Keith Hackett: PGMOL control what ‘pundit’ referees say, blasts West Brom decision v Southampton
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive West Brom columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Keith Hackett claims Dermot Gallagher is being paid by the PGMOL and not Sky Sports after the ex-Premier League referee defended the decision rule out Mbaye Diagne’s goal for West Brom on Monday night.
Diagne thought he put the Baggies into an early lead against Southampton at The Hawthorns but his goal was disallowed by the linesman for offside.
However, despite VAR replays showing Diagne wasn’t offside, the offside call wasn’t overturned due to VAR being unable to draw conclusive lines to show where the striker’s body was.
Speaking on Sky Sports on Tuesday morning, Gallagher claimed there was no proof to say Diagne was onside and defended the VAR decision.
In an exclusive interview with West Brom News after the controversy of Monday night, ex-referee Hackett suggested that people like Gallagher are giving off the illusion they are impartial pundits when they are in fact under the thumb of the PGMOL.
“What you’ve got to understand with Dermot Gallagher is that he is paid by the PGMOL – not Sky,” Hackett said.
“He is actually like Chris Foy and, to some degree, Peter Walton, they’re in that pay streak of the PGMOL so the PGMOL can control what they say.”
Unlike Gallagher, Hackett ripped into VAR Kevin Friend and his assistant Simon Beck for their role in not awarding Diagne’s goal.
He added: “If we get back to the basic of refereeing, this is a goal and it should have been allowed.
“I think the whole process is a mess.
“The evidence is in front of them. Without the lines, it’s very clear that the player who put the ball in the back of the net was onside. That should be the default position – forget the lines, you can see very clearly this player is onside.”
Hackett also suggested that the way assistant referees operate in the Premier League has now changed to suit VAR.
He believes assistants flag for offside just to bring on a review, rather to say they actually think a player was guilty of being offside being they score a goal.
“If you talk about the assistant referee, they need
to keep their flags down on offside and then wait for the outcome,” Hackett said. “What it seems to me is that it’s now common practice for when a goal is scored, somebody raises a flag and then there’s going to be a check. I don’t think that flag was raised to actually indicate it was offside, I think it was to say, ‘I’m raising the flag because I want a VAR review’.
“Ultimately, if you’re at Stockley Park, you’re the person who’s got the view in front of you. The lines don’t work so the default position is that you’ve been asked, ‘is it offside or not?’.
“Remember we have a VAR and an experienced assistant VAR in the room and therefore if I can see it on television, they can.
“If the lines aren’t working, they’re still in a position to say, ‘this is not offside’ and get back to what they did before and put a piece of paper and a ruler on the screen.”
In other West Brom news, Don Goodman slammed one “clumsy” Albion player in the win over the Saints.
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