Ipswich boss willing to risk stadium ban due to VAR ‘unfairness’

Ipswich Town chairman Mark Ashton has criticized the “infairness” of a major attack on VAR after his side were denied a penalty in a 1-1 draw at home to Leicester City on Saturday.

Ipswich were 1-0 up in the 77th minute when Leicester Fatawu Issahaku crashed into Conor Chaplin inside the penalty area. Referee Tim Robinson allowed play to continue, resulting in Calvin Phillips pollution Ricardo Pereira and received his second yellow card. The VAR did not intervene or advise a penalty.

It’s the latest in a string of frustrations Ipswich have had with the video assistant: the day before the Premier League match against Leicester, Ashton said Howard Webb, the PGMOL chief referee, would “see my number fucking flashing.” much more” to complain about decisions.

Ashton has hinted that if the Premier League holds another vote on the future of VAR, he will vote to abolish it. In June, Wolves made a proposal for the future of the video review system but received no support, losing 19–1.

“I thought Saturday was a real injustice.” Ashton told BBC Suffolk. “Those who know me know that I care passionately about this football club and will give my last breath defending this football club. I made that very, very clear to Howard Webb.

“I live in a world where if I say too much I get sued and what I’m about to tell you now is probably over the line, but I’ve tried to be honest and open with these fans. from the day I joined. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll tell you about the events that unfolded on Saturday.

“I actually wrote to Howard when we were 1-0 up because I had an idea of ​​how things were going to go. I’ve been in this game for a long time and I felt it. It felt like injustice was coming, and I didn’t like it, so I texted him and asked, “Can we talk right after the game?” We talked right after the game, and some of that conversation has to remain confidential because I will end up being prosecuted, suspended from the stadium, or fined.

“None of this bothers me, but the context of what I told him was that. When we were promoted in the summer, the Premier League told me why we should support keeping VAR. Wolverhampton Wanderers have launched a petition to have him removed. We listened to Wolves, we listened to other clubs and we listened to the Premier League first and foremost. Based on what I was told, we supported the Premier League’s decision. A key part of this was how high the bar would be set. decisions that will be overturned and reversed, and at what point VAR is going to intervene in the game.

“If I were asked to vote again tomorrow, I couldn’t look you in the eye and say I would vote the same way because I’m still angry and I’m still disappointed. As someone who has spent a long time in the Championship, and from what I have now seen with my own eyes (in the Premier League), from an entertainment point of view, I think the game is worse with VAR.”

Ipswich have had three VAR decisions against them this season – penalties awarded against Manchester City and Brentford, and a disallowed penalty against Everton – and none of them went in their favour. They did have a claim against City which was ruled a referee error by the Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel but did not reach the threshold for VAR intervention. The KMI panel has yet to rule any VAR decision for or against Ipswich in error.

“All I ask from the refereeing and VAR is consistency and we are not seeing consistency. Personally, I don’t believe, and my colleagues don’t believe, that we have seen consistency in games. Go back to Manchester City – one penalty.” end, not the other end, I could go on and on about specific cases.

“Right now I’m confused. I think we as a coaching staff are confused. The culmination of this “interesting”, shall we say, conversation with Howard on Saturday night is that we will meet this week on Portman Road to discuss this, because we need answers. We need to understand. It’s hard for me to understand why we weren’t given a penalty.

“It’s a penalty for the wall. So why doesn’t VAR check it? I don’t know. I need answers for my manager, for my key stakeholders and, more importantly, I need answers for the fans.”

“And as I said, I will give my last breath fighting for this football club. I didn’t like Saturday. I felt it was unfair to everyone in this city and this county. And I want answers.”

Although Ashton would not talk about bias against larger clubs, an accusation that put Wolverhampton manager Gary O’Neill in dispute with the Football Associationhe didn’t reject it.

“I’d like to see statistics on this but it seems to be skewed towards the bigger clubs,” he added. “I really hope not. I hope that the situation will improve as the season progresses.

“When I was on the board of directors of the Football League, I was involved in numerous committees that involved referees, and there are some really good referees. But we need to have consistency.”

“At the moment I don’t see such a sequence. Some things are checked, some things are not checked. Some things are cancelled, some things are not cancelled. I’m sitting in the hot seat and I don’t even realize it. “