Published: 17:30 EDT, 3 October 2023 | Updated: 18:45 EDT, 3 October 2023
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]]]]>]]>English football's equivalent of the Watergate Tapes and the Zapruder film rolled into one was pored over by fans and analysts, looking for clues, searching for a smoking gun and wondering if there was another official somewhere on a grassy knoll.
In this case, it was already clear that there was only one shooter and that it was Luis Diaz. That didn't stop Liam Gallagher, the former Oasis frontman, saying the VAR audio of the build up to, and horrified aftermath of, Diaz's wrongly disallowed goal at Spurs on Saturday, which was released by the PGMOL, was 'better than the moon landing commentary'.
There are those who still insist that the moon landings never took place and if someone wants to cry conspiracy badly enough, nothing is going to stop them but the recording of the exchanges between on-field referee Simon Hooper and video assistant referee Darren England sounded far more like a modern-day cock-up.
There was no smoking gun, no evidence of conspiracy, no sign of subterfuge, just officials talking at crossed purposes until the game restarted and England suddenly came to the panicked realisation that he had made an awful mistake. It was old-fashioned human error. Human error on a monumental scale.
Out of the mess at least a few advances have been made. Liverpool were right to ask for audio of the exchanges in the VAR room. Some have criticised them for that but surely greater transparency is part of the way forward here. Liverpool did what any other club would have done in the face of such an egregious error.
The PGMOL have released the full audio from the VAR hub during Liverpool 's controversial 2-1 defeat to Tottenham, that saw referee Simon Hooper incorrectly disallow the Reds a goal
And from the ashes of this particular conflagration, the PGMOL have made a step forward, too. They did the right thing by releasing the audio. They didn't heap any more shame on England or his colleagues and they shone some light on how the error happened and how fast the officials have to act.
I still believe they should have stopped the game when England realised the calamity that had unfolded. The audio reveals that Oli Kohout, the VAR Hub Ops executive, felt the same and urged the officials to act. England, presumably feeling he was bound by IFAB rules, decided it was too late to halt play.
He should have listened to Kohout. If they had, it would have been an embarrassment for the PGMOL but the furore would not have approached the level that has swept over the English game in the last few days.
They have to get more people with Kohout's clarity of thinking and experience - he spent four years working at Hawk-Eye and has a degree in sports technology from Loughborough University - in the VAR room.
One footnote: in the initial reporting of the details of the audio last night, Sky Sports and other broadcasters assumed that Oli was a reference to fourth official Michael Oliver and discussed it under that assumption. It was not. It was a reference to Kohout.
Now and again, everyone jumps to the wrong conclusion. It is just that when that conclusion affects the outcome of a Premier League game involving two of its top teams, a confused conversation between officials who should do better gets the Watergate treatment.
PGMOL chief Howard Webb (pictured) made the call to release the VAR audio on Tuesday
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