Darren England, the VAR at the heart of controversy after Tottenham vs. Liverpool, has been quietly removed from another fixture this week.
After the failure to award Luis Diaz‘s goal on Saturday, England has come under major scrutiny for what PGMOL have described as a “significant human error.”
The refereeing body have explained the situation as England and assistant VAR Dan Cook as having falsely believed they were checking whether the Liverpool winger was onside, to ensure the goal stood.
Instead, their confirmation of “check complete” to referee Simon Hooper saw the goal ruled out and play go on, with England not pulling it back before Tottenham took their free-kick.
Whether that is to be believed or not is up for debate, but PGMOL have acted to take both England and Cook out of the firing line since.
After being removed from duty for their remaining fixtures over the Premier League weekend, neither were appointed for the upcoming matchweek either.
It has since transpired that England was also replaced as referee for another game to take place on Wednesday night.
The 37-year-old was due to referee Leicester vs. Preston in a top-of-the-table clash in the Championship, but he will now not be involved.
Thomas Bramall will instead referee the tie, supported by assistants Richard West and Steven Meredith, with Gavin Ward fourth official.
Leicester are currently Championship leaders after eight wins and a defeat in their first nine games, while Preston are just four points behind in third.
Given the obvious distractions for England at this stage, the PGMOL and EFL have clearly taken the decision to avoid any further errors in such a high-profile fixture.
Cook was appointed assistant referee for Sutton United vs. Salford City, but there has been no clarification yet whether he has also been replaced.
Such is the severity of the situation surrounding England – with Jamie Carragher describing VAR at “crisis point” as Liverpool request audio from Saturday’s game – neither he nor Cook are involved in any games this weekend.
That stretches from the 10 Premier League fixtures to 57 more across the Championship, League One, League Two and the EFL Trophy between Friday and Tuesday.
