‘No excuse’ – Stan Collymore reacts to what he saw from referee in Liverpool’s defeat to Spurs
Stan Collymore has given his reaction to one thing that Stuart Attwell did during Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham on Wednesday night.
The referee is in the spotlight after his failure to show Lucas Bergvall a second yellow card for a reckless lunge on Kostas Tsimikas just before scoring the match-winning goal, with impartial journalist Dale Johnson explaining in detail why the official got it wrong.
Earlier in the match, the 42-year-old made history by being the first whistler in English football to announce a VAR decision to fans at the stadium, informing spectators over the public address system that Dominic Solanke’s goal was ruled out for a marginal offside.
Collymore in favour of in-stadium VAR announcements
In his latest column for CaughtOffside, Collymore has welcomed the innovation of VAR decisions being read aloud to fans at stadia, which had previously been witnessed at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The former Liverpool striker wrote: “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.”
A step in the right direction, but more still needs to be done
We agree with Collymore that the introduction of VAR verdicts being announced to fans at the stadium is a step in the right direction, but more still needs to be done to improve the transparency of the process.
The former Reds striker mentioned the possibility of referees facing the media after a match to explain big decisions, which is something that we’d very much welcome. If an under-pressure manager is compelled to face the music in public after a heavy defeat, why should officials avoid the same obligation if they’re adjudged to have made a serious error?
Ange Postecoglou has made it clear that he’s not a fan of the VAR innovation, while Arne Slot wryly observed that it would’ve been more informative for Attwell to have explained why he neglected to show Bergvall a second yellow card for his challenge on Tsimikas.
While neither manager involved last night seems convinced by the in-stadium announcements, it’s still better than doing nothing to keep match-going fans informed about crucial decisions.
There remains plenty to be done to improve the VAR process and the overall standards of refereeing in this country, but as Collymore says, at least we’re seeing some progress being made towards greater transparency.
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