Premier League referee RELEGATED by Uefa as fans hail ‘good sign’ after being left fuming by VAR chaos
PREMIER LEAGUE referee Craig Pawson has been relegated to Uefa’s Second list.
The Englishman, 45, has been replaced by John Brooks on the governing body’s First list – which also includes Chris Kavanagh.
Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor remain the two Premier League officials on Uefa’s Elite list.
Pawson joins Stuart Attwell, Darren England, Jarred Gillett, Rob Jones and Andy Madley on the Second list – the third tier for Uefa officials.
According to ESPN, Brooks, 34, had the best stats of all Premier League refs in the 2023/24 season, while he also ranked second as a VAR.
Pawson caught unwanted headlines for particular key decisions including disallowing a late Chelsea goal against Aston Villa for a dubious foul back in April.
The Premier League has just four refs on Uefa’s Elite and First lists – Oliver, Taylor, Brooks and Kavanagh.
That is compared with six for officials in France, Germany and Italy.
Spain and Romania also boast five referees on the two lists.
It comes after English officials were criticised for their handling of a controversial decision in the game between Holland and France at Euro 2024 on Friday night.
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Stuart Attwell took far too long to make a call on Xavi Simons’ strike and he got it wrong by sticking with the on-field decision.
It was a ‘good’ goal because Denzel Dumfries should not have been adjudged offside.
Holland’s Dumfries did not affect the line of vision for France keeper Mike Maignan, who made no attempt to save a shot he could not have reached.
It means wing-back Dumfries was not involved in ‘active’ play.
The VAR decision-making had been so slick in Germany up until last night.
But with VAR Attwell, who should have sent English referee Anthony Taylor to the pitchside monitor, we had the slowest decision of Euro 2024 so far — which took just under three minutes.
Xavi Simons thought he had given the Dutch a second-half lead, only for referee Taylor to disallow the goal after consulting his assistant.
VAR Attwell, 41, then spent a lengthy amount of time reviewing the incident before he stuck with the on-field decision.
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This led to uproar among football fans, while Holland manager Ronaldo Koeman said: “If it’s offside, then you don’t need to spend five minutes touching your ear.
“I don’t understand this. If you have this much doubt, you give a goal.
“Dumfries did not hinder the goalkeeper. It wasn’t because of Dumfries that Maignan didn’t go for the ball, Maignan did not react because he simply couldn’t get to the ball anyway.
“He would have never reached that ball. It’s a legal goal. Once again, he’s not disturbing the goalkeeper.”
The game ended goalless as Netherlands and France move onto four points each heading into their final group games against Austria and Poland.
Pundits and legends lay into England
ENGLAND's lifeless display in the 1-1 draw with Denmark left pundits and legends queuing up to take a dig at Gareth Southgate's team.
Here’s the best of what was said…
ALAN SHEARER
“Awful performance, particularly after going up in the game.
“I don’t think one England player can look at themselves and say, ‘I’ve done my job tonight’.
“England were all over the place, far too sloppy in possession, gave the ball away too much and got caught too many times.
“There was no energy, no pace, no guile — Southgate is simply not getting the best out of England’s best players.
“It’s concerning and Gareth will get some serious questions.
“You saw England players lying on their backs — they look absolutely shattered but there’s no excuse for that.”
GARY LINEKER
The BBC host called the performance “lifeless and tepid”.
On Harry Kane he said: “He needs his manager to ask more of him. I would have expected that if I’d put in that kind of performance.”
RIO FERDINAND
“The players don’t look the same as they do for their clubs. It is a big concern.”
ROY KEANE
“Courage and bravery, we’re not really seeing it.
“There’s something amiss with the balance. Bellingham is waving his arms.
“This is a big test for Gareth. It looks like he’s overthinking things.”
JAMIE CARRAGHER
“My big worry watching this and for the rest of the tournament?
“England look absolutely knackered. They can’t get close to the ball.
“The surest sign of fatigue is dropping deep.
“Declan Rice is having to cover so much ground. No-one can convince me this is a strategy.”
JACK WILSHERE
“It’s strange that we have taken the lead in both games so far, yet instead of it settling us down and giving us the confidence to play, we have failed to take control.
“But what was most worrying was that Denmark had a clear way of playing — while we didn’t.”