“Release the tapes” was the call around the world. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited Stockley Park basement tapes proved to be less Richard Nixon than the sound of confusion, resembling a group of middle-aged novices attempting to play World of Warcraft.
As anatomies of disaster goes, the ruling out of Luis Díaz’s goal at Tottenham turned out to be a case of incompetence rather than deep-state conspiracy. The heroes of the hour are revealed to be the on-site replay operator Mo Abby, first to spot the problem, and Oli Kohout, the VAR Hub operations executive, who, off-mic, urges the delay of the match. Already though, the names of the VAR, Darren England, and assistant VAR, Dan Cook, are hurtling towards infamy. And neither Abby nor Kohout are members of Howard Webb’s select band of officials deemed exclusively capable of operating VAR in the Premier League, from whom there have been 14 apologies since the beginning of last season.
