Referee Darren England will not officiate another Liverpool fixture this season. However, he will not be sacked and has received support from Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chief Howard Webb.
That's according to a recent report by The Telegraph. This decision comes in the wake of England's involvement in Liverpool's controversial 2-1 Premier League defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, where a goal by Luis Díaz was wrongly ruled out for offside.
England, along with assistant VAR Dan Cook, was in charge of VAR for the match. The PGMOL admitted that a "significant human error" had occurred during the game, which ended with Liverpool down to nine men. On Tuesday, audio of the incident was released, highlighting the magnitude of the mistake made by England and Cook at Stockley Park.
READ MORE: Premier League rule could mean Spurs vs Liverpool replay in theory, but there is a catch
READ MORE: Liverpool must be wary of another possible suspension after Premier League rule made stricter
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp called for the match to be replayed, stating that the audio did not change his opinion on the matter. Klopp believed that a replay should be the only outcome due to the unprecedented nature of the error. However, it is unlikely that a replay will take place, a fact he also acknowledged.
Following the controversy, England was stood down as the fourth official for Nottingham Forest's match against Brentford, while Cook was replaced as an assistant referee for Fulham's derby with Chelsea. The report suggests that neither England nor Cook will be involved in this weekend's round of Premier League fixtures either. While Webb aims to move away from keeping referees away from clubs where they have made unpopular decisions, it is unlikely that England will officiate Liverpool matches as a referee or VAR anytime soon.
Sign up for our EXCLUSIVE Liverpool.com newsletter!
![Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.](https://i2-prod.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/article28219150.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/0_GettyImages-1748470251.jpg)
If you enjoyed this piece, you'll love our Liverpool.com newsletter — once a week, we send exclusive, bonus content only to people signed up to our mailing list!
Our newsletter subscribers get an extra slice of Liverpool.com from one of the best Liverpool FC writers around — straight to your inbox, and completely for free.
Wherever you are in the world — in the US, the UK or further afield — you don't want to miss out.
Sign up to the Liverpool.com newsletter here — it only takes a few seconds!
The upcoming match between Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion at the AMEX Stadium will be closely watched. Anthony Taylor will be the referee for the game, supported by Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn as assistant referees. Chris Kavanagh and Matthew Wilkes will be in charge of VAR and assistant VAR, respectively.
It remains to be seen how this controversy will impact the future of VAR officiating in Liverpool matches. The incident has raised questions about the effectiveness and reliability of VAR technology in football. As fans and pundits continue to debate the role of technology in the game, it is crucial for match officials to ensure accurate and fair decision-making on the field.
Liverpool.com says: Expecting Darren England to perform to his best under the pressure of officiating Liverpool again anytime soon would not be fair on anyone. This, at least, seems like a sensible call from Webb.
However, it certainly will not fix the underlying problem. Ultimately, England's error could have been made by any one of the PGMOL's roster, given the chaotic processes exposed by the VAR audio. As Liverpool hinted at in its statement, this incident needs to lead to some concrete changes being made.
You may notice the below message on a small number of Liverpool.com articles. We like to innovate and this is part of a trial to look at whether AI can help speed up the publishing process. We will always declare where this happens.
This article was crafted with the help of AI tools, based on a piece first written by Stephen Killen for the Liverpool ECHO. You can read the original piece by clicking here. A Liverpool.com news editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to matt.addison@reachplc.com.