'This is about credibility': Former head of PGMOL blasts VAR choices for Newcastle Untied vs Ipswich Town

Newcastle United beat Ipswich Town 3-0 at St James' Park on Saturday and while it was an exciting game to watch, it was almost ruined by the officials.

A lot of blame has, quite rightly, been placed at the feet of referee Michael Salisbury, who had an absolute nightmare as the man in the middle.

Salisbury got practically every big decision wrong and needed VAR to bail him out a couple of times.

However, VAR weren't on their game either, having failed to bring to the attention of the referee that he had ruled out a perfectly fine Newcastle United goal and also stopping the game to investigate a violent conduct charge after Joe Willock and Sam Morsy had a coming together off the ball.

Keith Hackett was baffled at the decision to put inexperienced officials in the VAR booth

Now, former Premier League referee and head of the PGMOL, Keith Hackett, has told Football Insider that he doesn't agree with the decision to put two people in the VAR booth who have never refereed a Premier League game.

“I do not agree with the premise that a referee or someone in officiating that’s not refereed in the Premier League should be sat at the VAR seat.

“If that individual an assistant referee in the Premier League, I still wouldn’t want them to sit in the VAR seat.

“This is about balance, this is about credibility, it’s about experience, whilst James Bell is a competent Championship referee, very studious and understands the law...

“This is the first time I’ve seen James Bell sat in the VAR chair. There’s Matt Donohue who also sits in that chair and is not a Premier League referee.

“Yes it’s down to training, yes it’s down to preparation and there is an argument that you can actually train someone.

“But I think just to pull them out of the Championship and say ‘right you’re sitting in the VAR room’…

“Give them a Premier League game, or a five or six Premier League games, a run of them, and say ‘right ok, now we can use you’.

“I think the premise that you’re going to pull somebody out the Championship to sit in the VAR chair is the wrong approach.”

We still point the finger of blame at Michael Salisbury rather than VAR for that mess of a performance

While we agree that it was an odd choice to pull two inexperienced officials into the VAR booth, their crimes were nothing compared to those of Michael Salisbury.

VAR weren't the ones waving yellow cards around like they were going out of fashion and then not brandishing them when players actually deserved them.

We're still mad at the referee's performance and we won, imagine how raging the Ipswich fans must be as he was no better for them, let's be honest.