Howard Webb sends penalty warning to Premier League players and fans for new season

Referees tsar Howard Webb has warned players and fans to expect more penalties awarded for grappling in the box in a big purge on wrestling. After canvassing club captains, Webb has given the green for a clampdown on the tedious jostling at corners and set pieces.

If referees don’t spot the Hulk Hogan tribute acts, VAR officials have been instructed to intervene. And Webb, chief refereeing officer at match officials trade union PGMOL, insists it won’t be a six-week fad which disappears by the end of September.

He said: “We have to take the game with us. We have to be credible. We have to identify situations that fall in line with the feedback that we’ve had.

“There are too many examples of players clearly pulling people back, impacting their ability to move to the ball, or some clear extreme actions which are not being penalised.

“We’re not looking for a huge swing of the pendulum because that's really difficult to sustain over a period of time - but I would expect to see a few more penalties given.

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“There will still be some grey areas where the referee says ‘No, it's a small touch, it's mutual holding’ and that will stay the referee’s call on the field.

“But when there's no considerations to support the referee’s call, then we'll expect the VAR to get involved as well.

“The captains were surveyed and fed back, and then we looked at a range of views from other stakeholders saying we think that you need to penalise a little bit more in certain circumstances where you're not doing so at the moment.”

This is not PGMOL's first attempt to crack down on holding, but Webb insists it will be sustained this time. “This is not meant to be a six-week campaign, August and September, then we forget all about it,” he added.

“If we went in like a steam train and gave every little bit of sort of contact, then it would tell you it would be a six-week campaign. We would get told very quickly to ease off from what we're doing.”

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