The PGMOL have released the audio of conversations between referee and VAR officials during Luis Diaz’s offside goal decision last Saturday.
And it’s just as wild as you might expect.
After the PGMOL admitted ‘significant human error’ led to the incorrect call in Liverpool’s controversial defeat to Spurs, Liverpool requested access to the audio for transparency over how it actually happened.
The audio was handed over to the club on Tuesday and later made public, causing quite a stir online.
The recording shows in excruciating detail how messy things got in the VAR room as Darren England realised his error, but rejected calls to attempt to delay the game and intervene.
Several subtitled stills from the footage (not least the immortal words from referee Simon Hooper: “Well done boys. Good process”) are already on their way to full meme status in the pantheon of Football Twitter.
Here’s how Liverpool fans reacted to the latest instalment in one of the craziest and most infuriating episodes in living memory.
If you can’t laugh…
The swearing when they realise is just peak The Thick Of It
— Ben Kelly (@bkelly776) October 3, 2023
This is the closest football will get to Mark Corrigan “proposing” to Sophie when he didn’t actually want to and then being too embarrassed to go back on it when she accepts. pic.twitter.com/enT7aPx3gv
— Jack Pitt-Brooke (@JackPittBrooke) October 3, 2023
VAR: They’ve restarted the game, we can’t do anything.
Also VAR: Just you try and stop us from awarding Man Utd a penalty after the full-time whistle. pic.twitter.com/lJ0o1DO9Ca
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) October 3, 2023
Meanwhile, only one man came out of the whole thing with a shred of credibility…
The replay operator is absolutely sound.
— Abigail Rudkin (@rudkin_abigail) October 3, 2023
Congrats to Replay Operator for becoming the the breakout hero of 2023
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) October 3, 2023
Top 5 favourites for Sports Personality of the Year currently:
Stuart Broad
Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Ben Stokes
Frankie Dettori
Replay Operator— Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) October 3, 2023
Love the replay guy. Sack everyone else. Today we are all Are you Happy with this?
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) October 3, 2023
The speed the person who isn’t even a referee realised what was going on relative to the referee is really quite funny.
— Phil Blundell (@PhilBlundell) October 3, 2023
To add insult to injury, the Reds were also hit with a rejection on the appeal they made to have Curtis Jones’ red card from the game overturned.
What an evening…
Take our incompetence in video and audio format and BOOM here’s a rejection to your appeal, superb double whammy https://t.co/yrFCQnibX7
— Scott Saunders (@__scottsaunders) October 3, 2023
