Everton’s next game at home to Fulham will be refereed by John Brooks, who was at the centre of controversy after all three Blues matches he took charge of last season
Following the double points deduction last season, as Premier League officials, referees are now booed as a matter of course by many Everton fans before every game. But the latest appointment could be particularly controversial.
Despite losing their first four Premier League fixtures of the season, Sean Dyche’s men are now unbeaten in their last four with a 2-0 victory at big-spending new boys Ipswich Town – a first away win in 10 months – last time out.
Everton return to Goodison Park this Saturday evening to host Fulham (5:30pm kick-off) and the fixture was for a long time a ‘home banker’ as until they suffered a coronavirus-induced behind closed doors heartbreak with a 2-0 defeat on Valentine’s Day 2021, the Blues had won their previous 22 home games in the league against the Cottagers, a sequence stretching back to 1961.
However, in 2023 alone, Fulham’s former Everton manager Marco Silva managed to record a hat-trick of Goodison triumphs against Dyche with Premier League wins on April 15 (3-1) and August 12 (1-0) plus a 7-6 penalty shoot-out success following a 1-1 draw in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on December 19.
Given that the Blues are seeking a change in fortunes against the west London outfit, they may be concerned to learn that John Brooks is heading back to Merseyside just six days after his controversial display at Anfield.
Not only did Brooks decide against sending off Chelsea defender Tosin Adarabioyo for his challenge in his own half on Diogo Jota, despite it looking similar to Wiliam Saliba’s red card for Arsenal the previous evening, but he also overturned a penalty given to Arne Slot’s men too although he was supported by VAR in awarding the Reds a spot-kick for Levi Colwill‘s foul on Curtis Jones.
Evertonians might be more concerned with what happened when the Melton Mowbray-born official produced what they considered to be a trio of poor displays across a hat-trick of defeats to Mancunian opponents last season.
Here’s a full round-up of what the Blues said after Brooks’ three games in charge of their matches in 2023/24.
November 26, 2023: Everton 0 Manchester United 3
Dyche actually felt Brooks should have had more courage of conviction with what he saw with his eyes in real time as he hit out at the confusion created by VAR after it intervened to award Manchester United a crucial second-half penalty in the first game after Everton’s original 10-point deduction that was reduced by four on appeal.
Brooks initially booked Anthony Martial for a dive when he went down in the Blues’ box just after the break but he was sent to his monitor to re-evaluate and overturned the initial call, finding Ashley Young had brought down his opponent illegally.
Dyche said: “I know I am a big fan [of VAR] but it is just all over the place. You keep staring at someone. There are so many contacts in a box now, the way I look at it is he [Martial] was never going to get it, we had a covering defender. Players nowadays play for these things and that is standard but the game has got to work that out.”
Asked what he understood to be a ‘clear and obvious’ error, the Everton boss responded: “Seriously, I will be trying to speak to them and asking ‘what is it?’ We were told as you know, the directive was we are going to give the referees more power. The referee has made a very strong decision and then the power is taken away. I have no clue. I will just have to ring the powers that be and say ‘look, can you explain to me again, because I have asked, what is a clear and obvious error and why?’”
December 27, 2023: Everton 1 Manchester City 3
Dyche questioned the decision to award Manchester City a match-defining penalty while his side were level with the newly crowned club world champions. Brooks pointed to the spot after Nathan Ake smashed the ball goalwards just after the hour mark at Goodison Park and the ball struck Amadou Onana as he flung his body at the effort from close range, slamming into his arm.
Dyche said: “I have no clue, I don’t think anybody does. We had a Zoom call a couple of months ago and all of the managers were going, ‘it is a farce’.
“Then they have got the letters of the law, so it is not the referee’s fault in a way. But is that deliberate? Of course it is not.
“These players hit the ball so fast so hard now, I don’t know where you are supposed to put your hands if you are slinging yourself to block a shot… All managers are frustrated with it, maybe the referees are as well – the players are definitely against it – and I think this is a big one that goes against us tonight. I don’t think we have had a penalty this season either, go figure.”
February 10, 2024: Manchester City 2 Everton 0
Everton captain James Tarkowski believed his side were the victims of yet another refereeing blunder at the Etihad Stadium over the corner-kick that resulted in Manchester City’s first goal. Tarkowski reckoned the ball came off a home player and the visitors should have been given a goal-kick but referee Brooks awarded a corner from which Erling Haaland opened the scoring.
The Blues skipper said: “We got punished off what was a dubious corner for me. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was trying to head it one way and I think it was Ruben Dias trying to head it the other way and it goes where he heads it and they get the corner again.
“Once again it’s another decision that goes against us and there’s nothing we can do about that.
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