Keith Hackett blasts Fulham penalty decision v West Brom
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League & FIFA-listed referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at West Brom...
Keith Hackett has blasted Michael Salisbury for his awarding of a penalty to Fulham in their 3-0 win over West Brom on Saturday.
The former Premier League official has called for VAR to be introduced in the Championship after the shocking decision to penalise Kyle Bartley.
Hackett believes that now the technology has settled in the Premier League, there is no excuse not to have it in the second tier.
Speaking exclusively to West Brom News, Hackett said, “Terrible.
“Michael Salisbury was promoted to the Premier League list of referees at the start of the season so is regarded highly, but has not yet had a Premier League game.
“It’s obviously a big game for him, but this was a wrong call. He doesn’t have the comfort value of VAR, so I think ultimately, now VAR has settled down when you consider the Championship, the impact of an error from a referee can be big.
“The Championship should now be considering the introduction of VAR.”
Shocking.
We still can’t believe this one.
How on earth Salisbury handed Fulham a penalty for this is simply embarrassing, and there is no other word for it.
Introducing VAR is all well and good, but if the officials are having to rely on that for simple decisions such as this one, they aren’t good enough.
Salisbury blew far too quickly and it was incompetent officiating – something tells us that he won’t be getting that debut Premier League call anytime soon.
Thankfully, another game is never too far around the corner in the Championship and hopefully we can put this behind us with a big win against Hull on Wednesday evening.
In other West Brom news, this journalist has predicted a major January transfer move for this “unbelievable” striker