Town chairman and CEO Mark Ashton says referees’ chief Howard Webb was in agreement on some points he and manager Kieran McKenna made to him during their recent meeting at Portman Road, while defending his position on others.
Webb, the chief refereeing officer of the The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), travelled to Ipswich just under a fortnight ago after Ashton made Town’s frustrations known to him after a series of VAR decisions had gone against the Blues in the games against Everton, Brentford and, most notably, Leicester when Town were denied what was widely viewed as a blatant penalty.
While all parties have said the discussion will remain private, Ashton says Webb didn’t argue with some of the points he and McKenna made.
“With VAR in the Premier League, I’m looking for consistency around what is VARed, the communication, what the decision-making process is, what the bar is for overturning decisions, because we were told at the start of the season that it was a very high bar,” Ashton told talkSPORT.
“I made my points to Howard and his team and on certain things he agreed and on certain things he made his point and defended his corner.
“But as chairman of Ipswich Town, I am going to defend my football club. Just because we’re Ipswich, I can’t have us as perceived as being ‘little Ipswich’. I have to defend our football club and make our point and try and do that professionally and clearly, and respectfully, which I believe we’ve done.”
Regarding the controversy regarding suspended Premier League referee David Coote’s on-camera comments about former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp which were recently leaked, Ashton said: “I’ve been travelling in the US all week, so I’ve only seen what’s been in the media. There’s a Premier League meeting on Friday, so I guess we will find out more than that.
“But, other than what I’ve read in the media, I don’t know. Obviously, what you read in the media is concerning, so we’d like to hear the facts.”
However, he added: “Any kind of noise that comes around a subject like this is not good for the game, it’s concerning, extremely concerning.”
Asked whether, in the wake of the recent controversies, he still had trust in officialdom, he paused before adding: “Yes, until I have a real evidence and proof-based position not to. So at the moment, yes I do. But we want to understand the facts.”
Having said he would now have voted against VAR when the matter was put to Premier League clubs in the summer, Ashton admits that ship has almost certainly sailed.
“It’s probably too integrated now to take out,” he reflected. “But, as we’ve just said, there are substantial areas I think for improvement, we need more consistency.
“[EFL chairman] Rick Parry talked earlier about how the in-bowl fan experience needs to be improved and there needs to be more work done on it. But it’s the pure consistency which is the key factor for me.”
This evening, Ashton will be joined by manager Kieran McKenna, chief operating officer Luke Werhun and chief financial officer Tom Ball at the season’s first Fans’ Forum, which is being screened live on Town TV.
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