Keith Hackett: West Brom must invite referee to special behind-the-scenes meeting after Jake Livermore trouble
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 insisted that West Brom must invite a referee to their training ground to go through red card offences.
The ex-FIFA official admitted that certain players pick up reputations after Jake Livermore picked up yet another straight red card and a four-match ban along with it.
Hackett admitted that those players are watched more closely, and refresher courses can benefit clubs and players if needed.
“I think that referees do prepare,” he exclusively told West Brom News.
“Players all go on with an even hand when they enter the field of play, but you know full well that certain players do daft things and you keep an eye on them. If you gain a reputation, then believe me referees are aware of it.
“You do gain a reputation, and then the action of the referee is to prevent, so then a lot of referees get in that players’ zone and are prepared to shout, ‘careful’ or whatever.
“So, I think what this club needs to do, is to get a referee in and have a discussion around challenges using video, and say these are acceptable, and these are not.”
Reputation.
This is really starting to become a problem at The Hawthorns.
If you’re picking up constant red cards, you are never going to be able to consistently get wins in the Championship.
Livermore isn’t the only one, though, we have had this issue with Jayson Molumby, Sam Johnstone and Darnell Furlong already.
Why is it happening? Six red cards in 31 games is not good enough.
Maybe it is time for an intervention, and it would not be a bad decision to open the doors of the training ground to a referee to come and explain things.
In other West Brom news, Chris Lepkowski has hit back at one ’embarrassing’ Baggies moment v Blackburn