The Premier League's refereeing body is undergoing a major overhaul with chief Howard Webb working on creating a pool of 'VAR specialists' to boost accuracy. There will also be a new VAR manager to replace Neil Swarbrick, who is retiring at the end of this season, as well as Adam Gale-Watts taking over as technical director and Jon Moss becoming Select Group director. A flux of new coaches will be brought in to work with on-field referees on their tactical awareness in fixtures, too.
This serious collection of changes is at the behest of Webb, whose team of 'VAR specialists' will focus solely on being video officials, whereas this season there have been on-field referees filling in at Stockley Park – such as David Coote, who will referee Newcastle-Tottenham on Sunday and then act as VAR for Manchester City-Arsenal on Wednesday. According to PGMOL statistics, shown to Mail Sport on Tuesday, there has been a stark increase in accuracy since the mid-season World Cup. Figures show that 33.3 per cent fewer mistakes have been made since the tournament in Qatar. Likewise incorrect interventions are down from occurring every 24.3 games to 37.5 games, and missed interventions are down from 21.4 to 12.2. The stats were collated by the Independent Key Match Incidents Panel, who meet each Thursday to deliver their verdict on major decisions in matches. Previously secret, the five-person panel is now known to be made up of Rob Green, Karen Carney, Jonathan Walters, Steven Reid and Terry Burton. Webb took over from Mike Riley midway through this season with a view to ensuring officiating in England is the envy of other countries, much like the quality of football is considered to be. The video technology continues to cause controversy with fans confused and frustrated by what they saw as inconsistent handball decisions last weekend.
Source: Daily Mail