Premier League referees are ‘SCARED to make a decision’ because of VAR, claims Mark Clattenburg

Mark Clattenburg believes the introduction of VAR has left the new generation of Premier League referees afraid to make decisions.

Clattenburg, who spent 13 years as an official in England’s top flight, admits the new technology affected his own performances out in China – and he has spotted the same ‘fear’ in the Premier League.

While the older generation were used to making split-second decisions, referees of today’s game are able to rely on VAR as a safety net if they are left with any doubts.

When Clattenburg became a professional referee in China, he noticed that his style of managing a game had changed significantly because of the new technology, which made him question his own role.

The 47-year-old told Footy Accumulators: ‘VAR’s caused a big problem. It happened to me when I went to China. I started not refereeing. I relied on VAR. After the first month, I was going to quit, going “What am I doing?” I lost my core ability to make a decision. As a referee, you made split second decisions. I was so comfortable doing it. 

Ex-Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg believes new officials are ‘scared’ to make calls

Clattenburg feels the introduction of VAR technology has had a negative effect on officials

‘I could have needed VAR sometimes, but not to the amount they use it now. I was frightened to make a decision. I see these referees now, there’s a fear and they’re scared to make a decision. When you’re scared you don’t make one. And then the VAR doesn’t make one either.’ 

VAR drew widespread criticism last week after failing to spot a host of potentially game-changing incidents, including when Tomas Soucek denied Chelsea with his arm inside the box during West Ham’s 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Despite protests from Chelsea there was no punishment for the apparent handball, as referee Craig Pawson initially missed it and VAR felt Soucek was using his arm to break his fall rather than to intentionally stop the Blues from scoring. 

Clattenburg said: ‘It was a brilliant bit of goalkeeping, but because the referee doesn’t give it, the VAR doesn’t want to give it because he’s breaking his fall. Then you’ve compounded a mistake. 

‘If the referee had just given the penalty, because he should have had the courage to blow, VAR would have supported it. 

‘We’ve still got all these problems, referees not making original decisions which we did in our time. That’s the difference.’

The 47-year-old former Premier League referee, who quit a job in Egypt last month following threats from fans, also felt that the previous group of experienced referees had moved on from the top of the English game, and the replacements did not have the same gravitas as a long list of former officials including Howard Webb, Phil Dowd and Mark Halsey.

However, Clattenburg said that he was not a fan of comparing referees from different eras, in the same way that football players are tough to compare because of the way the game has evolved.

Clattenburg made split-second decisions as a leading official, in England and around the world

Older referees including himself and Howard Webb have been replaced by inexperienced ones

‘I’m not a big lover of comparing because the game has changed so much,’ Clattenburg said. ‘I think referees are fitter now, because maybe the group’s got younger.

‘Referees haven’t got worse. The group got older, and you’ve lost experience. Webb, myself, Dowd, just three in that little quick era with Halsey, we’ve lost at least 80 matches in the Premier League because we all would have refereed at least 20 matches. 

‘Over the years, we’ve lost Atkinson, Moss, Andre Mariner’s getting older, Dean, Mason, Friend, Mike Jones. They weren’t getting the top games, but they could do 10, 15 matches. You’ve lost a lot of experience, and you’re replacing them with a lot of inexperienced referees.’

The Premier League issued a statement saying that they were ‘disappointed’ by the performances of their referees during fixtures on Saturday February 11, with changes made to appointments for upcoming fixtures after incidents during West Ham’s draw with Chelsea and Arsenal’s draw with Brentford.