Howard Webb, the chief of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), reportedly believes that West Ham should not have been awarded a controversial late penalty that ultimately led to the dismissal of Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
The Times suggests that Webb, who supervises refereeing in English football, thinks an error was made when VAR intervened to award a penalty to the Hammers against United. Jarrod Bowen successfully converted the spot kick, securing a 2-1 victory.
Less than a day later, United announced that Erik ten Hag had departed the club. He has since been succeeded by Ruben Amorim, who will officially commence his role during the forthcoming international break.
The game was tied 1-1 at the London Stadium when Danny Ings fell in the penalty area following a collision with United defender Matthijs de Ligt. Despite no appeals from the Hammers, VAR, Michael Oliver, stepped in and instructed referee David Coote to review the incident again on the pitchside monitor.
After several replays, the referee reversed his initial decision and awarded the penalty. This outcome left United languishing in 14th place in the table with just 11 points from their first nine matches and saw the Hammers leapfrog their opponents in the table.
The decision to award a penalty has faced widespread criticism and scrutiny. It now appears that Webb is among those who believe the decision should not have been overturned, with the Key Match Incident Panel also reported to have deemed the decision incorrect.
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The incident could be a hot topic on the upcoming episode of the Mic’s Up programme, set to air next week. This isn't the first instance this season where the PGMOL chief has had to concede an error against United, with Bruno Fernandes successfully appealing a red card decision from a previous match against Spurs.
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