PREMIER LEAGUE VAR chief Neil Swarbrick is reportedly set to retire at the end of the season.
It comes following a swathe of controversial decisions made by VAR this season.
Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) chief Howard Webb has been ruthlessly shaking up the refereeing body in a bid to improve the quality of decision making.
And The Athletic report Swarbrick is the latest name set to leave as part of the continued overhaul.
Swarbrick had worked as an on-field official until his retirement in the 2017/18 season.
He was then appointed as the head of VAR before of its introduction in the 2019/20 season.
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Swarbrick’s exit comes just weeks after dedicated VAR ref Lee Mason was AXED following his blunder during Arsenal’s clash against Brentford.
Like Mason, Swarbrick came under scrutiny for a mistake as he oversaw West Ham’s clash against Chelsea and opted not to award a penalty after Tomas Soucek appeared to handle the ball.
Both officials were subsequently left out of VAR duties for the following round of fixtures, before Mason left PGMOL completely earlier this month.
However, the report suggests this move is not in reaction to recent events and has instead been in the works for a while.
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As of yet there is no announcement to his successor.
VAR once again came under controversy in an Arsenal game this weekend, as an Arsenal opener was ruled out for a soft Ben White foul on Danny Ward.
Arsenal legend Ian Wright slammed the decision as “a phenomenal mistake”.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
