Howard Webb forced to apologise to team he supports after latest ref blunder

17 August 2023 , 17:05

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Howard Webb has made an awkward apology

Howard Webb being photoshopped in Manchester United shirts was a popular social media joke during his refereeing career.

The English official, who took charge of the 2014 World Cup final, was frequently accused of favouring the Red Devils with his decisions, particularly when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge. It was an apparent myth that Webb, 52, moved to dispel this January.

The PGMOL chief claiming he actually supported Rotherham United, joking: "Contrary to what you might have seen on the internet, I never shared a bed with Sir Alex Ferguson," he joked. "There is no statue of me outside Old Trafford. My kids are not called Rio, Wayne and Cristiano. There is no Red Devil tattoo inked on my left buttock."

And revealing his allegiance to The Millers, he added: ""The only United I have ever supported - hand on heart - is of the Rotherham variety. And that’s the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Which would have made his recent apology to Rotherham manager Matt Taylor as ironic as it may have been awkward. The boss was left seething after his side surrendered a 2-0 lead at home to Blackburn Rovers, with the game turning on a red card to Fred Onyedinma.

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After scoring a second for the home side, he was booked by referee Robert Madley for celebrating by the fans, and then picked up a second caution - and subsequent red - for encouraging the official to show yellow to an opponent. Blackburn duly hit back twice through Sammie Szmodics, with Taylor now revealing he has since been visited by a three-man party who admitted the red card was wrong.

“In my office I was lucky to have Howard Webb, Kevin Friend and the referee from last weekend Mr Madley,” he explained. “So they were all here talking through the weekend, the way it unfolded. The apology, which we’ve had two weeks on the bounce now, was for the first yellow card and that shouldn’t have been a yellow card. We know that, the referee knows that, everyone knows that."

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Fred Onyedinma was shown a dubious yellow card (Mark Kerton/REX/Shutterstock)

But Taylor, whose team lie 20th in the Championship after two games, also welcomed the dialogue, adding: “I had three people in my office talking honestly and openly about how they want to improve. They’ll only improve if we’re right as well, if I improve as a manager, if my team improves in terms of their conduct and the way they work.

“The game will only get better off the back of everyone working together and the overriding feeling was that players are struggling a little bit with the changes and how strong some of the officiating has been at the moment and also the officials are struggling at the moment with their changes.”

Last May, Webb appeared on a ground-breaking edition of Monday Night Football, joining Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville to talk through unheard audio between mic'd-up referees, their assistants and the VAR officials during decisions the Premier League season. VAR however, is still not available for Championship games.

Fraser Watson