Newcastle United told to call PGMOL chief after ‘infuriating’ Kai Havertz ‘statement’ – ex-Fifa official
Newcastle United have been on the end of “too many poor decisions” this season, according to Keith Hackett.
The ex-Premier League official, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, suggested Eddie Howe should have called PGMOL chief Mike Riley and “demanded reasoning” for the officials performance at Chelsea.
Newcastle’s 1-0 at Stamford Bridge was clouded in controversy.
Referee David Coote and VAR official John Brooks decided against awarding Jacob Murphy a penalty after a clumsy challenge from Trevoh Chalobah.
The duo also opted against sending off Kai Havertz for an elbow on Dan Burn, with the Chelsea striker later scoring the only goal of the game.
As quoted by the Chronicle (13 March), Havertz justified his actions by saying “you have to use arms to jump” against a player of Burn’s size.
When asked for his assessment of Burn’s comments, Hackett told Football Insider‘s Dylan Childs:
“That is almost a recognition in his statement of what he has done. To then see him score the winning goal… It is infuriating for Newcastle fans.
“I really do think they have had a number of poor decisions go against them this season.
“Eddie Howe should have been on the phone to Mike Riley on Monday morning demanding a reason for another two poor decisions. If Howe was clever, he’d have his analysts put together a video of the season and all of the decisions that have gone against them so far.
“They have been on the wrong end of too many poor decisions. Newcastle have every right to ask what is going on.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire has claimed this may be real reason PIF chose Newcastle over Chelsea as new details emerge.