PGMOL and Premier League appalled by threats and abuse aimed at Michael Oliver and his family

PGMOL and Premier League have been left appalled by threats and abuse aimed at Michael Oliver and his family after a controversial decision.

He handed Myles Lewis-Skelly a straight red card for his foul on Matt Doherty with Arsenal still expected to appeal Lewis-Skelly’s sending off in the Gunners’ 1-0 win over Wolves on Saturday afternoon.

The Premier League match centre said the decision was “checked and confirmed” by Darren England, with the VAR deeming Lewis-Skelly to have committed “serious foul play”.

Following online abuse of Oliver, a PGMOL statement read: “We are appalled by the threats and abuse directed at Michael Oliver following the Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal fixture.

“No official should be subject to any form of abuse, let alone the abhorrent attacks aimed at Michael and his family over the past 24 hours.

“The police are aware, and a number of investigations have commenced. We are supporting Michael, and all those affected, and are determined to tackle this unacceptable behaviour.

“Sadly, this is not the first time a match official has been forced to deal with threats in recent times. We will continue to support all investigations.”

Premier League explain red card for Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly vs Wolves

Oliver Holt said, per MailOnline, that Michael Oliver and his family is under police protection at their home, waking up on Sunday morning with a police car in his street, he and his partner thought something happened to a neighbour, but found out when speaking to one of the officers, they police were checking on their safety after a death threat had been made against Oliver and his two-year-old daughter.

Even though the authorities thought it was probably a keyboard warrior, Met Police had passed the issue on to Oliver’s local force as they couldn’t be sure.

There were reported messages from fans who said they knew where he lived and that they were going to brick all his windows.

The Premier League said: “The Premier League strongly condemns the threats and abuse directed at Michael Oliver. No official should be subject to any form of abuse. We will continue to support Michael, PGMOL and all investigations.”

Daily Mail reporter Mike Keegan tweeted: “On the Michael Oliver abuse, I’m told he has young family and it has included death threats, comments about children and claims to know his address. Dark (and pathetic) stuff.”

Mark Halsey: “The death threats towards Michael Oliver are absolutely despicable, he made a split second decision, that doesn’t deserve the abuse he is receiving I no what he is going through as it happened to me and my family, let’s hope the police find these people and prosecute.”

Speaking to talkSPORT on Sunday, ex-PGMOL head Keith Hackett said that Michael Oliver needs a two-week rest.

“I’d be admitting this morning that this is a major error, that you don’t expect the alleged number one referee to make.

“He’s on top of the incident. I think he’s too close and so I think he requires operational advice.

“I’d be saying to Michael Oliver, I think you need a rest and I think you’re not going to see another game in the Premier League for a couple of weeks. That’s the first action.”

When asked if VAR should’ve taken responsibility, he replied: “Ultimately, the referee takes responsibility.

“I admit, and I’m very clear, that VAR did not do what VAR should do. This was a clear and obvious error. It wasn’t serious foul play.

“I cannot believe that Darren England on VAR didn’t come in and help Michael Oliver. That’s the first point.

“But let’s get back to Michael Oliver initially, because he’s the guy in charge. We know that the process of refereeing is; to see, recognise, think, and then act.

“It was instant. It was too instant. He needed to have a thought process that runs through and visualise that incident, give himself time, milliseconds, before he makes this major error.

“Now, Darren England? Well, Darren England’s allocated a game this afternoon, Crystal Palace.

“So as VAR, he would not be on that game. I’m quite clear that there needs to be seen to be a level of accountability.

“More than that, you need to take these guys out of the oven, no matter what level they’re at, and give them the appropriate operational advice.

“Talk through that incident, give them time to think through it, and then determine how they could make an error in law.”

“He made a bad call.” ❌
“But we’ve all made mistakes.” 😠

Jeff Stelling blasts abuse aimed at referee Michael Oliver after Wolves v Arsenal controversy. pic.twitter.com/sVX2iivKp8

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) January 27, 2025

Henry Winter questioned if VAR official England may have felt it difficult to question Michael Oliver.

Hackett replied: “Spot on, Henry. Absolutely spot on. There is no doubt in my mind that the VAR panel should be independent. Not active referees, to be honest.

“I do believe that this is a problem that Oliver has with the VAR people and personnel. You want them to build a relationship up, you want them to be a team and tightly knitted, but there’s also got to be trust.

“Last night, I’d have been on the phone to Darren England, if I was Michael Oliver, asking why he let him down.

“I think these are the discussions that Howard Webb must have, away from the heat of the game and probably Monday, Tuesday of this coming week, to run through it and learn from the error and recognise, first of all, that it is an error.

“Don’t defend it as the normal Premier League spokesman says, that this is serious foul play.”

Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp spoke while on punditry duties: “I’ve spoke to a couple of experts and former referees who have said that it was a bad tackle.

“They thought it was a red card and the player could have rolled his ankle and been out for a few weeks.

“They felt he was endangering an opponent, not just stopping the counter-attack.

“He does get him on the ankle, so it’s not a great challenge – let’s get that straight.

“But he absolutely doesn’t deserve that abuse.

“He might be the first to say he could have bought himself a little bit of time, but referees can make mistakes just like footballers can. That’s life.

“But if we’re getting to the point where every mistake is corruption, then we’re in a really dangerous place. VAR is still a matter of opinion.”

Jeff Stelling said: “You know, with the best will in the world, it we all lose sight of the fact it’s only a game. I mean, it’s it’s important. Of course, it it’s a game. It’s big business as well.

“The problem is that, you know, football referees, like anybody in the public eye, you know, like Coisty, like you, like me, you’re always under scrutiny. And in days of social media, people can say and do pretty much what they want. Without any fear. You know, of what sort of, you know, punishment they might get for it.”

Ally McCoist: “No responsibility for that. That’s what I’ve said it all along. We spoke about it a hundred times. Until people have to take responsibility for their actions and what they say and things like that. I mean, arguably, we, well, not arguably, in my opinion, we had the worst sending off up here yesterday.

“The boy Diomande gets sent off at at Tannadice and are probably one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen in my life. Shocking decision. Referee went over the VAR had a look and got it wrong got it unbelievably wrong twice. However, that doesn’t give the right, you know, to make comments and things like that on social media. It’s shocking.”

Jeff: “Look. Let’s get it straight. He made a bad call. You know, the VAR made a worse call. Yep. But we’ve all made mistakes. You know, we’ve all made mistakes. Nobody’s done it intentionally.”