Tribal Football

Ipswich chief Ashton lays out expectations ahead of crunch refs meeting

Ansser Sadiq
Ipswich chief Ashton lays out expectations ahead of crunch refs meeting
Ipswich chief Ashton lays out expectations ahead of crunch refs meetingAction Plus
The Premier League’s referees chief Howard Webb is set to visit Ipswich Town this week.

The club’s chairman and CEO Mark Ashton wants to have a conversation with Webb about refereeing and VAR decisions.

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The newly promoted club feel as if they have been hard done by on more than one occasion this term.

“I get frustrated and I get angry at things when they don’t go our way, but I thought Saturday was a real injustice,” Ashton told BBC Radio Suffolk’s The Blue Hour.

“And those who know me know I care passionately about this football club and I will give my last breath defending this football club. And I made that very, very clear to Howard Webb.

“I thought long and hard today about what I should and shouldn’t say, knowing I was coming on tonight, this has been planned for along time, so there’s no knee-jerk reaction.

“I live in a world where if I say too much I’ll be put on a charge, so what I’m going to say to you know is putting me on that line.

“But I’ve tried to be honest and open with this fanbase since the day I joined, so I’ll give the train of events as they unfolded on Saturday.

“I actually messaged Howard when we were 1-0 up because I had a sense of the way this was going to go. I’ve been in this game a long time and I could feel it.

“I messaged him simply 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, I’ll end up being on a stadium ban, I’ll end up being fined, none of which worries.

“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’d never worked with VAR ever, so it was very new to me.

“And 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 and we listened primarily to the Premier League and on the basis of what I was told, we supported the Premier League’s decision.

“And 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 say I’d vote the same way because I am still angry, I’m still frustrated.

“I think what I’ve seen thus far with 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 believe the games are worse off with VAR from what I’ve seen in my own personal view.

“All I ask for with refereeing and VAR is consistency and we have not seen consistency. I do not personally believe and my colleagues don’t personally believe we have seen consistency over the games.

“You go back to Man City, penalty at one end, not at the other end and I could go on and on about specific instances, and they’re not (consistent).

“All I look for is consistency and right now, I’m confused. I think as a coaching staff we’re probably confused.

“The culmination of that interesting, shall we say, conversation with Howard on Saturday night is that we will meet this week at Portman Road to discuss it because we need answers, we need to understand.

“I can’t understand some of the decisions that were made, the refereeing decisions and I struggle to under stand why we weren’t awarded a penalty.

“I’ve seen on international broadcasters today, former referees giving their opinion that it’s not a penalty. You cannot be serious. Come on, don’t just back your former colleagues. It’s a stonewall penalty.

“Then why isn’t it VARed, why isn’t it checked? I don’t know and I need to have answers. I need to have answers for my manager, I need to have answers for my coaching staff, I need answers for my key stakeholders and more importantly I need to have answers for this fanbase.

“But I go back to the beginning, this fanbase needs to understand I will give my last breath fighting for this football club and I didn’t enjoy that Saturday, I felt there was an injustice to everyone in this town and this county, and I want some answers.”