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

Mariner1974 added 12:43 - Nov 5 Hopefully this weekend will at least ruffle a few feathers and it might mean referee's being human will naturally bias back our way later in the season on some decisions. The VAR is so tricky as they're tweaking it after every season, but yet this 'Referee's call' thing has shown to be in accurate, as VAR still gets involved if it feels like it. Seems strange that you can look at an offside decision in the minutest detail, but not each penalty incident or a second yellow offence, which are both massive game changers. Second yellow’s are no different to a red in the damage they cause to a team for the remainder of the game, and to check some pens shouts, but not others seems unbalanced. The fact that Stephen Warnock and Sue Smith were so in shock that Dermot Gallagher sided with the ref, and still when confronted said he thought it wasn't a penalty, shows that whilst humans are involved on the pitch with a whistle and then the same refs are in a booth deciding when or when not to use the technology at their disposal, it's all down to their opinions, allegiances, past actions and fears.

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tempzzzz added 12:44 - Nov 5 clearly only 1 person picked up on my sarcasm in my comment then hahaha Bristol City fans said he would destroy us, how wrong they were! Clearly most people here don't get sarcasm by me saying "he will destroy our club". Anyone who still says that would surely be declared clinically insane! I've met the bloke as well, top fella, always got time for Town fans.
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BlueSkies added 12:58 - Nov 5 tempzzzz - sarcasm doesn't always translate well to a comments forum!
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algy added 13:01 - Nov 5 It's just a PR exercise to appease the fans and distract from the real issues, did the CEO and Manager spend the transfer budget wisely and are our very inexperienced, but extremely well paid, manager and his equally inexperienced cohort of coaches and analysts etc. Capable of deploying a team that can do more than just participate for a season in this league?
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tempzzzz added 13:04 - Nov 5 @BlueSkies - clearly. Would think most people would realise that there will be very few, if any surely, people out there who think Ashton is a problem at the club and therefore realise my comment was sarcasm. I thought the "haha" at the end would be enough to be honest lol
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Berts_chin added 13:04 - Nov 5 Can't believe that changing the manager is something that has to be mentioned. Where would we be now had KMcK never have been appointed? Certainly not discussing how VAR is impacting our season. I can't believe that there's another man on the planet that would give us a better chance of staying up.
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Razor added 14:13 - Nov 5 Well done Ashton-----whilst we all know nothing will come of it we should not just roll over and say nothing----Sturday was the tipping point and people must be made aware that all we desire is fair,reasonable and consistent treatment which just aint happenning. Did the lino signal to the ref about the Phillips incident or did he just decide to send him off anyway--what sort of view did he have from the other side of the the pitch?

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Razor added 14:13 - Nov 5 Well done Ashton-----whilst we all know nothing will come of it we should not just roll over and say nothing----Sturday was the tipping point and people must be made aware that all we desire is fair,reasonable and consistent treatment which just aint happenning. Did the lino signal to the ref about the Phillips incident or did he just decide to send him off anyway--what sort of view did he have from the other side of the the pitch?

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pinewood added 14:23 - Nov 5 They don't want us in the league , it's almost go back to league 1 you upstarts .
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Tedray added 14:28 - Nov 5 It is very interesting for instance is it the ref cum VAR operators making the decisions or are they acting say on a secret Premier League agenda set by the "officials.We have been plagued by problems over the years Alan gilzean once left Frank Brogan in a crumpled heap after an obscene knee high two footed tackle and was not even sent off, why did we often have Norman Burtenshaw from Norfolk refereeing so many town matches in a very biased manner. Who will ever forget Clive Thomas and the disgusting decisions he made v West Ham to deny Ipswich a place in the cup final When town were in the top flight years ago it was rare for them to be awaqrded a free kick against a so called "big" team. So what is new,but it would be good to have a definitive answer. Well done Mr Ashton

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Bert added 14:29 - Nov 5 If Robinson is the official at another Town game I’m sure he will be greeted appropriately. VAR is a forensic clinical tool that does not allow for context. The referee is a human being and we know can be swayed by a crowd. That shouldn’t be so but we all know it happens. Get in his ear I say.
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Carberry added 15:09 - Nov 5 Talks a good game doesn't he.
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OldFart71 added 15:17 - Nov 5 I agree wholeheartedly that fans should be consulted on VAR and whether to scrap it. They are the one's who go to the games. They are the one's for have to endure waiting for a goal check, they are the one's who pay for football. Yes I know some may answer " No" It's channels like Sky, BT etc who fund football. But who pays for Sky, BT etc ? You got it, football fans .Who pay for Sky, go to matches, buy merchandise are unceremoniously herded to away grounds. Made to turn up at stupid-o-clock to watch a match, pay through the nose for a warm beer and a pie with less meat on it than a butchers pencil only to be robbed of a decent day out by a VAR decision.

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Dissboyitfc added 15:55 - Nov 5 Algy ( or should it he algae? ) what a scummy comment!
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Eeyore added 16:33 - Nov 5 On Saturday a Bristol City player knocked the ball out of the goalkeepers hands with his hand and scored. Dont forget how infuriating that is if you are the wrong end of it. VAR should be there to reverse clear and obvious errors or spot serious things that the ref didnt see. VAR should make the game more fair. There are always going to mistakes even if VAR is working well. However, this mistakes should balance out. In our case they are not balancing out. I am sure Ashton will have had a video compilation of all descisions put together for his meeting. I agree with the impartial comments that if Chaplin were Salah, the penalty would certainly have been awarded. I would also point out that the camera operator would have zoomed in a bit more if it was Salah. Did you notice that the camera shot was rather wide for the incident? The commentators on the footage I was watching didnt even acknowledge the possible foul. I think some of the bias is subconscious. Your eye is immediately drawn to familiar figure of Salah (and the camera operator automatically zooms in) while a relatively unknown Conor Chaplin is ignored. Was it just me or was a frame from the MOTD footage of the 'tackle' on Morsy missing? The video jumped just as his arm was held. A convenient little glitch that ! Hopefully Ashton publicising the issue will wake the VAR people up and they won't want more bad reviews. All the VAR operatives must watch MOTD and must have been sitting there wondering about the decisions constantly going against Ipswich. Looking forward to us getting a dodgy pen and a Spurs player getting sent off for sneezing on Sunday ;-)

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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 16:51 - Nov 5 After listening to Bristol City supporters I keep waiting for Ashton to reveal his evil real self . I'm still waiting for him to say and do anything negative. He's been brilliant.
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Marinersnose added 17:01 - Nov 5 Whilst I fully support Ashton voicing his opinion to a very well respected ex referee I don’t see anything changing. I just hope that those incompetent referees don’t then target us and pull together and make our plight even worse. For me Football is now second to the gambling and as this now appears to rule everything Football then many are vulnerable to corruption. Curb the gambling and the game will improve but we know money talks and this won’t happen.

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Linkboy13 added 17:11 - Nov 5 I think the conversation will be very brief Howard Webb will probably say Mark as you insinuating that our referees are not being fair and biased towards certain teams. If Ashton replies yes he could be in aole lot of trouble. As ive been saying for years referees are corrupt teams at the bottom never get treated fairly. It might help if we were more streetwise and went on a course and learnt the dark arts we are a little bit too fair at times. Perhaps employ Tom Daley as diving coach and head off to crown pools and start jumping off the top board.

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Gazelle added 18:21 - Nov 5 How many Premier League refs have actually played the game. Most of those who participate in cricket have played the game at top level.
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SquamishBlue added 18:27 - Nov 5 Have a look at this link...Ipswich have fared the worst with VAR https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40894476/how-var-decisions-affect-premier
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Linkboy13 added 21:39 - Nov 5 Our teams in the champions league must find it difficult having to play with neutral referees. I think with all the money in the Premier league it's time we used officials from abroad with our officials going in the opposite direction. Manchester city have just had a penalty awarded against them surely that can't be allowed.
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surgery added 22:16 - Nov 5 Two penalties. No doubt Pep will be lodging a complaint. That’s not in the rules
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Westy added 08:58 - Nov 6 Just watched the highlights of the Champions League between Sporting Lisbon and Man City played yesterday, and Sporting were awarded a penalty for an incident in the box similar to but not half as blantent as the foul on Chaplin on Saturday - the referee gave it without hesitation and it was not overturned.
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JewellintheTown added 10:11 - Nov 6 Saw Fabio Wardley on a bike along side Ashton who was jogging & air boxing in Christchurch park, so I've put a tenner on Ashton for a knockout in the first round.
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Rimsy added 12:31 - Nov 6 People say these decisions even themselves out over a season. If it's the case, we're in for a storming second half of the season, we'll be flying up the table.
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