Newcastle legend Alan Shearer did not hesitate to criticize the referees during Saturday’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup at the weekend.
Alan Shearer was furious with referee Chris Kavanagh during Newcastle’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa (Image: The Rest is Football podcast)
Manager Alan Shearer has admitted that the BBC may have been forced to sack him if he had been co-commentary during Newcastle United’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa, following the listing of Howler as a referee in an FA Cup match. Eddie Howe’s side fought back to win at Villa Park and booked their place in the fifth round.
However, the match was marred by multiple glaring mistakes by Chris Kavanagh and his assistants. Tammy Abraham’s opening goal was conceded despite being offside, while Lucas Digne avoided a red card for a dangerous challenge on Jacob Murphy.
After the break, Newcastle were denied a clear penalty when Digne handled Kieran Trippier’s pass inside the area, with Kavanagh awarding a free-kick instead. His linesman also didn’t miss Abraham’s offside, but he also didn’t notice a handball in the box.
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Two days after the FA Cup victory, Shearer was analyzing the controversial match on the podcast The Rest is Football with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards. The St James’ Park icon revealed he avoided falling into serious trouble after Kavanagh’s mysterious phone call because he was in the studio as a presenter rather than a live commentator.
“When you’re in the studio, you have time to think, because most of the time, by the time they come to you, you have less time to think about what you’re going to say, how you’re going to say it, and unless it’s at the last second, you have time to consider your analysis,” he explained.
“If I had been in charge of Aston Villa vs. Newcastle, I might have been sacked! Because, to be honest, what I meant was that I betrayed the referee and his assistant!”
Newcastle United furious at Chris Kavanagh for refusing penalty (Image: Getty Images)
“You’re allowed to have a bad day, but let’s be honest, seriously, how bad were those three guys yesterday? They were terrible. I’d say one out of five, maybe four, of the big decisions, the simple decisions, was right.
“What’s happened is they’ve implemented VAR since the beginning of the season, throughout the Premier League and in everything they’ve had to do.
“Then they go into that game and all of a sudden they don’t have that comfort blanket that they’ve been relying on to say, ‘Oh, I’m okay if I’m wrong and VAR will fix it.”’ Well, yesterday they were hopeless because of that!
“Digne should have been sent off for a bad tackle. The assistant who missed the handball also missed the handball. It’s a simple decision. I know it’s a tough job, but it’s a bad day for all of us. Now, everyone, we have to try harder.”
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“At this level of football, you know how important that is. Fortunately, Newcastle won the game thanks to a decision that went against them, but can you imagine what the backlash would have been if they hadn’t made the decision?”
Shearer worked as a pundit alongside Wayne Rooney and Dion Dublin during the BBC’s coverage of the match, giving scathing reviews of refereeing standards. Shearer said at the time: “He took an offside free-kick (Tammy Abraham’s first Villa goal) and he had 15 yards to go. Oh my god!”
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“If you think you need proof of the damage that VAR has done to referees, I think today is a good example of that because they didn’t have a comfort blanket and today they look scared to make decisions.”
“And that’s the damage it’s done to the referees. For me, it actually makes the situation worse, because I don’t think it’s a difficult decision at all. In fact, it’s easy and you have to judge on this basis. There’s no excuse for an assistant not to tell the referee that his decision is completely wrong.”
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