Ex-Premier League referee: Stockley Park should be closed and official sacked after West Ham update
The PGMOL should “close Stockley Park” and sack the head of VAR after the controversial decision to disallow Maxwel Cornet’s goal as West Ham lost 2-1 to Chelsea on Saturday (3 September).
That is the view of ex-Uefa and Premier League referee Keith Hackett, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about his “seven-point plan” to fix VAR.
Cornet thought he had scored his first goal for the Hammers but VAR ruled it out for a foul by Jarrod Bowen on Edouard Mendy.
BBC Sport reported on Sunday (4 September) that the PGMOL have accepted the decision was wrong and would work with the Premier League on a review of the incident.
“I have a seven-point plan to sort it,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“The first thing is, who is the guy, currently, running VAR? Who is in charge of it? After this weekend, fire them. Appoint someone immediately, to take control. We can’t wait until Howard Webb arrives in December.
“Start to put into operation the closure of Stockley Park because at the moment, it is too remote.
“Appoint a panel of VAR operators, only. Ex-referees and I’m not worried about a couple of players being in there if we train them correctly.
“Assign the same VAR to the same referee. The reason I say that is, I did the same with assistant referees. I brought in a process of referees having the same assistants. Add the VAR to that.
“Like in MLS, have VAR operating in a van outside the stadium or in a room within the stadium.
“After the match, review the decisions and discuss with managers and discuss with the media.
“Finally, they’d have to go through IFAB change, but we should all be able to listen in to these conversations that take place. It might enhance what we all think.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire has issued a “furious” West Ham fans claim amid a new legal controversy.