Sam Allardyce blasts governing bodies for messing with rules after Brighton controversy
West Brom benefitted from some questionable refereeing against Brighton but Sam Allardyce has still aimed criticism at England’s governing bodies.
He defended Lee Mason earlier this week but does not hold the same sympathetic view of VAR.
Big Sam argues it has made life more difficult, not easier, for officials.
The FA and Premier League – England’s governing bodies – were also a target of Allardyce’s criticism.
“At the moment VAR is hindering referees because it’s putting too much pressure on them,” he said, as quoted by the Express & Star.
“I think the governing bodies have messed around with the rules of the game that much they are so unclear now.
“We should be talking about how good the game is not talking about VAR and what referees are doing.
“There is far too much pressure on referees now.”
Bee in his bonnet
We share Allardyce’s frustration as last week’s controversy could act as a big distraction.
The fact it is still being talked about several days later means it may have been on Big Sam’s mind for some time.
Hopefully that has not affected his work on the training ground this week as we have two massive games coming up.
This issue should never have been such a big deal anyway.
Brighton could have won if they had scored their two penalties – blame their players for not being good enough, not the referees.
Allardyce has also voiced his annoyance with the “irresponsible” Premier League rescheduling the Everton match for Thursday.
It means we will only have two days to recover ahead of a critical game against Newcastle when it could have been played on Wednesday or some point next week.
Allardyce is right to call out the governing bodies but we hope he can concentrate solely on football in future.
In other West Brom news, Carlton Palmer’s defence of a key Guochuan Lai failing is completely wide of the mark.