‘Poor’ decision by PGMOL to pick Bramall for Villa game – Hackett

Former referees’ group boss Keith Hackett described the appointment of Thomas Bramall as a “poor management decision” by Professional Game Match Officials Limited.

After conceding 2-0 to Manchester United on Sunday, Villa complained to the referees’ body PGMOL about Bramall, who had “big mistake” in missing out on the Champions League.

Morgan Rogers nudged the ball past United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir before the Villa midfielder netted the ball for a foul in Bramall.

The video assistant referee (VAR) was unable to intervene because he stopped play before the ball crossed the line, which Bramall believed to be true despite television footage suggesting otherwise.

Villa’s complaint centers on the appointment of “one of the most inexperienced referees in the Premier League.”

Bramall, 35, first refereed in the Premier League in August 2022, and his games this year have mostly been in either the top flight or the second tier, with 11 in the Premier League and 12 in the Championship.

Bramall has officiated the second-most top-flight games this season out of the ten referees appointed for Sunday’s final round of the Premier League, ahead of Lewis Smith, who took charge of his seventh game against Leicester.

In response to former Villa star Gabby Agbonlahor’s criticism of Bramall’s performance in a Talksport video, Hackett said PGMOL “do not learn.”

Our top referee, former Premier League player Michael Oliver, was operating VAR on a game, the former referee added. What a poor management choice.

Hackett, who was PGMOL’s former head under the name Professional Game Match Officials Board, added that he “would have anticipated that one of our top officials” had been chosen for the Manchester United-Aston Villa game.

He continued, “It was shocking and disappointed” that Oliver had been chosen as VAR for Tottenham’s defeat by Brighton, and that it was “difficult to comprehend” why he wasn’t chosen to referee “a big game” in Sunday’s final round.

PGMOL stated to BBC Sport that it does not make any comments regarding how individual match appointments are made.

All match officials are required to complete a declaration of interest form before the start of each season in accordance with PGMOL’s hiring policy.

Officials who do not have a conflict of interest in a game, such as video assistant referees and assistant video assistant referees, are only permitted to officiate games.

This includes organizations they support, organizations that have first-team competitive matches, or organizations that are affiliated with the official residence in another city or town.

Officials are also prohibited from participating in games that directly involve clubs that have strong ties to those clubs in which an interest has been declared.

A club’s association with another club is up to PGMOL’s discretion to determine whether that club has a strong relationship.

Howard Webb, the PGMOL chief refereeing officer, has the option to change the appointments at his discretion.

If Villa had defeated Manchester United, Newcastle would have qualified for the Champions League in fifth place after losing to Everton on Sunday.

Because Oliver loves Newcastle, he could not have led the game against Everton.

However, it’s not clear if that also meant he wasn’t chosen to officiate Villa or Manchester City or the Forest-Chelsea game because those teams were competing with Newcastle to earn Champions League qualification.

Unai Emery’s side defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the final Premier League game of Unai Emery’s reign.

Not only was he the only experienced referee in Sunday’s final round not chosen as the on-field official.

Although not in the middle for any of Sunday’s ten games, Chris Kavanagh, Simon Hooper, Peter Bankes, and Samuel Barrott have all spoken in 20 or more Premier League games this season.

Former Premier League official Chris Foy claimed that while many referees “would have given a foul in that situation,” Bramall’s decision was an “unfortunate incident.”

He claimed that Bramall’s performance in Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth on May 20, a match that featured a straight red card for each team, impressed BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.

Foy continued, “He was deserving of his appointment and was merited the [Villa] game.”

Unfortunately, because he took his time to give the penalty and made a really wise decision, we’re talking about it.

He seemed to be doing very well, but sadly, we’re discussing this particular decision.

Shay Given, a former goalkeeper for Newcastle and Aston Villa, said Bramall would “learn” and “grow” from this circumstance.

He continued, “Let’s not forget that Thomas Bramall is a person.”