Ipswich CEO calls for VAR to go after anguished texts to Howard Webb

Mark Ashton believes games are ‘worse off with VAR’ and suggested he would opt for it to be scrapped if a vote was put forward

Ipswich chief executive Mark Ashton revealed he would now vote against keeping VAR following the decisions that led to him text messaging referees chief Howard Webb mid-match in frustration.
Ashton contacted Webb, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited’s chief refereeing officer, during the Premier League fixture against Leicester City at the weekend because of having “a sense of the way it was going to go”.
On-field referee Tim Robinson turned down a penalty for Ipswich when Conor Chaplin was brought down, then showed Kalvin Phillips a second yellow card for a challenge on Ricardo Pereira, with Leicester going on to score a late equaliser.
“I actually messaged Howard when we were 1-0 up because I had a sense of the way it was going,” Ashton told BBC Radio Suffolk. “I’ve been in this game for a long time and I could feel it.
“So I messaged him and said, ‘Look, can we speak directly after the game’. We spoke directly after the game and some of that conversation needs to remain private because I’ll end up being on a charge, a stadium ban, being fined, none of which bothers me.
“But the context of some of what I said to him was this: When we were promoted to the Premier League in the summer, I had never worked with VAR ever.
“So it was very new to me. The Premier League presented to me why we should support retaining VAR. Wolverhampton Wanderers had made a petition for it to be removed.
“We listened to Wolves and we listened to some other clubs. We listened primarily to the Premier League. On the basis of what we were told, we supported the Premier League’s decision.
“A key part of that was how high the bar was going to be set for decisions to be overturned and overruled and at what point VAR got involved in the game. If I was asked to make that vote again tomorrow, I can’t look you in the eye and say I would vote the same way, because I am still angry and frustrated.”
VAR is used only in the Premier League. Ipswich were promoted last season and are back in the top flight for the first time since 2002. Ashton is now set for talks with Webb on the use of VAR.
“What I’ve seen thus far from VAR, as someone who has spent a long time in the Championship who loves and cares passionately about this game, from an entertainment perspective, I think the games are worse off with VAR,” added Ashton.
“All I ask for with refereeing and VAR is consistency. We have not seen consistency. I do not personally believe, my colleagues do not personally believe, we have seen consistency over the games.
“All I look for is consistency. Right now, I’m confused. As a coaching staff, we’re confused.
“The culmination of that interesting, shall we say, [talk] with Howard on Saturday night is that we will meet this week at Portman Road to discuss it. We need answers. We need to understand because I can’t understand some of the decisions that were made, the refereeing decisions, and I struggle to understand why we weren’t awarded a penalty.”