According to media reports, Manchester United's senior management has decided to hold talks with Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chief Howard Webb due to dissatisfaction with a series of controversial refereeing decisions against the team this season.
Although manager Rúben Amorim will not directly participate in this initiative, Old Trafford executives including CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox have been extremely dissatisfied with the current situation, believing that the continuous wrong decisions have directly led to Manchester United, currently sixth in the league, dropping crucial points.
Reports indicate that Manchester United has listed three recent incidents regarded as major wrong decisions, and it is claimed that PGMOL has privately admitted that all three were referee errors.
Examples are as follows:
1. 1-3 defeat to Brentford: Opposing captain Collins, as the last defending player, pulled down Mbeumo, denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, but was not shown a red card. Webb has previously privately admitted to Manchester United that this decision was wrong.
2. 1-1 draw with West Ham United: Aaron Wan-Bissaka made a late sliding tackle on Dorgu and should have received a second yellow card and been sent off, but the referee did not make the call.
3. 4-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers: Although Manchester United won the game, Wolves defender Agbadou committed an obvious handball in the penalty area. Even after a VAR review, the referee still did not overturn the decision to award a penalty.
Manchester United's senior management's core demand is that despite PGMOL admitting the mistakes, there has been no substantial improvement in refereeing standards, and this persistent problem has made the club feel wronged.
The senior management believes these errors are not accidental but reflect systematic failures. The tone of this meeting has been described as "had enough", and Manchester United will ask Webb to give a reasonable explanation for why the refereeing standards against Manchester United are so inconsistent and lack improvement.
