Former head of the Professional Referees Association Keith Hackett has said that Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez seemed to have a better handle of the laws of the game than referee Keith Stroud during the furore surrounding Matt Ritchie’s penalty on Wednesday.
Stroud incorrectly gave an indirect free kick for encroachment from Magpies forward Dwight Gayle, when a re-take was the correct decision according to the rules.
Hackett is heavily critical of PGMOL (Professional Games Match Officials Limited) for the referee’s performance in the match. He is quoted by the Chronicle as saying:
“Rafael Benitez is a very experienced manager who is a sound individual and (has) an excellent knowledge of the laws. He’s picked it up very quickly and alerted the officials to what happened on Wednesday night but nobody listened. The PGMOL cannot just laugh it off with a statement, which was released at the speed of light shortly after the final whistle.”
Stroud has been relieved of his duties for this weekend’s matches. Question marks were also raised by Hackett as to how the two assistant referees and the fourth official did not try to correct the mistake made by Stroud at the time, especially given the fact Benitez, the players and every fan knew a wrong call had been made.
