Unai Emery Howard Webb Richard Masters, Aston Villa PGMOL Premier League
(Credit: Hasan Karim - Breaking Media / Imago / Getty Images)
Keith Hackett
Tue 27 May 2025 8:00, UK
Keith Hackett has given his verdict on the validity of legal action from Aston Villa against the PGMOL.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the laws of the game protect the referee themselves against any sort of “legal challenge”.
Villa‘s dreams of qualifying for the Champions League were shattered as a resurgent Man United claimed a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford.
However, the match was mired in controversy. Emi Martinez was sent off on the stroke of half-time, a decision that Hackett was unconvinced by.
But despite being down to 10 men, Aston Villa thought they had taken the lead through Morgan Rogers.
That was until referee Thomas Bramall disallowed the effort before it had even hit the back of the net, stopping VAR from being able to intervene.
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Late goals from Amad and Christian Eriksen gave the home side the win, allowing Newcastle to qualify despite losing 1-0 to Everton.
Aston Villa miss out on over £80m after Morgan Rogers goal disallowed
The lost revenue to Villa for missing out on qualification to the Champions League is expected to be in the region of £80-100million [BBC Sport].
As often happens in a moment of this magnitude, both in a sporting and financial sense, the talking heads rush to the option of clubs suing.
Richard Keys suggested in his blog that Aston Villa may launch a legal challenge, but as Hackett revealed, the Premier League and PGMOL have prepared themselves for such eventualities
Morgan Rogers Aston Villa
Morgan Rogers saw his goal unfairly disallowed by Thomas Bramall. (Credit Imago)
Aston Villa ‘legal challenge’ unlikely says Keith Hackett
Speaking to Football Insider exclusively, former PGMOL chief Hackett explained the avenues with which Aston Villa can voice their displeasure after Bramall’s error.
“The laws of the game protect the referee from any legal challenge; in that sense they can’t challenge the decision.
“They can’t legally challenge the referee by way of his performance, but there’s a pathway of communication.
“PGMOL is an independent company that’s funded by the Premier League, the Football League, and the FA.
“Sitting on the board of directors of the PGMOL are usually, but not always, the CEO of the Premier League, the Football League, and the FA.
“Aston Villa are a shareholder of the Premier League so they have the right to discuss an aspect of a refereeing decision or a refereeing performance.
Most used Premier League referees, Michael Oliver
The most-used Premier League referees this season. (Credit: Imago)
“There’s plenty of channels and the first one is 30 minutes after the end of the game, the manager can knock on the referee’s door and seek guidance or clarification on any decision, that’s the first point.
“The second point is that they have a match observer appointed by the Premier League, a former manager or a former player, and the manager of the clubs can consult with that match delegate.
“They can write a formal letter to the Premier League or to the PGMOL by way of its board of directors, those are the lines of communication.
“Believe it or not, the Aston Villa manager could actually express his concerns with the League Managers Association, who might take up his case.
“There are plenty of channels of communication in order to get their unhappiness across in terms of a refereeing performance.
Keith Hackett
“But a legal challenge? I think it’s unlikely that that would take place.
“When you have a situation like this, you don’t want to repeat it in the future, so the process should be, how can you learn from that situation? What can you learn?
“We can look at the referee individually and we can look at an error we can look at the laws [of the game] and we can actually judge that decision.
“You can also use that experience in film clips to discuss with your referees, referees will make mistakes, they’re human.
“How can you avoid them in the future? That’s the whole aspect of it and when it all calms down hopefully someone will learn from it.”
Hackett then predicted how the PGMOL would respond to the situation.
He said: “If I was in the seat I would try to calm things down, but they’ll take the first line of defence, and that’s to try and defend an error.”
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