Former referee Jeff Winter slams pundits, calls for Neville and Carragher to officiate, and says ‘farcical’ VAR rule will lead to serious injury

In the third part of a Ladbrokes: Fanzone exclusive, former Premier League referee Jeff Winter lays into VAR and calls for Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher to take the controls at Anfield this weekend.

Click on the links for part one in which he reignites his feud with Danny Mills and part two for his experiences as a top-flight official.

Let Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher take over VAR this weekend!

Football is unique. Pundits from 20 years ago, they’ve just regenerated themselves, and you’ve now got people coming out with the same rubbish in a different tone on a slightly different subject. Twenty odd years ago, it was ‘we need technology’, ‘we need assistance’, ‘these referees are costing managers their jobs’. Yeah, of course they are; 38 games in a season, they lose six or seven matches on the bounce…that’s not down to the referee. A decision in a game may have gone against them, but I’m not buying it that – universally – referees cost managers their jobs.

So, they all wanted this technology, and now, fast-forward 20 years on, we’ve got even more problems with the technology they wanted. At the time, I was very much one of the voices that said ‘look, football is not cricket, it’s not rugby, it’s not tennis’. It’s not a game where there are natural breaks, where you can say a ball is in or out, or that kind of thing. Football is the kind of game where you can have appeals for a penalty at one end of the field, and within 15 seconds, you could have appeals for a penalty at the other end of the field.

I’ve changed my attitude now. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I used to have strong opinions on these things. Former players understand the game, we’re being told. They know what it’s all about. They know what is and isn’t a foul. Alright, that’s great: next Saturday, let’s get some ex-players to referee the games. We are constantly being told by former players – by the way, they told us this 20 years ago and I haven’t seen a queue of them passing badges to become referees.

But if they want former players involved in VAR, because they think they’d be much better – and there is a school of thought which would say they couldn’t be much worse – then give them a chance. Turn VAR over to former players next week. Liverpool are playing Man United. I nominate Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. They’ll come to agreement, clearly, impartially, on that game, I’m sure!

You’re never going to get a room of two people, let alone a panel of six, eight or 10 people, where everybody is categorically going to have the same view on every incident. All we’ve done now is transfer the authority from the man in the middle to someone who could well be more senior than the man in the middle, who’s sat somewhere, watching the game as quickly as they can from every possible TV angle. How many times do we see incidents, every week, which, from two or three angles look like a stonewall penalty, but from another couple of angles, don’t? I’m left scratching my head.

Play has got quicker. Players are more adept to going down under challenges – and don’t get me going on the handball rule. It’s absolutely farcical, all of this. And 20 odd years ago, there were several people like me who were involved in the game, who were against technology, other than for clear-cut things like goalline technology. We were telling people to be careful what they wished for, and I’m afraid now the chickens have all come home to roost.

I’d have lost my job if conversations with players had been recorded!

These conversations between officials being recorded in today’s game…I can tell you now, if some of my conversations were recorded, then my career would have been over by the end of that match! I come from a generation where we used man-management to control football matches, and we spoke to players in their language. It wasn’t necessarily abusive to the referee or player directly. You know, no player will say “oh, dear me” when they’ve been caught with a late, high tackle. And, you know, when you’re talking to players on their terms, it helped you to control the game.

The only thing that has improved, for both players and officials, over the years is the salaries these guys are on. And the officials in particular are earning every penny of it, believe me.

I don’t see referees smiling anymore. I don’t see them looking as if they’re enjoying it. There’s no banter between the officials anymore. It’s now become a job of work and you’ve got to feel for these match officials at times. You know, I used to think my name was ‘J Winter 2’, because that’s the mark I used to get in the papers every Sunday. Criticism has always been there. It always will be. But now, they’re being hammered.

You can almost understand referees not making decisions out there. In my day, you made a split decision and a couple of people might have questioned you on Match of the Day or Sky, or whatever. But now, you’re going up to the VAR review board, you’re going to be castigated. Everything is getting scrutinised. Now people are looking at incorrectly given throw-ins which have led to attacks, which have led to goals.

As a fan, you’re left clueless so often now, because of VAR. You’re seeing some wonderful goals being chalked off because of millimetres. Those who tweak the laws and interpretations, and everything else, I think they’ve got a lot to answer for. But, as long as people keep paying the money and going to these matches, things are never going to change. Quite the opposite, in fact. With the insinuation being that they’re going to extend VAR in the near future…well, how on earth you can extend something when it’s not working properly at the moment, I will never know. But that’s where we’re at, I’m afraid.

You’d expect things to change with time, and usually those changes are for the better. But I’m just far from convinced that the game now is better as a spectacle than it was before we brought in VAR.

Lunatics are running the asylum when it comes to offsides

Offsides, you know, we’ve got this farcical situation, and I can’t find anyone who’s in agreement with it… there’s an assistant referee who’s learned the tricks of the trade, running the line in non-league football, junior football, has been promoted to the highest level because of his ability. And now, when a player is three or four yards offside, he can’t put his flag up until that phase of play is over. Well, sooner or later, a player is going to get seriously injured, because a tackle is going to come in, in a situation where the ball should be dead, and a free-kick should have been awarded a few seconds earlier. I just don’t know who makes these interpretations – it’s certainly not players, managers or former managers, and – most of all – it’s certainly not active referees. Because if you went to a referee and explained that idea to them – I can only speak on behalf of myself – I’d have certainly put plenty of arguments forward against the decision.

The lunatics are running the asylum. Football is a simple game, but we’re making it more difficult. We’re taking away the enjoyment. You try standing in a stadium when the ball hits the back of the net now in the Premier League. The normal reaction is to cheer – except for me. I was Billy Boring, looking over to the assistant for any potential flags. But you can’t celebrate properly anymore. And sometimes you’re thinking ‘what the hell are they checking for here?’