The blame game - Top referees have say on Sheffield United's ghost goal as Kevin Gage questions HawkEye technology after gaffe at Aston Villa

In the first Premier League back after the Covid-19 suspension, Ollie Norwood looked to have broken the deadlock when Villa goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland caught his swinging free-kick and carried the ball over his own goalline.

Referee Michael Oliver's watch failed to alert him that the ball had crossed the line, and so play continued. HawkEye, who operate the goalline technology used in the Premier League, released a statement after the game apologising to United and adding: "The seven cameras located in the stands around the goal area were significantly occluded by the goalkeeper, defender, and goalpost.

"This level of occlusion has never been seen before in over 9,000 matches that the Hawk-Eye Goal Line Technology system has been in operation."

United, who still went sixth in the Premier League table with the point, would have leapfrogged Manchester United into fifth with three points at Villa Park. With just nine games of the season remaining, the technological failure could yet prove seismic in their bid to become the first United team to ever qualify for European competition.

Former referee Mark Clattenburg believes that VAR should have intervened and awarded United the goal, after the HawkEye system failed.

"Officials need to stop acting like robots and take ownership because a human being has to make the final decision, although I attach no blame to referee Michael Oliver in this instance," Clattenburg, who refereed the 2016 Champions League final and at the European Championships that year, said.

"Rather, if the goal-line technology has clearly failed, then VAR Paul Tierney needs to tell Oliver: 'Stop, it was a goal'. Or at the very least they should pause and take a closer look at all of the available angles - do that and you quickly realise it’s a goal.

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"VAR was brought in to stop the scandal, but this is a scandalous situation. Yes, HawkEye has been 100 per cent reliable in the past and has been a brilliant addition, but the VAR officials had the chance to right the wrong and they failed."

Dermot Gallagher, another former referee who officiated at Euro '96, also insisted that Oliver should be absolved of any blame over the incident.

“Once Michael gets no buzz on his watch, you can see him quite clearly say to the players at the time it hasn’t gone off so it’s not in,” Gallagher said.

"Over the last three or four years we’ve had the GDS [goal decision system], it’s worked so well in that we’ve seen such marginal decisions - both for goals, and goals not over the line - that everybody thinks, if the watches don't buzz, it’s not a goal.

“And I think that’s what’s happened here. Michael has gone no goal because he can’t guess. The bottom line is the VAR referee at Stockley Park is used to using the watch on the pitch.

“So I think when Michael signalled that his watch hadn’t gone off, I think VAR would instinctively say well it’s definitely not over the line.

“If you guess, which Michael couldn’t do, it might have been an optical illusion to him there.

“He’s instinctively gone on technology and is convinced the technology is correct and therefore he’s not willing to go against it.”

Keith Hackett, the Sheffield-born former FIFA referee, believes that the Premier League and the Professional Game Match Officials Board, the body responsible for referees in English football, "must sit down with Hawkeye and review this massive error that had an outcome in the result of the game.”

Chris Wilder, the United manager, was visibly angry when he took part in a virtual press conference via Zoom after the game and admitted he did not know whether to laugh or cry at the decision.

But the PGMOL has no plans to ask VAR officials to check all future goalline technology incidents.

"Ironically, back in 2013 when it [GDS] was introduced, we actually did all the testing at Villa Park," Clattenburg added.

"We used to hide the ball to try and make sure the system would fail, but it never did.

"So when Hawk Eye have said seven cameras did not pick up the ball, which was blocked off by the goalkeeper and the post, it just doesn’t make sense.

"Even the initial checks by Michael Oliver and his team before the match would have shown any problems with the system, and it didn’t.

"One of the tests that you actually do is push the ball into the side-netting to make sure the system goes off and that is exactly what happened.

"You could clearly see the ball hit the side-netting and the camera should have triggered the system within one second of a goal. It is such a huge error on the technology part.”

HawkEye, whose own website boasts that its technology "utilises a dedicated high-speed camera capable of removing the players from the image, to ensure the ball is fully visible", is also used in other sports including tennis and cricket.

But Kevin Gage, the former United and Villa full-back, says that HawkEye now have a major credibility issue after their technology failed in such a high-profile game.

"We have these tech systems thrust upon our game and we are told to trust that the tech works, and live with it," Gage said. "Now it has been proven that it doesn't."

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