Former referees have been having their say on the controversial decision not to award Everton a penalty for a handball by West Ham United’s Mateus Fernandes
Former refereeing chief Keith Hackett has blasted Michael Salisbury and declared “he should be kicked out of the VAR chair” after the official failed to recommend Everton be awarded a penalty for handball in their 2-1 defeat to West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Replays showed West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes clearly reaching out his arm and flicking the ball with his hand when defending against Everton striker Thierno Barry in his own area.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter), Blues fan Bradley Cates pointed out that it was also Salisbury on video assistant referee (VAR) duty on December 20, who didn’t think the challenge by William Saliba was a penalty when the Arsenal defender floored Barry in the area by kicking his foot.
Subsequently, the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel voted 3-2 that the on-field decision by referee Sam Barrott to not award a penalty was incorrect. They also voted 3-2 that VAR Salisbury should have sent the match official to the monitor to change his decision.
Replying to Cates, Hackett, a former FIFA-listed referee who took charge of Everton’s 1-0 win over Liverpool at Wembley in the 1984 Charity Shield before replacing Philip Don as the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, remarked: “He should be kicked out of the VAR chair.
“He is just not good enough. He ignored the grappling and must have missed the deliberate handball.
“Everton fans let down again by poor officiating. Where is the Assistant Referee – sleeping?”
Everton’s players and manager David Moyes were left outraged by the decision, but VAR believed it was accidental handball rather than deliberate.
“The referee’s call of no penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that Fernandes accidentally handled the ball while grappling with an opponent,” a post from the Premier League’s Match Centre read on X.
On the decision, Moyes said: "I'm a bit surprised. I've been to see them [the officials] and VAR are saying it was grappling – well, the boy marking him was grappling. He punched the ball. It would have been harsh, but I'm amazed they haven't given it.”
Former Premier League referee Mike Dean from Wirral, a Tranmere Rovers fan, also believed the Blues should have been awarded a spot-kick for the incident.
Speaking on Sky Sports, the 57-year-old appeared both exasperated and animated as he said: “It’s a penalty. He’s backed into him, he’s put his arm round and knocked the ball with his hand.
“It just has to be a penalty... it has to be a penalty.”
However, another former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg disagreed.
The retired County Durham official, 51, is infamous as a nemesis among Everton’s fanbase following his own refereeing display in their Merseyside derby defeat at Goodison Park on October 20, 2007.
Liverpool triumphed 2-1 thanks to a 92nd-minute penalty from Dirk Kuyt, who had also earlier netted from the spot in the 54th minute.
Clattenburg sent off two Everton players, Tony Hibbert and Phil Neville, but it was his two non-decisions for the Blues that courted the controversy.
He failed to send off Kuyt, who would go on to score the winner, for a flying two-footed lunge on Neville and then refused to point to the spot when Jamie Carragher wrestled Joleon Lescott to the ground in stoppage time.
Clattenburg, who didn’t officiate another Everton game for more than four years and then had to wait another two before taking charge of another match at Goodison, owned up to his errors almost 14 years later Carragher’s podcast The Greatest Game.
Speaking on the Fernandes incident at London Stadium, Clattenburg told Everton News: “It would have been harsh to punish West Ham’s midfielder Fernandes for a handball when the ball touched his hand.
“The midfielder does not try to touch the ball with his hand while fighting for the ball with an Everton forward. The best decision was to play on.”