Veteran referee and PGMOL chief Howard Webb has admitted that a key mistake was made during the refereeing of the game between Arsenal and Manchester City over the weekend.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited head, who refereed in the Premier League and various international tournaments for over a decade, was speaking on the latest episode of Match Officials Mic’d Up: the new show which digs into officiating and VAR controversies of top-flight football matches.
While the latest edition covered various decisions from recent football matches — including breaking his silence on the highly controversial VAR error and subsequent leaked audio from the Spurs vs Liverpool the week prior — one instance they also chose to focus on was Mateo Kovačić‘s potential sending off,
The Croatian midfielder, who signed for City this summer, brought down Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard with what Webb dubbed “clearly a poor tackle”, going on to say that “if a red card had been given by Michael Oliver on the day it would have been a very straightforward check complete”. Instead, he only saw yellow.
🗣 "[Michael Oliver] doesn't want to have a negative impact on the game by overreacting."
PGMOL chief Howard Webb admits Manchester City's Mateo Kovačić was "extremely fortunate" not to be sent off against Arsenal 🟥 pic.twitter.com/nrSjokPGHE
Howard Webb smirks as he admits the City midfielder was very lucky to stay on the pitch against Arsenal.
As the 52-year-old attempts to explain to former England striker and co-presenter, Michael Owen, the angle and position of the foot in relation to wear it lands on Ødegaard’s ankle was slightly different to that of Chelsea’s Malo Gusto, who saw a straight red after VAR overturned an initial booking just the day before.
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Insisting that the video referees at Stockley Park didn’t see enough to correct the first official in this case and didn’t want to risk “re-refereeing” the game, he ultimately said he could see why the first decision stood despite protests in the stadium.
However, as anyone who watched the game will know, just 15 seconds later, Kovačić put in a similarly poor challenge on Declan Rice and despite a chorus of home fans chanting “off, off!”, as well as Gary Neville saying “he’s in trouble” during the commentary, the 29-year-old still somehow stayed on the pitch.
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Here’s the second mistimed tackle just moments later:
When asked by Owen if he thought he was lucky to stay on after this second rash lunge almost immediately after the previous one, Webb said that although by the laws of the game “the VAR obviously can’t get involved with second yellows… he was an extremely fortunate player to stay on the field.”
Arguing the other side a little and reassuring his belief that Michael Oliver is “one of the best referees in the world” at present, he did go on to say that the ref will no doubt go back and review his own decision in this case and that he was obviously trying to avoid “a negative impact on the game by overreacting”.
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At the start of this new Premier League season, rule changes included referees being told to be more lenient when it comes to challenges and, where possible, to refrain from stopping play for some challenges in order to let the play run more freely.
It was the only incident that arose during the game either, as a touchline tiff also occurred just after full-time with stadium footage shedding new light on what exactly happened.
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
11th October 2023 
