The Premier League Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel is in the news once again.
The KMI panel has five members, made up of three former players and/or coaches, plus one representative each from the Premier League and PGMOL.
It was set up at the start of the 2022/23 season to give an independent assessment of decision-making rather than relying on the views of PGMOL or the clubs themselves.
The judgement is intended to provide an arm’s-length assessment of all major match incidents but gives weight to the decision of the referee in subjective situations, taking into account the laws of the game and the Premier League’s interpretation.
Anyway, the Premier League Independent Key Match Incidents Panel are making headlines again, this time regarding incidents in recent matches.
Amongst the latest games/incidents under scrutiny, the Premier League Key Match Incidents Panel have looked at the Chelsea v Newcastle United match that was played on Saturday 14 March.
The KMI Panel have ruled that Newcastle United should have been awarded a penalty during their 1-0 win at Chelsea.
As the corner came in, Malick Thiaw ran to try and meet the ball but was rugby tackled to the ground from behind by Reece James.
The Premier League Key Match Incidents Panel voted 4:1 that referee Paul Tierney should have pointed to the spot. You have to laugh, amazingly one clown on the panel still thought it wasn’t a penalty! The KMI Panel detailed: “James gets caught the wrong side and maintains contact…on balance the action of James was non-footballing and impactful.”
It is a lot easier to take when you still go on and win the match, as was the case with the woeful decision to send Jacob Ramsey off in the previous PL match against Man U.
However, it remains the fact that United have been the victims of so many woeful decisions from match officials this season.
Whilst the Premier League Key Match Incidents Panel voted 4:1 that the on the pitch referee Paul Tierney had got it badly wrong. The ultimate laugh though is that the panel unanimously said that the VAR at the Chelsea match, Michael Salisbury, was right not to step in and tell Paul Tierney he had made a clear and obvious error, as it supposedly did not reach the threshold for a VAR intervention!!
That is where it gets crazy and the tangle they have got in with VAR in the Premier League. Four of five on the panel think the referee got it totally wrong on the pitch, yet at the same time all five then think that the VAR was right not to get involved and tell the referee to correct it???