West Brom v Preston was hit by controversy. (Credit: Sky Sports)

West Brom v Preston controversy: Ex-PGMOL chief calls for red card after footage

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). FOCUS Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

Published on:

01 Jan 2025, 11:36 am

Preston midfielder Stefan Thordarson should have been sent off in his side's 3-1 defeat to West Brom at The Hawthorns on Wednesday, according to Keith Hackett.

The Iceland international, 26, was booked by referee Bobby Madley for a studs-up lunge on Albion's Jayson Molumby late in the first half.

Replays showed that Thordarson's challenge was high and dangerous and Hackett claims the Preston man should have been sent for an early bath.

However, the former Premier League and FIFA referee admits that Madley didn't have the best view of the incident and could only punish Thordarson for what he could see.

"The Preston player has come in with force and his foot high and studs showing," the ex-PGMOL general manager told West Brom News.

"It should have resulted in the player receiving the ultimate sanction of a red card.

Bobby Madley defended after West Brom v Preston controversy

"In fairness to referee Bobby Madley, he does not have the viewing angle afforded to us and a number of replays. Therefore he can only sanction on what he has seen and made the judgment that the challenge was reckless and a yellow card - not serious foul play and a red card.

Jayson Molumby is now a regular at West Brom. (Credit: Imago)

"The player is lucky and of course, VAR does not operate in the Championship."

Unsurprisingly, after almost getting sent off and conceding three goals in the first half, Thordarson was substituted off and replaced by Ben Whiteman at half-time by manager Paul Heckingbottom.

Josh Maja scored either side of an impressive Callum Styles strike in the first half before Ryan Ledson grabbed a consolation goal after the break for Preston.

Albion are now up to fifth in the league.

In other West Brom news, Albion are ready to accept a £9.9million bid for this player.

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Keith Hackett