Anthony Taylor has become one of the most controversial referees in England. He has become a Chelsea fan’s nightmare because of his constant errors against them. He has also made too many mistakes over the course of the 2023/24 season that have irked fans wrath.
As a result, the Englishman ended up getting demoted to officiate in the EFL Championship at the weekend. A major reason behind him being dropped was how badly he handled Newcastle United’s 2-2 draw against Wolves. Taylor ended up making a mistake in awarding Newcastle a very soft penalty that got him reprimanded afterwards.
There seems to be a pattern created in terms of referees being punished for their errors. The PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) is the one to assign referees for matches and looks after them. They seem to be trying to ensure that mistakes aren’t repeated by punishing officials for their errors.
For example, referee Simon Hooper was barred from officiating a Premier League game for three game weeks after failing to award Wolves a rightful penalty in their 1-0 loss to Manchester United on opening matchday. Josh Smith also had to sit out a month after a poor error in Wolves’ 1-1 draw against Luton Town.
After the third error was made in a Wolves match, Taylor got demoted to the Championship. He was assigned to be the referee for Preston North End’s game against Coventry City in the second division. Taylor enabled Preston to take a 2-1 lead in the first half after giving a very questionable penalty.
This happened towards the end of the half when Preston forward Milutin Osmajic managed to barge through on goal. The forward was pursued by Coventry defender Kyle McFadzean, who seemingly lunged in with a challenge to stop him. The Preston striker managed to break past him and embarrassingly botched a shot by slipping and going down on the ground.
Just as he did that, McFadzean also fell down just behind him and Taylor ended up pointing to the spot. In his perspective, it probably felt like it was the Coventry defender who fouled Osmajic and forced him to slip down. However, in a better view, it was obvious that the Preston forward just slipped and fell on his own accord and was not intentionally fouled at all.
This hilarious yet embarrassing moment for Taylor has quickly gone viral on social media. Fans can’t believe just how the Englishman would find this an offence to give a penalty.
Most supporters are just embarrassed with how soft the penalty is and how Taylor managed to get duped by the Preston forward. A lot of fans initally started to believe tha the might end up getting demoted to League One, the third division in English football. Taylor has actually officiated 41 League One matches in the past, dishing out 102 yellow cards in them.
However, it has since been confirmed that the Englishman will indeed be facing no punishment for his repeated errors at all. Instead, he seems to have gotten a major promotion for the upcoming week. Indeed, Taylor has been assigned to officiate the biggest game of the upcoming Premier League weekend between Chelsea and Manchester City.
It appears that the PGMOL felt his officiating in the Preston-Coventry game to be impeccable and deserving to allot him as the referee for this huge game. This has shocked many, especially the Chelsea fans, who absolutely loath the referee.
That is because Taylor has shown this pattern of making decisions against the Blues in their matches over the last few years, making him someone their fans do not want to see officiating their matches.
Despite all his mistakes this season, Taylor seems to being held in high regard in the PGMOL. He will evidently continue to be the referee for major Premier League games going forward and it doesn’t look like he’ll be demoted to the third division anytime soon.
