RateTheRef

Simply moves to VAR activities. Keeps the experience within the game.

Wont be a loss to the overall standard.

Shame. He's a decent referee, steady and safe pair of hands 9.9/10.  It does not surprise me though with the back injury he was out for ages with. It was a dreadful injury & he was very lucky to come back from it. I suspect he will count the time after his back surgery as an added bonus. I hope he joins the VAR team. I don't believe you necessarily need the level of experience he has to do VAR, any decent referee from any level should be considered for the role but it would be a shame to lose his experience altogether.  Maybe he will consider coaching or assessing as well.

Not one of the 'greats' in my book but dependable and a referee who made the very most of his natural talent and ability. Always a shame when injury curtails a career, I hope he finds an appropriate niche still serving the game.

I see some people here saying that you don't need much experience in order to sit on the VAR chair.

Well, respectfully, I disagree.

Take for example what happened at the German Super Cup. An inexperienced VAR with only 1 year in Bundesliga and 10 matches, forced the referee to issue a YC to Kimmich (for a VC scene) instead of inviting him for an OFR. This was a clear violation of the VAR protocol. A more experienced referee would assess the situation properly and then invite the referee to watch it again.

Objection m'lud   ...... conjecture.

If a VAR official was in breach of the protocol he should have been adopting that is just a crass error down to incompetence not necessarily inexperience.

Crass errors are not the preserve of inexperienced = we see plenty from experienced officials on a regular basis.

As an aside, I find the referee going over to a monitor and viewing the footage, sometimes several times, is one of the less appealing features of VAR.

If he does indeed retire, I think it'll be a sad loss. Always thought he was a very good referee. Whenever I saw him at the Emirates it always amazed me how much he spoke to players - far more than any other referee I've seen there. Always seemed to referee with a smile and looked like he was highly respected by the players. As mentioned, rarely caused any major controversy, and never craved the limelight like Mike Dean does.

Do we actually know he’s retired yet??

No just rumour in the s*n, which isn't known for accuracy!

Anyone heard anything else on this?

Why can't they use him as VAR?