Wolves chief rips VAR after 'scandalous' decision

Wolves chairman Jeff Shi has questioned VAR’s remit for decision-making, a day after his team were left fuming when a stoppage-time equaliser against West Ham was ruled out, with manager Gary O’Neil describing the call as “scandalous.”

The Midlands club thought they had made it 2-2 when Max Kilman headed in from a corner, but referee Tony Harrington was advised to check a monitor for an offside decision against Tawanda Chirewa who was in front of West Ham goalkeeper Łukasz Fabianski.

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While Chirewa was in an offside position, Kilman’s header went into the opposite corner, with Wolves claiming that Fabianski had no chance of saving it anyway.

The 2-1 loss keeps Wolves in 11th place and saw seventh-placed West Ham move level on points with Manchester United.

In a statement in which he praised the efforts of his coach and team this season, the Wolves chairman said the standard of Premier League officiating means the “integrity of the competition” is at stake.

“Gary, our coaching team and all the players have done a fantastic job this season that we are all rightly very proud of, especially under the circumstances, with many controversial decisions from match officials affecting the outcome of our games,” he said.

“Despite a summer of change and four days of preparation for Gary and his staff, we surpassed last season’s points with eight games to go. If it wasn’t for a number of incorrect or contentious decisions we would be even further up the table.

“For the other challenges, such as injuries to key attacking players and squad depth, the club can always keep learning and progressing every season, but for the standard and consistency of refereeing, it’s something out of our control.

“When a goal is scored and not one person inside the stadium questions the validity of that goal, including both sets of players, coaches, fans and even the match officials themselves, it’s time to question whether someone remote disallowing that goal is really what football wants or needs.

“It is our sincere hope that the Premier League and PGMOL recognise the importance of addressing these concerns to uphold the integrity of the competition and demonstrate why the Premier League is regarded as the best in the world.”

O’Neil said Saturday that VAR’s decision to rule out Kilman’s goal was one of the worst decisions he had ever seen.

“My view, David Moyes’ view, Fabianski’s view is that it was a scandalous decision. Terrible. Horrendous,” O’Neil, who had to try to calm down his own coaching staff at the final whistle, said.

“It was a terrible decision and I’ll tell you why it’s a terrible decision — because the only way he can impact the keeper is if he’s impacting how he can move, which he isn’t, and if he impacts his vision, which he isn’t.”

For Wolves it was a sucker punch after they let West Ham back into the game in the second half, having earlier taken a deserved lead through a Pablo Sarabia penalty.

Lucas Paquetá‘s penalty levelled it up for the visitors, before James Ward Prowse scored direct from a corner with a delightfully curled effort to put the visitors ahead.

Wolves were then denied an equaliser in the cruelest of ways after a feisty conclusion.

“If you look at the side view, Fabianski can clearly see the ball over Tawanda’s head,” O’Neil added. “He’s a fully qualified, professional referee stood in front of a screen. The whole world thinks it’s a terrible decision, yet a highly qualified referee is stood in front of a screen, with slow-motion replays, and manages to get it wrong.”

On Ward Prowse’s goal, O’Neil said: “I’ve not seen a goal like it since I was in kids’ football. So it was three crazy events, firstly from us to let them back into the game, secondly the second goal which we could do better with and then the VAR decision at the end. Three crazy incidents which have handed West Ham the three points that they didn’t deserve.”