its overseas peers. Excess money is at the heart of it but look at what we face.
1. VAR and wider onfield refereeing standards and consistency. 2. FFP rules and inconsistency with sloppy punishments 3. Transfer deadlines varying between regions. 4. Too many inconsequential international fixtures and breaks (and now a stupid new world club cup also) 5. Excessive Cost for ordinary fans to watch a game on TV even if it’s a few hours later. 6. Owners who know nothing about football and only in it for money 7. Sporting directors et al who know little about football 8. The degradation of the role of managers 9. Corruption
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