Simon Jordan has hit out at Liverpool over the ‘irrelevant’ statement issued by the club in response to the litany of refereeing controversies in the 2-1 defeat to Tottenham on Saturday, in particular Luis Diaz’s wrongly disallowed goal for offside.
The Merseyside outfit have called for ‘improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again’ and have vowed to ‘explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution’ (liverpoolfc.com).
While some journalists have praised the Reds for calling for refereeing standards to improve, the ex-Crystal Palace chairman was strongly critical of the club’s statement.
Speaking on talkSPORT (via Liverpool Echo), Jordan fumed: “Escalation and resolution – what the hell does that mean? What are you escalating and who are you escalating it to? What are you doing? Are you alleging corruption? What are you alleging here?
“You can’t escalate mistakes! People make them; it’s human nature. It goes with the territory.”
He added: “Liverpool have come out ramping up the rhetoric and they’re gonna get nowhere with it. Nobody’s going to take VAR back. We’re not going to strip it down, we’re not going to be the only league in European football without it.”
After Jim White pointed out that the club statement wasn’t made ‘for fun’, Jordan sniped back: “I’m sure they haven’t but that’s irrelevant because ultimately ‘escalation and resolution’, escalate it to whom and to achieve what?
“The outcome has already been determined. That is the end of the discussion. If that referee didn’t have VAR the goal would have still been disallowed, so which part are you going to take down now?”
Jordan seems to have missed the point of what Liverpool are trying to achieve from the statement they put out.
The club aren’t calling for the match to be replayed or points to be handed back, but rather a collaborative discussion on how to enhance the usage of VAR so that other Premier League sides aren’t shafted in the way the Reds were on Saturday.
If the weekend’s shambles is simply put down to human error and swept under the carpet, such controversies will arise again, and the consequences could be dire for the team who suffer from it.
You can view Jordan’s comments below (from 0:56), via talkSPORT on YouTube:
A long long time ago, the prince of La La Land, Simon Jordan……….tried to remain relevant.