Mark Clattenburg warns officials they must ‘not rely on VAR’ – as new ‘referee’s call’ system is rolled out across the Premier League

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has warned officials that they must ‘not rely on VAR’ this season amid much speculation of how the technology will be used this campaign.

In a fresh VAR shake-up, fans will see the inception of an ‘umpire’s-call’ style system, similar to that in cricket, to end the forensic nature of the technology.

From this season, referees will only be overturning clear errors as opposed to slight disagreements in the interpretation of the game’s laws.

This calls back to the original ‘clear and obvious error’ mantra which was an original stipulation of the video referee system when it was first introduced five years ago.

And Clattenburg has issued a stern warning ahead of the first weekend of Premier League fixtures, urging officials to follow the new guidance and limit their use of VAR.

In a fresh VAR shake-up, fans will see the inception of an ‘umpire’s-call’ style system, similar to that in cricket 

From this season, referees will only be overturning clear errors as opposed to slight disagreements in the interpretation of the game’s laws 

He told the BBC: ‘The referees have a responsibility, starting this weekend, to get as many decisions right on the field and not rely on VAR. Then VAR will work every so many games, not once or twice a game as we saw last season.

‘What I found (last season) was the referees weren’t making the split-second decisions like they used to do and it was going to VAR.

‘VAR was then saying there isn’t the line of intervention where I want to come in because the referee isn’t clearly wrong. So you get these inconsistencies and anger from the fans.’

VAR controversies often dominated the Premier League narrative last campaign and Wolves even triggered a vote to remove the technology amid growing frustration. They lost the vote 19-1 as the rest of the league backed the system.

In February, Clattenburg joined a Nottingham Forest side which had also made their concerns with VAR clear, but left his post as referee analyst at the club in May after criticism of his remarks about officials.

This season, PGMOL chief Howard Webb has vowed to improve the way the technology is used and has rolled out a number of tweaks ahead of the new campaign. 

Among the changes, there should be more clarity for fans attending matches this campaign with VAR decisions which have overturned goals or ended in red cards now to be replayed on the big screen in stadiums.

A new match centre social media account will also explain decisions in real time and show such clips, while the Premier League also hope to trial referees announcing decisions to the crowd.

This season, PGMOL chief Howard Webb has vowed to improve the way the technology is used

VAR controversies often dominated the Premier League narrative last campaign and Wolves even triggered a vote to remove the technology

The Premier League has unveiled an X account that will provide ‘near-live’ explanations of refereeing decisions

And referees will now only be called over to the pitchside monitor for subjective calls with the incident set to be replayed at full speed to begin with before slow-motion clips are played. 

Clattenburg welcomed the changes but also sggested the league had suffered from a lack of experienced officials in recent times. 

He compared the more junior referees to younger footballers, arguing that they are bound to make occasional mistakes as they progress in their career.

He pointed out that Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor bore most of the burden of taking the biggest matches and the depth of top referees was not good enough.

Taylor, who is taking this Sunday’s clash between Chelsea and Manchester City, faced criticism during the Euros after a number of controversial decisions involving VAR.

The official was slammed for ruling out a would-be winner for Netherlands’ Xavi Simons in the side’s group stage match against France.

Meanwhile, his decision to turn down a German penalty appeal in extra-time of their quarter-final loss to Spain led to a petition for him to be reprimanded and the match to be replayed.

Clattenburg, who is the official referee on BBC’s revival of hit show Gladiators, added that he does not regret joining Forest for three months. 

Anthony Taylor, who is taking this Sunday’s clash between Chelsea and Manchester City, faced criticism during the Euros

Clattenburg pointed out that Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor bore most of the burden of taking the biggest matches

The highpoint of his career came in 2016 when he took the Champions League final

The former referee was one of the Premier League’s top referees in a top-flight officiating career spanning 13 years.

He left the league in 2017 to join the Saudi Arabian Football Federation as its head of refereeing, replacing Webb in the role.

The highpoint of his career came in 2016 and included a summer which saw the official, from Consett, Co Durham, take the Euro 2016 final and the Champions League final.