Mark Ashton on the VAR dispute at Ipswich Town...

Mark Ashton, the chairman of Ipswich Town, has blasted the “injustice” of his team’s 1-1 home draw with Leicester

City on Saturday and says he will be pressing Howard Webb for explanations when they meet this week.

In the 77th minute, Abdul Fatawu pushed Conor Chaplin over in the area while the Blues were ahead 1-0. Referee

Tim Robinson halted the game after a few seconds without awarding a penalty.

To everyone’s astonishment, VAR authorities told Robinson to stick with the initial ruling rather than revisit the

penalty incident on the pitchside monitor. As they continue to wait for their first Premier League victory in twenty-

two years, ten-man Ipswich gave up an equalizer in stoppage time.

The aforementioned comes after VAR interventions against Ipswich in this season’s matches against Brentford,

Everton, and Man City.

The Blues leader went on: “Knowing I was going to be on your show tonight, I gave it a lot of thought today about

what I should and shouldn’t say. It’s not an impulse to jump in and talk because this conversation has been prepared

for a while.

“I’ve tried to be open and honest with this audience since the day I joined, but I live in a world where saying too

much may get me charged, and what I’m going to say to you right now is definitely over the line. So, if it’s alright with

you, I’ll tell you what happened on Saturday.

“I had a feeling about how this was going to play out, so I actually messaged Howard when we were ahead 1-0. I’ve

been playing this game for a while, and I sensed it. I didn’t enjoy the feeling that injustice was about to happen. ‘Can

we speak directly after the game?’ I messaged him. We had a straight talk after the game, and part of that

conversation needs to be kept confidential since I could be charged, banned from the stadium, or fined. I’m not

concerned about any of it, but this is the background of what I said to him.

“The Premier League showed me why we should back keeping VAR when we were promoted in the summer. A

petition to get it taken down had been submitted by Wolverhampton Wanderers. We paid attention to Wolves, other

teams, and the Premier League in particular. According to what I was informed, we agreed with the Premier League’s

choice. One important aspect of it was determining when VAR would intervene in the game and how high the

threshold would be for judgments to be reversed and overruled.

“I can’t look you in the eye and say I would vote the same way if I were asked to cast that vote again tomorrow

because I’m still upset and frustrated. From an entertainment standpoint, I think the game is worse off with VAR,

based on my extensive experience in the Championship and my recent first-hand observations in the Premier

League.

“The only thing I ask for in refereeing and VAR is consistency, and neither my colleagues nor I have observed any

during the games. Return to Manchester City; the penalty is at one end, not the other. I could talk endlessly about

certain examples.

“I am currently perplexed. We’re confused as a coaching staff, I believe. The result of that, shall we say, “interesting”

talk with Howard on Saturday evening is that we will meet at Portman Road this week to talk about it. since we

require answers. We must comprehend. I find it difficult to comprehend why we were not given a penalty.

Mark Ashton on the VAR dispute at Ipswich Town