The Everton manager Claims Refereeing Officials Reluctant to Explain Debatable Calls

David Moyes has claimed that the PGMO is hesitant to communicate with managers because a high number of refereeing decisions this season have been hard to justify. The Everton manager said he “half choked” when Fulham were awarded what proved to be a match-winning penalty against Nottingham Forest on Monday.

Inconsistency in Penalty Calls Brought to Light

Everton were denied a penalty on Saturday for a comparable incident during their home defeat by Arsenal. Moyes did not criticise the decision at the time but, in light of Fulham’s penalty, believes the lack of consistency of referees can not be ignored.

“I was half choking last night when I saw the decision given and ours wasn’t,” Moyes commented. “It feels as though certain clubs get those decisions and other clubs don’t. It appears we are on the latter side of that.”

Past Incidents and Growing Frustration

Moyes also referenced an previous case in the season at Brentford involving Virgil van Dijk which was quite similar. “I think eventually it was given. We are disappointed it wasn’t given on the night and we are reviewing other instances which have been missed,” he added.

Lack of Dialogue with Referee Chiefs

Questioned on whether he intended to raise the issue with the officiating body, Moyes expressed further frustration. “It’s unclear,” he said. “They don’t make it easy whatever you want. They don’t want to have a conversation about it really. They will have, but they don’t want to because they’re finding it probably very difficult to explain things.”

This position from the officials highlights a wider issue of transparency and answerability in the sport’s refereeing, according to the experienced manager.