Exclusive: Major PGMOL action tipped after Chelsea and Aston Villa incidents
Keith Hackett believes controversies involving Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson and Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings show Howard Webb needs to kick off a major process this summer.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that referees must be stronger when responding to players using an elbow against an opponent, with laws laid down to all prior to the new campaign.
With the season now over, current PGMOL chief Howard Webb will be making preparations and assessing the changes that need to be made by top-flight officials ahead of next term.
There will be hope that includes a more consistent approach by referees to certain issues, one of which is the punishment of an offence with the elbow.
Nicolas Jackson, Tyrone Mings get different elbow outcomes
Last month, Mings avoided a red card after elbowing Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott, as Aston Villa played out a 1-1 draw with the Cherries, despite it breaking his jaw.
However, it would be a different story just a day later, when Jackson and his side made the trip to St James’ Park.
On that occassion, the Chelsea striker was sent off after catching Newcastle defender Sven Botman in the face with his elbow.
The fact that only one of these incidents was punished with a sending off highlighted the inconsistency there is with dealing with such offences.
Hackett though, is hopeful that action will be taken to ensure that changes from the start of the 2025/26 campaign.
Chelsea and Aston Villa offence repeats should have same outcome
After being asked by Football Insider if he wants and expects more consistency over how the use of an elbow by a player is dealt with, Hackett said: “I think that the PGMOL in the last three or four years has failed to grasp the basic problems that are taking place in the game.
“There appears to be no real consistency in what I’d term to be upper body fouls, so for example, what you’re getting from holding and grappling.
“When somebody is holding you, you’re reaction as a player to break away from that holding situation and the arms are raised and that’s when you might see the deliberate use of an elbow.
“So for me I think it’s pretty clear that in the summer, in which the PGMOL will have a summer conference and they will determine how long they’re going to interpret for the example the eight-seconds law [for goalkeepers holding onto the ball] and how that’s going to be dealt with.
“But I think there is a bigger issue around the safety element of the game and the image of the game. So the image is grappling, holding, pulling, deliberate use of elbow, in the case of penalty areas is usually completely ignored. So I think that’s the first thing they’ve got to do, they’ve got to say ‘look we’ve got to grip that’.
“On the deliberate use of elbows, alert them. Give them examples, in that conference where all referees are in attendance, you have to run through those incidents and say ‘this is what we’re going to do’, so you set a criteria.
“Then what you do is you’ve got the approval of your board – PGMOL, Premier League and the FA – and then you do the round-robin tours, three organised meetings for the Premier League.
“They take place over three days and the reason they take place is that the managers have to attend [one of those], so it’s for Howard Webb to tighten up a bit…”
“So any change, be it the laws of the game and the [training of] referees, because they’ve got to be trained very clearly, then what you’ve got to do is lay that down, and what Webb’s got to do is ensure it’s not a six-week mirage.
“Of course you’ve got to inform the media of what you’re going to do, so he has a big role in the summer.”