Simon Jordan and Danny Murphy call on referees to defy VAR and stop being weak at monitor

If Simon Jordan and Danny Murphy can agree on one thing, it is the lack of conviction shown by on-field referees this season.

Officiating has come under deep and intense scrutiny after a number of bewildering decisions during the 2023/24 campaign.

The problem is made worse by the number of decisions that continue to cause controversy after VAR interventions.

Newcastle were the latest victims on Tuesday night as Paris Saint-Germain equalised with a late penalty which has caused universal outrage.

Tino Livramento was adjudged to have handled from point-blank range after a cross bounced off his chest and onto his elbow.

Referee Szymon Marciniak was not interested until being sent to the monitor by VAR – and then changed his mind.

This is where ex-Liverpool midfielder Murphy believes change is needed.

“There’s a high percentage of decisions – it’s in the nineties – where referees agree with the VAR when called over to the screen,” Murphy told talkSPORT.

“So why do we think referees are losing the capability to have courage of their convictions when they go over to the screen to stick by their decision?

“Is it this togetherness that they have the different screens and the referee feels the need to side with it? ‘I can’t go against all of them’.

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“I don’t see enough referees going to the screen and sticking with their decision.”

Meanwhile, Jordan believes referees need to show more strength and leadership when called over to the monitor if they want greater authority.

The ex-Crystal Palace owner said: “We want the character of referees to have more strength. If we look at that [the PSG penalty decision] like we’ve looked at it, it’s very difficult to see why that is a penalty.

“I would much prefer referees own their decision-making process on marginal calls like this where it becomes very subjective.

“The referee should show what leadership looks like. We’ve got this klaxon call in the media to get off VAR’s back and give the authority back to the referees.

“It feels like you’re defending those who don’t deserve to be defended. In instances like this, you would expect a top referee to go, ‘I’m not going to be swayed, I won’t lose my focus, nothing in that slowed-down image gives me any reason to change my mind’.

“It’s just that they called him to potentially change his mind. That is the kind of leadership you would expect on the pitch from someone who deserves to be cut some slack!”