It is also available in Europe. In April of this year, Nottingham Forest accused the Premier League of putting a referee in the VAR who sympathised with Luton TownThe problem was that both clubs were fighting relegation and, after losing 2-0 in that game against Everton, they were just one point above their rivals in the fight to stay in the league. “We have already warned the PGMOL that the VAR referee is a Luton fan, but they have not changed him. Our patience has already been tested several times. Forest will now consider options,” threatened the club in a situation that we often think only occurs in South America.
In the end, Town were relegated and Forest were saved. However, with that scandal as a precedent, the Premier League wants to avoid further bad experiences and has decided that Starting this season, referees will have to reveal which team they support to avoid discrepancies like the one that occurred last season..
The target at that time was Stuart Attwellwho was the VAR referee in the defeat against Everton, was a supporter of Luton Town, Forest’s rival team in the battle for relegation. “They made three terrible decisions, three sanctions not imposed, which we simply cannot accept,” the club said on its X account.
Stuart Attwell, the referee of the dispute. Here, arguing with Manchester City player Jack Grealish. Photo: Reuter
At the meeting, Howard Webb, head of the Premier League referees’ association (PGMOL), said that referees will have to declare “any specific interests” for this season and if anything were to change during the course of it.
“We will look at it and make adjustments if we think there might be a conflict of interest if you declare yourself a supporter of a particular team. If you have played for a club, that’s also true. We’re trying to get more players to move into refereeing, so that’s something we need to work on. And if you have personal connections with people who work at clubs, that’s also true. We’ll make an assessment of all that and take that into account when appointing referees,” Webb said.
Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
NFFC will now consider its options.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024
The changes in the Premier League for the season that starts
The 2024-2025 Premier League season kicks off this Friday with the match between Manchester United and Fulham and is accompanied by minor changes, such as improvements to the VAR, reduced injury time, lineups published with more advance notice and the elimination of the winter break.
The competition begins this Friday, August 16, due to the fact that the week of vacation that was given to the players in January has been eliminated and instead the start of the Premier League has been delayed by a week to give the players time to recover from the effort made during the Euro Cup, the Copa America and the Olympic Games.
In addition, this will be the first season to feature the semi-automatic offside feature, which has already been used in UEFA competitions as well as at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. According to the Premier League, this technology will speed up decisions by an average of 31 seconds and can be used at the end of one of the three international breaks between September and November.
The Premier League is aiming for greater and better communication in VAR decisions.
The clubs voted unanimously, following a request from Wolverhampton Wanderers, not to remove the VAR with a view to this season, but the Premier League has committed to improving its use and protocol, so now the referees will explain their decisions through the stadium’s public address system, while the Premier League will also clarify what happened on the pitch through its social networks.
In terms of stoppage time, last season the average was around three minutes per half, so it is expected that this figure will drop this season as referees are ordered to, in addition to adding time for the usual interruptions, only start adding time thirty seconds after a goal is scored and not immediately after it has been scored as was the case previously.
Finally, clubs will have to announce their line-ups 75 minutes in advance, instead of an hour as has been the case until now. This will be in line with UEFA competitions.
Minor changes include allowing five players to warm up on the touchline at a time and allowing ball boys to hand the ball to the goalkeeper as long as they are behind the goal. According to the rules that apply to other outfield players, players must not receive the ball from the ball boy, but must collect it from a cone near the line. This is to avoid wasting time.
