Former referee Mark Clattenburg has questioned how assistant Darren Williams ‘is still operating at the top tier of the Football League’ following a third incorrect offside call in eight weeks against Leeds United.
Leeds returned to the top of the Championship with a brilliant 1-0 win at Middlesbrough on Tuesday evening but a nervy night at the Riverside Stadium should have been much more comfortable. Daniel James fumbled home Manor Solomon’s cross inside two minutes and the latter should have turned provider again shortly after but Ao Tanaka was adjudged to have been offside when finishing another beautiful cross.
Patrick Bamford suffered a similar fate in the second-half as his calm finish was wrongly disallowed for offside. Following the decision to rule out Tanaka’s effort, it was noted the assistant in question was the same one who incorrectly disallowed Leeds goals against Coventry City and Millwall, making it three controversial calls in eight weeks against the promotion-chasing Whites.
“The two incorrect offside decisions are unforgivable,” Clattenburg, who refereed 297 Premier League games and 70 in the Championship, told Leedsunited.news. “The same Assistant Referee has made earlier errors in the season and one would question how he is still operating at the top tier of the Football League. I am sure PGMOL and his coaches will be looking at this and trying to improve his future performances.
“The cry for VAR will rumble on in the Championship. They have goal line technology and maybe the next step is to have offside covered by the technology which are still factual decisions but wrong decisions can have a massive impact on a club.”
What did Daniel Farke have to say on the offside decisions?
Fortunately for all involved in those decisions, they didn’t have a major impact on the result as Leeds ground out a potentially massive away win to go top of the Championship. But that didn’t stop manager Daniel Farke from making his feelings known.
“I can’t do anything because right now if I would be here with a big speech then I’d probably have to watch the next game from the gantry,” he said following Tuesday’s win. “I know it’s a really difficult job but I’m really struggling. Two disallowed goals. The second [Bamford’s] was perhaps tight. What I don’t understand, we have this rule if it’s in doubt give it to the offence. It seems the assistant waves the flag that he’s a bit in the spotlight.
“I’m really struggling to find proper words for having the same assistant ruling out three good goals in eight weeks for offside. If they were difficult to see I could live with this. Why do we keep sending this assistant to games for Leeds United? If he is there out of coincidence with mistakes against us, at some point you should protect him. I’m not sure why he’s always the assistant for us and rules out goals that should stand.
“We’re playing for such a big reward, going up to the Premier League, millions of pounds. This level of assistant performances, I’m struggling with this to be honest. I want to be understanding. I could make my life easier and say we’ve won the game, everything is fine. If you always have to fight against this adversity it’s difficult. It’s hard to accept.”
‘I refereed almost 300 Premier League games – Leeds United vs Middlesbrough offside calls are unforgivable’
