VAR "Expert" Tells Viewers To "Ignore" Sky Sports After Error-Ridden Commentary During United vs Fulham
Published 12:27, 16 August 2024 GMT+1
Manchester United opened their Premier League campaign with an eventful 1-2 defeat to Fulham yesterday evening, but it’s the post-match VAR drama that’s got everyone talking. ESPN’s VAR expert, Dale Johnson, intervened to set the record straight – warning viewers to "ignore" Sky Sports’ commentary after they misled the public with incorrect statements.
The Sky Sports pundits announced a new "Referee’s Call" protocol, claiming that the threshold for overturned VAR decisions had increased. However, sources revealed that this was merely a change of semantics, and the actual decision-making procedure remain the same.
Johnson took exception to this misinformation, tweeting: "Ignore those comms. The threshold for VAR isn’t ‘much higher’ this season. It’s staying exactly the same. ‘Referee’s Call’ is just a new term, not a change of approach."
The Premier League’s Chief Football Officer, Tony Scholes, has since verified Johnson’s claims, stating that the introduced term is merely a clarification of the traditional procedure. Scholes clarifies: "[It]’really is just an introduction of terminology… [to] make it clear that the referee’s call should stand unless the evidence from VAR suggests the referral has been made incorrectly."**
Away from the controversy, the Premier League Launch Centre account on Twitter has made itself useful, providing real-time explanations behind VAR decisions. The account has already guided us through two key incidents today, both of which were waved off by the VAR officials:
- Harry Maguire’s yellow card decision after simulation inside the penalty box.
- The non-awardment of a penalty to United on a challenge by Alex Iwobi and Antonee Robinson.
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