‘Speaking to others’… David Ornstein shares what he’s now hearing after Arsenal’s VAR statement

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Arsenal broke rank this weekend as they outwardly backed Mikel Arteta after he criticised the referees after the Newcastle game at the weekend.

Usually, Premier League clubs remain impartial in terms of official communications, but this season, we’ve seen two big teams put out club statements questioning the officials.

Liverpool were the first team to do this after Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal against Tottenham back in October, and Arsenal have followed suit after this weekend’s game against Newcastle.

We’re in unprecedented times here, and many are starting to wonder what is going on behind the scenes and if these teams are conspiring to undermine the PGMOL.

However, speaking on The Athletic Football Podcast, David Ornstein says that he’s not aware of any concerted effort to try to change officiating in this country.

No conspiracy

Ornstein shared what he’s been hearing after Arsenal’s statement.

“The Arsenal one is subjective and therefore statements are like ‘what are you trying to achieve here?’ Speaking to others at their clubs. I don’t think this is some sort of concerted effort with Liverpool and now Arsenal with others to follow and there’s a big plan to change the PGMOL, and we’ll see statement after statement. I’m not sensing that at all and if it is happening I’m not aware of it.

“Actually, the Arsenal statement has produced the opposite effect across the industry where they may try to discuss this more in private channels with Howard Webb, the PGMOL and the Premier League. Right now, unless I’m missing something, I don’t think it’s a sign of things to come.”

Setting a precedent

Arsenal and Liverpool may not be working in cahoots to undermine the referees, but they are setting a precedent.

Indeed, the fact that this has now happened twice in the space of two months may have opened the floodgates for clubs to continuously put these messages out when they feel wronged, heaping more and more pressure onto the referees and the PGMOL.

Mistakes happen in sport, it’s just human nature, and while it may be frustrating, making a huge circus around these sorts of things isn’t helping anybody.

This story isn’t over yet, not by a long shot.