Sheffield United's hierarchy discuss Hawkeye shambles as Chris Wilder reveals PGMOL have not made contact

But as he attempts to draw a line under Wednesday’s shambles at Aston Villa - when Hawkeye failed to spot Oliver Norwood’s first-half free-kick had reached the back of the opposition net - Wilder conceded it might not be the last we hear of the matter.

Although United’s coaching staff and players are focusing purely on the next game, behind the scenes conversations are continuing about what would be an appropriate response if the malfunction ends-up costing the club a place in Europe.

“We’ve told the lads to wipe it from their minds,” Wilder said. “If there’s any upset or bad feeling about it still, we’ve got to forget about it because there’s another very difficult and very important game coming up. I’ve made it clear I don’t want to hear it getting talked about around the training ground while we’re getting ready for Newcastle because that’s just a distraction.

“I know the board and others are going to be looking at it, which is the right and proper thing to do.

“But as staff and players, we’ve got to move on and put everything into trying to get more points on the board."

Within 24 hours of United’s return from the West Midlands, a leading sports lawyer told a national newspaper they could have grounds to take legal action against both the system’s manufacturers Hawkeye and the competition itself if the error prevents them qualifying for either the Champions or the Europa leagues. United finished the contest - the first to be staged in England since the fixture schedule was suspended three months ago because of the Covid-19 pandemic - four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

With events at Villa Park still dominating the agenda, Wilder spent long periods of Friday's pre-match media briefing trying to find fresh ways of answering the same question. A football manager rather than a software engineer or computer programmer, many of the queries put to him were impossible to answer and would have been better directed at Hawkeye’s PR representatives.

But Wilder’s thoughts on the video assistant referee’s refusal to intervene when, within seconds, it became obvious that a clear and obvious error had been made were intriguing.

It was disappointing to learn that, although the Premier League itself had been in touch, the body responsible for overseeing match officials had not made personal contact - preferring instead to issue a public statement instead.

“I’m not satisfied with why VAR didn’t get involved,” Wilder admitted. “There was a statement from Hawkeye and I’ve had a chat with the Premier League, which I appreciate.

“But I’ve not had anything from the PGMOL. I think we’re top of that league (of being denied decisions by VAR) and we don’t want an open top bus tour when we win that division.”

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