Newcastle were left furious with a number of decisions made by referee Chris Kavanagh during their FA Cup fourth-round clash with Aston Villa on Saturday evening
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 14: Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Sandro Tonali of Newcastle United react after referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant referee Nick Greenhalgh failed to award a penalty during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United on February 14, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Chris Kavanagh was slated for his performance
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Image: Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Chris Kavanagh won't referee a match this weekend after making a series of errors during Saturday's clash between and . One of his assistants, Nick Greenhalgh, also hasn't been selected.
Kavanagh, Greenhalgh and assistant Gary Beswick were officiating without the help of in the fourth-round tie at Villa Park. Although Newcastle ran out 3-1 winners to advanced to the next round, .
They firstly failed to flag for offside in the build-up to the striker opening the scoring for Villa. After that, escaped a red card for a shin-high tackle on Newcastle winger .
And in the most high-profile gaffe, Kavanagh awarded a free-kick - not a penalty - when Digne blocked a cross with his arm inside the box. described it as 'one of the worst decisions he's ever seen'.
For the upcoming round of league matches, both Kavanagh and Greenhalgh have been given the weekend off. Beswick, however, will be an assistant referee for the game between and on Sunday.
Kavanagh is regarded as one of England's best officials, regularly refereeing high-profile fixtures. In January, having taken charge of multiple games, the 40-year-old was promoted to elite list of referees, joining and .
But officials are held accountable by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Their performances are judged by an independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel.
Newcastle legend fumed at the decisions against Villa, saying: "There is perhaps a small excuse for the referee to not see this - and I'm being kind to him.
"But there is no excuse whatsoever for the assistant (Greenhalgh) is, who is 10 or 15 yards away and has had an absolute nightmare today. He cost for the offside free-kick (Abraham's goal) and he's 15 yards away from that.
"Goodness me! If you ever needed any evidence of the damage VAR has done to the referees, I think today is a great example of that, because these guys, I think, look petrified to make a decision today because they didn't have a comfort blanket.
"And that's the damage it's done to the officials. For me, they're actually getting worse because I really don't think that is a difficult decision at all, in fact it's easy and at this standard, that has to be given. There's no excuse for the assistant not to tell his referee that he's got that totally wrong."
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