Fans forum write open letter to football authorities over Everton decisions

Everton have been on the end of a number of hugely controversial decisions already this season and this week's FA Cup clash at Crystal Palace saw yet another one with Dominic Calvert-Lewin's sending off.

The key part of the Fans Forum letter is the obvious inconsistency in refereeing and officiating that has been so glaring over the last few months.

In their letter they highlight a string of incidents where the Toffees have been on the wrong end of contencious decisions, which have not then been consistently replicated in other matches.

That issue of consistency together with the increasing way VAR seems to to used to re-referee incidents (although again mostly it seems when certain clubs are involved) is the nub of the problem.

When VAR was introduced it was supposed to be as an aid for the on-field officials not a means to constantly second-guess them and re-write their decisions, unless there was a clear and obvious issue missed by them.

As I stated yesterday though, the use of technology is not a panacea to the basic reality that humans are prone to error and that some incidents within football (or many other sports) are always ultimately going to be differently interpreted.

That is particularly true of potentially straight red-card fouls or penalty claims, which have always since the beginning of the game and been debated and argued over for years or decades sometimes.

And VAR doesn't of course replace human judgement, it simply removes it from the officials on the pitch to a booth somewhere miles away. That makes accountabiltiy for mistakes even more difficult.

Accountability is another major problems in the game now. Referees are not required to be accountable for their decisions and neither are the VAR officials.

In addition, it has in fact made the mistakes or differing interpretations of officials even more glaringly obvious, not resolved them. This is simply fuelling endless controversy and debate.

All this is I believe seriously damaging football as a product.

I would get rid of VAR. It is an experiment that I don't think is working, as it is constantly, almost farcically at times, interupting the game for often absurdly lengthy decision-making.

Instead, I would only keep goal-line technology and give referees full authority in matches again. But in return they should be held fully accountable and required to answer questions publically after games about their decision-making, just as managers are.

Although all this could and probably will be written off by some, as simply one club's fans claiming they are uniquely wronged, this issue has reached a truly ridiculous level now.

Other clubs are also being adversly impacted too, but not to the same extent I don't think. Everton seem to be affected by these decisions almost every week now.

Something has to change soon otherwise the game will potentially be irreparably damaged. And for the Blues the consequences of all these decisions are becoming increasingly difficult to overcome.