Within the weird fallout of Liverpool’s late 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest, it has been erroneously claimed that Paul Tierney was demoted from refereeing obligation.
The furore over Tierney’s failure at hand a drop ball to Forest following a head damage to Ibrahima Konate – minutes earlier than Darwin Nunez‘s 99th-minute winner – has been spectacular.
Ex-referee Mike Dean described the error as “monumental” whereas talking to Sky Sports activities, whereas Mark Clattenburg, who now serves as Forest’s referee analyst, has labored to maintain the choice within the highlight.
In actuality, it was a lapse as widespread as awarding the flawed aspect a throw-in, or signalling for a purpose kick reasonably than a nook.
The true, monumental error was in not even awarding a free-kick for Ryan Yates’ studs planting on the aspect of Ibrahima Konate‘s head.
Tierney had already wrongly given Forest a drop ball for a earlier incident within the sport, however that has largely been missed in favour of headline-grabbing conspiracy theories.
It has since been reported by a variety of retailers that Tierney had been ‘dropped’ from refereeing duties for the upcoming weekend consequently.
The Occasions, for instance, worded their headline to assert that the 43-year-old had been “switched” to VAR for Arsenal vs. Brentford on Saturday, inferring that he had initially been slated to work as a referee.
That has, after all, gained traction on social media, with the favored line being that Tierney had been demoted for his error.
However it’s broadly reported, together with inside Martyn Ziegler’s piece for the Occasions itself, that PGMOL usually are not viewing the appointment as a punishment.
As an alternative, as Ziegler explains, Tierney is solely “amongst a bunch of officers who usually alternate between being referees and VARs.”
The final matchweek during which he was not chosen as a referee was in mid-February – the week of Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Burnley – when he was as a substitute VAR for Luton vs. Sheffield United.
Tierney typically pulls double obligation over a spherical of fixtures, however this matchweek would be the tenth time of 28 (35.7%) this season during which he has not been chosen as referee.
Twice he has not been concerned in any capability, whereas he’s most frequently used as a VAR if not appointed for refereeing duties – and sometimes as fourth official.
Whereas it could actually be argued that referees ought to face punishment extra typically than the PGMOL seem to decide on to take action, this isn’t a type of situations.
Both means, to recommend that Tierney had purposely favoured Liverpool given his historical past of run-ins with Jurgen Klopp – together with through the Forest sport itself – could be ridiculous.
