THE REFEREE Martin Atkinson is waiting to discover whether Jack Rodwell’s successful appeal against his red card in the Merseyside derby will lead to the official’s temporary demotion from the Premier League.
The appointments for the next round of top-division fixtures will be announced on Monday and Professional Game Match Officials Limited will take into account the mistake by Atkinson that seriously affected Everton’s chances against Liverpool on Saturday.
However, the Football Association’s decision to overturn Rodwell’s sending-off and the accompanying three-match ban does not necessarily mean Atkinson dropping down the divisions.
Atkinson is one of the more highly-regarded referees within PGMOL and even though his decision had clear ramifications for a key match, with Liverpool going on to win 2-0, the referee assessors are otherwise happy with his officiating rather than seeing the incident as part of a series of errors. Rodwell was shown a red card after a sliding tackle on Luis Suarez, mistakenly seen by Atkinson as a dangerous two-footed challenge.
Everton are still waiting to discover if the FA will take any action against the club after several objects were thrown at certain Liverpool players towards the end of the derby.
GuardianService
