Claiming that referees are dishonest is as laughable as it is disgusting, writes IAN LADYMAN. The clubs are the bad guys here

There was a time when the decision made by the guy blowing the whistle was final. Of course he made mistakes. But it was accepted as part of sport, of life. He made his call and we all went home and grumbled quietly.

But that was before we started demanding perfection from a frenziedly competitive environment that is completely unprepared to support it.

This was before goal-line cameras multiplied from six angles for every different tackle and, inevitably, before red lines were drawn on the pitch by men sitting in west London car parks , dressed in immaculate outfits and looking at everyone like boys. who weren’t good enough to be chosen for the school team.

And now here we are, marooned in a VAR world that has made things worse instead of better. This insane quest for perfection has not led us in this direction and never will. Instead, it sent us all into a dead end called chaos, where anarchy and open revolt awaited us behind the trash cans.

We could talk about all this about a club and its megalomaniac owner. We could reduce Nottingham Forest’s name to dust and count the days until the inevitable accusations from the FA land on their doorstep.

Nottingham Forest have released an inflammatory statement following their 2-0 defeat to Everton.

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis runs historic club recklessly

But Forest seems quite capable of drawing attention to himself without any help, and besides, it’s not just about them. No, it’s about the dreadful sense of entitlement that began to fester among top clubs once we somehow managed to make them feel like decisions made on the playing field are no longer definitive but in one form or another open to debate and negotiation.

This in a nutshell is what VAR did. This took power away from match officials in the middle of the action. This has encouraged the idea that decisions issued by arbitrators are there to be challenged, changed or clarified. And it was always going to happen. The very culture and essence of how a decision is made has been fundamentally changed by the technology that was supposed to lead us to some sort of sporting nirvana.

Forest embarrassed himself, that’s for sure. A big club is being run recklessly by its owner Evangelos Marinakis.

But they are not the first to take this undignified path this season. Liverpool were ahead, issuing a statement demanding “transparency” after a VAR error wrongly allowed an on-field call to disallow a Luis Diaz goal at Tottenham in September. Then, after November’s defeat at Newcastle, Arsenal followed suit, asking the PGMOL – the Premier League’s refereeing arm – to look into refereeing standards.

The tone was not as confrontational or accusatory as that adopted by Forest after Sunday’s defeat at Everton. But the underlying message was clear: Clubs that felt shortchanged on match day were no longer ready to shake themselves off and move on to the next game.

Transparency is the word clubs use when they actually want a scapegoat. All of this is an attempt to intimidate public officials and those who represent them into a kind of accountability and accountability for mistakes that ultimately helps no one.

Forest were on the wrong end of Anthony Taylor’s decisions on Sunday. The referee and his VAR team had a terrible day. Two of the three penalty requests were clear. They impacted the course of the game and it’s hard to take. But it happens. It’s sport. This was never meant to be fair.

For Forest to presume the bias of VAR manager Stuart Attwell before Sunday’s game and publicly insinuate it afterwards was as outrageous a move as I’ve seen from a Premier League club this season.

VAR took power away from match officials in the middle of the action

Stuart Atwell’s professionalism called into question in scandalous Forest move

Referees are asked to declare their allegiance to the club at the start of each campaign and even to that of members of their immediate family. Officials are therefore not assigned matches involving these teams or even close geographical rivals. Other factors – such as league positions and the perceived importance of a particular match – are not taken into account, nor should they be.

Our referees and assistants are not perfect and never will be. They must always aim to be better and Sunday at Goodison Park underlined that. But these are professional men and women paid to make honest, emotionless, and bias-free decisions. The moment we begin to doubt that this is happening is the moment the very fabric of what happens across the country every weekend begins to crumble.

It doesn’t matter who supports our referees. They are adults. Their performance is monitored and peer-reviewed every step of the way. If they make mistakes, they will be demoted, rested or kicked from leagues. That’s enough.

Howard Webb’s intention for transparency was understandable, but now fans want more

PGMOL chief Howard Webb, despite his best intentions, did not help matters. By broadcasting VAR conversations on television shows and standing in front of cameras to explain the thought processes behind decisions, a thirst for disclosure has not been satisfied. The opposite happened. Today, our clubs, managers, players and supporters simply want more. They believe that they should benefit from such microscopic examination whenever something happens on a field that they do not necessarily like.

This is the essence of modern football at the highest level. Any expressed desire to serve the good of the game should be viewed with suspicion. It is usually a thinly disguised land grab or clumsy power grab. It’s motivated by self-interest and more often than not as obvious as a ball placed in the center.

Frankly, the suggestion that our referees are dishonest is as laughable as it is disgusting. The next time you’re at a football stadium and want to know where the cheaters are, you’ll see them running around with numbers and names on their backs.