PGMOL is rotten to the core and not fit for purpose

Michael Oliver and his wretched PGMOL boys' club clique are an absolute disgrace

At around 3.42pm on a sunny midwinters’ Saturday afternoon, Arsenal had a corner against Wolves at Molineux.

From my seat in the press box, I remember thinking if Declan Rice could get the ball over the first man, the Gunners might have a chance to score, given, the club’s prowess on set-pieces, and given the fact I watched a nervous looking home side stage a wobbly practice session attempting to defend balls into the box during their pre-match warm-up.

However, Rice’s corner failed to beat the first man, the ball was cleared, and Wolves looked to break from the edge of their own area.

As happens many times in every game - in any match from the Champions League and Premier League, the Championship, League One and League Two all the way through non-league to Sunday league football - a player is brought down by an opponent, when a team appears to be embarking on a breakaway.

Bearing in mind that if the aforesaid breakaway starts in the opponents own half, if you’re lucky, the referee will simply have a word with the offender, and warn the culprit not to do it again, or they’ll go in the book.

It’s called ‘taking one for the team’ - and in a worse case scenario, the player who fouls their opponent is handed a yellow card, and the attacking team, however frustrated at the blunting of their embryonic attack, settle for a free-kick, and the game moves on.

Yet, on Saturday, in more than forty years of watching football at all levels - including more than a decade from press boxes around the world - I have never, ever seen what referee Michael Oliver decided to do at Molineux on Saturday.

Michael Oliver and his wretched PGMOL boys' club clique are an absolute disgrace

That is, Oliver decided in his wisdom to send off miscreant Myles Lewis-Skelly, by handing out a straight red card. Not a yellow, not even a second yellow, but a straight red card.

I tweeted at the time it was an absolutely shocking decision. And upon second and third and fourth and fifth viewings on the screen in front of me at Molineux, it got even worse.

Quite simply it was an absolutely shocking decision. Appalling in fact.

Not least because it also underlined the fact that the current system - and PGMOL - is rotten to the core, and not fit for purpose.

Because, as we are led to believe by their abject propaganda, VAR is there to help avoid ‘clear and obvious errors’. So why didn’t the VAR for the game, Darren England, not overrule his on-pitch referee?

Because they don’t want to be seen overruling a ‘pal’. Just like the unspeakably awful Howard Webb and the utterly wretched Dermot Gallagher, and all their cronies.

So much so, that they’d rather the veracity of the Premier League be questioned than the reputation of a colleague.

The whole system stinks.

Because VAR and PSGMOL are an embarrassing boys’ club where their cabal reside until they ‘graduate’ to even more embarrassing - but lucrative - media work, where, they believe they are ‘showbiz personalities’.

The whole edifice and structure is not fit for purpose and needs to be overhauled.

While we’re at it, who can recall Oliver sending off Gabi Martinelli at the same venue Molineux, back in 2022, by handing out two yellow cards in the space of two seconds for two supposed fouls in the same action.

Again, something I’d never seen before in four decades, and never seen since.

We could go on, for every Arsenal supporter can list the litany of shocking decisions that Oliver and his ilk deliver to the Gunners on an all-too regular basis.

It’s also instructive to note how Oliver, et al, can’t wait - simply can’t wait - to dish out their red cards when it comes to Arsenal. Knowing full well their face will be front and centre of all the headlines.

Thereby granting the attention they so desperately crave in their bid to eke out a post-retirement role as a ‘media personality’, not to mention being included on the gravy train for a few lucrative trips to somewhere hot and autocratic, where they can be paid as ‘consultants’.

What used to be a cottage industry has now morphed into a career move.

So long as you have the profile. Invariably gained from being front and centre of Premier League referring controversies.

Why is it a fact that Arsenal have done so well in the Champions League this season? Because there are no English referees officiating Mikel Arteta’s side.

As Arsenal’s loyal and knowledgable support sang so loudly, and with such fury laced with frustration at Molineux: “Michael Oliver/It’s All About You…”

And don't get me started on Oliver’s red card statistics when officiating Arsenal games.

I took at look at the stats on the reputable Transfermarkt late last night.

It’s there in all its damming glory. According to Transfermarkt, Oliver has refereed:

Arsenal: 62 times

Red cards for Arsenal: 8

Refereed Man City: 60 times

Red cards for City: 1

Refereed Liverpool: 64 times

Red cards for LFC: 1

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A selection of my tweets as the afternoon unfolded…

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My official Morning Star newspaper match report from Molineux

Wolves 0–1 Arsenal: Report by Layth Yousif at Molineux

Riccardo Calafiori’s superb 74th minute strike was enough to hand a vital victory to ten player Arsenal on a controversial Saturday afternoon at Molineux.

The Gunners Italian defender fired past Jose Sa, to give Mikel Arteta’s side three points against Vitor Pereira’s side, who were also reduced to ten, after another dreadful display by referee Michael Oliver.

Oliver had once again chosen to put himself in the headlines with an appalling decision to send off Myles Lewis-Skelly two minutes before the break.

Oliver’s shocking straight red card for Arsenal’s precocious teenager marred this match, not least because it was completely and utterly incorrect. Amplified by VAR, Darren England’s bizarre decision not to overrule his on-pitch colleague.

With the teams about to head into the half time interval goalless, the home side broke on the edge of their own box, leaving Lewis-Skelly to bring down Wolves No2 Matt Doherty about ten yards from the edge of Sa’s area.

Instead of simply warning the youngster, or even handing out a caution, Oliver simply couldn’t wait to reach for the red card burning a hole in his back pocket, to give a dreadful decision – one that could be added to his litany of awful decisions given to Arsenal at this ground.

Not least when Oliver handed Gabi Martinelli two yellow cards in the space of two seconds in the same move, back in 2022, something that had never been done before, or after.

You can be sure that Oliver’s latest red card for an Arsenal player will not be repeated in any Premier League game for the rest of the season.

No wonder the 3,000 travelling Arsenal supporters along the Molineux touchline chorused in disgust: “Michael Oliver/It’s All About You.”

Quite simply Oliver’s decision so nearly put paid to the Gunners already-distant hopes of winning the Premier League title.

No wonder an incandescent Arteta fumed about the red card afterwards:” I think it's that obvious, we don’t need any comments today and hopefully the right thing will happen after today.”

In further bad news, the visitors also suffered a pre-match blow when captain Martin Odegard was ruled out with a bug, and sent home from the team hotel in Wolverhampton, while Mikel Merino was benched. The rare bright spot for the visitors was that William Saliba and Lewis-Skelly – but not for long - returned to Arteta’s starting XI to face Pereira’s side.

Under a cloudless bright blue sky, on nine minutes Wolves’ No21 Pablo Serabia fired over with a thunderous volley that narrowly failed to beat Gunners keeper David Raya. A dramatic effort that would have brought the house down had it been a yard or two lower, as a packed Molineux roared its approval under a gloriously sunny midwinter’s day.

In an open start, Kai Havertz headed narrowly wide on 18 minutes, when latching onto Leandro Trossard’s deep cross into the box.

Shortly afterwards, in a pointed message to chairman Guo Guangchang in rare attendance, Wolves fans broke into a booming chorus of “Back the team or sell the club.”

Amid the discontent, Trossard again provided an excellent cross for Havertz, whose header was saved by an alert Jose Sa.

Then came Lewis-Skelly’s farcical sending off, that led to the lively Nwaneri being brought off at half time, sacrificed in favour of the matchwinner, Calafiori.

Oliver’s decision to send off Arsenal’s teenager was matched by the official opting to send off Joao Gomes for two yellow cards – when it proved to be another poor decision as the player’s foot was well above Jurrien Timber’s ankle, and could have led to a serious injury.

As the clock ticked down, Gunners keeper Raya foiled Matheus Cunha’s deflected header, as well as Hee-Chan Hwang’s low drive, as the Gunners show grit, determination and character to hang on and post a vital triumph, despite Oliver’s appalling refereeing.

Delighted with his team’s resolve, Arteta added: “I'm extremely proud of all the players. You can talk about our courage, you can talk about the spirit, but as well about intelligence. The way they managed emotionally the game, it was unbelievable.”