The Great VAR Debate threw up two more quirks at Crystal Palace on Saturday evening as League TwoGrimsby Town were hit by a double punishment.
With only nine of the 32 FA Cup ties serviced by VAR, Michael Jolley’s side found themselves reduced to ten men three minutes into the match after video referee Jon Moss intervened and upgraded Grimsby left-back Andrew Fox’s card from yellow to red.
Fox will now be suspended for three games whereas he could not have been retrospectively banned without VAR because referee Martin Atkinson had originally booked him. Next week’s League Two opponents Macclesfield Town will no doubt be grateful.
The other quirk was that Moss also acted as the video referee for the Manchester United-Reading game which kicked off five hours earlier. Presumably, he was able to double up on match fees.
All of which is no consolation to Fox for whom Saturday’s tie may prove to be his last appearance in English football.
The 25-year-old had planned to start a new life in the United States this month to join his American wife.
Having attended college in the States and enjoyed an intermittent career in Europe with Peterborough, Stevenage, Swedish club Eskilstuna and now Grimsby, Fox does not even have a club lined up in America.
What could have been a glorious final hurrah in the English game ended instead with a long walk of ignominy.
For Grimsby keeper James McKeown, the circumstances could not have been more cruel.
McKeown said: “Andrew is the nicest man I’ve ever met in my life. I know it will hurt him because I know that he will feel he’s let down. But that’s not the case.
“His wife has come over from America. She surprised him on Thursday and she came to the game today. That’s the human side that people don’t see. She doesn’t see him that often because she lives over there.
“That’s the horrible side. Going off, I knew it was more than a sending-off for him, if that makes sense. More than the fact that he had been sent off in a big game.
“He’s a lovely lad and I just hope that he doesn’t beat himself up, but you do, you just do.
“VAR is a good thing to have because the officials should get the decisions right, but it’s a bit harsh on us because if we were playing somewhere else today, we’d have played with 11 men and then you never know.”
Relieved Palace manager Roy Hodgson became tetchy in the post-match press conference when the subject turned to potential transfer window targets, including Sunderland’s Lewisham-born striker Josh Maja.
The 20-year-old has scored 15 goals in 39 career appearances for the Wearsiders, all of which has apparently escaped Hodgson’s attention.
Hodgson said: “I’ve never heard of him. Sorry. I don’t follow Sunderland and he has not been mentioned to me.
“The fact is it is not my job to scout players. Are you going to suggest that you can name players here and I in some way am at fault because I don’t happen to have had those names put before me?”
