Premier League officials fearful of making bold VAR calls as ex-referee calls for rule changes

A former Premier League referee has claimed current top flight officials are afraid to correct their colleagues' mistakes over controversial VAR decisions, as he calls for major changes to be introduced.

Jeff Winter, who oversaw 185 Premier League matches before retiring in 2004, spoke exclusively to Express sport about issues that arose in the game regarding the controversial video review system.

The 69-year-old demanded action from authorities because VAR creates “controversy every week” rather than eliminating problems and mistakes by officials.

Winter also questioned why some officials are not brave enough to stick to their decisions on the field, suggesting that some anonymous referees are aware of shortchanging their colleagues.

“There are some referees who think 'if I go up against Michael Oliver, the best referee in this country and it's my first season, is it going to look good?'” Winter said, s 'speaking on behalf of FreeBets.com.

“I would love to see some referees say 'no, I thought it was a bloody penalty, I gave it as a bloody penalty'. These slow motions [replays]some tackles look horrible when viewed in a still frame. But in real time, it's an attempt to get the ball back.

When asked what could be done to resolve the issue, Winter believes PGMOL director Howard Webb should be given free rein to tweak VAR and urged the game's lawmakers to stop “playing with interpretations “.

“Howard Webb, who I consider a good friend of mine and an excellent arbiter, if he had the tools and power to lead his group of adjudicators without having to constantly tweak and manipulate interpretations, [he can] sort out VAR,” he added.

“VAR, as I understood it, was supposed to help referees identify a 'clear and obvious error'. I always quote the same old boring one, France's Thierry Henry handball against the Republic of Ireland in the World Cup qualifiers.

“I don't blame the referee, the referee couldn't see it, the assistant referee couldn't see it. It was a form of cheating. [If you ask] 100 people about a decision “is it a penalty or a handball?” “, you'll get a 50-50 split on whether it was or not.

“But something like this [the Henry incident]a clear and obvious error where no one can blame the referee? Great! Let’s have VAR for that.”

“[Look at] goal line technology, all those idiots who said “everyone can see that the ball has clearly gone over the line”, we now live in a world where the system can tell that the ball has gone over the line by a millimeter .

“Now, despite what we say week after week that we don't want to re-referee the match, that's exactly what we're doing.

“I'm no longer involved, but I think the confidence of the officials has been tested because they continue to tweak what is a handball, what isn't. A decision you clearly would have seen made are we now talking about [VAR]”.

As it stands, the only revision currently being considered is a challenge system, which would allow managers to challenge two decisions per match.

The system was successfully trialled at the Women's Under-17 World Cup in September and could be rolled out to men's football next year in an extended trial.