Everton’s trust in PGMOL ‘not a short-term fix’ as ex-refs chief reacts to new Premier League figures
Howard Webb has a huge task of fixing Everton‘s relationship with the PGMOL following a Premier League season full of mistakes.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that the referee chief could make multiple changes to reduce the number of errors by his officials.
A recent study by the BBC found that the Toffees and Crystal Palace had the most VAR errors (3) go against them during the 2025-26 campaign, though at least David Moyes’ side had one in their favour.
Everton finished 13th in the Premier League, but had VAR been kinder to the Merseyside outfit, they may have finished much higher up the rankings, potentially closer to European qualification.
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VISIT THE EVERTON MATCH HUBEverton impacted heavily by VAR mistakes in the Premier League
The freshest incident in the minds of the supporters will be Mateus Fernandes’ handball against West Ham, one which was overlooked by VAR despite a clear slap on the ball inside the penalty area.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: “First of all, I’ve seen those figures, and I think they are very conservative. I believe the figure is almost double that of the number of errors that have been made.
“How does Howard Webb go about it? Well, this is not a short-term fix. After six years, we’re still seeing poor use of VAR, sometimes an overindulgence and a lack of consistency from game to game.
| Club | Errors in favour | Errors against | Net |
| Everton | 1 | 3 | -2 |
| Crystal Palace | 0 | 3 | -3 |
“And we’ve clearly got people who go into the VAR room having acted as referees who might be competent, but don’t perform well in the VAR room. It is a different skill set.
“How does Webb resolve the issue? I still believe very strongly that he should have a specialist panel of VAR operators, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
“And I get a feeling that he’s going to merge SG1 [Premier League] and SG2 [Championship] referees. That’s the first thing he’s got to do, sort his own referees out. He’s got to then get them performing better and consistently.”
Angus Kinnear already in contact with PGMOL over VAR mistakes
It was reported that Angus Kinnear, CEO of Everton, was set to get in contact with the PGMOL after the Toffees weren’t awarded a penalty during the 2-1 defeat to West Ham in April.
The situation is far more complicated, however, with Hackett suggesting that Jordan Pickford should have been sent off for a challenge on Taty Castellanos, catching the striker high after the ball had gone.
England’s first-choice shot-stopper got away with it completely, not even facing a warning, but that incident was just as controversial as Fernandes’ handball decision.
What all Premier League supporters can agree on, though, is that the PGMOL and its officials require a major revamp, with referees held accountable for their mistakes. That just isn’t happening now.
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