Tottenham vs Crystal Palace incident branded 'embarrassing' as ex-PGMOL chief hits out

PGMOL were sent a brutal message from their former chief following an incident in Tottenham's woeful defeat against Crystal Palace

Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has hit out at the communication issues between officials that were again on display in Tottenham vs Crystal Palace. The Premier League clash between the two was paused with just 15 minutes remaining due to technical issues that prevented the officials from hearing each other.

That small delay came at a time when Spurs were pushing for a route back into the game after conceding three goals in seven first-half minutes. All of those Palace strikes came following Micky van de Ven's red card for the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, with Ismalia Sarr converting the subsequent penalty.

He and Jorgen Strand Larsen later struck in stoppage time after Dominic Solanke turned home Archie Gray's cross to initially put the Lilywhites in front. While most of the action took place during the first 45 minutes, there was a talking point in the second half, with Hackett demanding that the PGMOL fix the problem.

He told Tottenham News: "I was responsible for introducing communication kits into the world of football referees. This was following a visit to Twickenham to see it in action.

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“This is not the first time this season that the game has had to be stopped because of a failure of the system. The PGMOL must liaise with their current suppliers to determine why these breakdowns are occurring.

“It is so important that after a game, the system is dried off before placing it in the storage containers. Referees are responsible for installing new batteries before every game. It may well be that the PGMOL need to replace some of the older pieces of kit.”

“It’s embarrassing for the PGMOL that these breakdowns are taking place."

As Hackett points out, this is not the first time this has happened, with even longer delays taking place during last month's north London Derby between Spurs and Arsenal.

Within five minutes and at the start of the second half, the action was temporarily halted as the technical issues were worked on, with Gary Neville, on Sky Sports co-commentary, far from pleased.

He initially said: "One of the most important games of the season, fantastic start to it, really quick. And we're now two or three minutes stopped, players having to sort of re-warm up again, reset. Absolute shambles.

"They haven't got the common sense or the authority, leadership, to go, 'come on, let's read the room here.'

"There's 62,000 people in this stadium, there's millions watching at home and do they really think it's that important that they can't find some form of communication with the linesman over on the far side?

"Put your flag up if you're going to make a decision or you want to speak to him."

Spurs, meanwhile, find themselves in the midst of a relegation dogfight, hoovering just one point above the danger zone after Igor Tudor lost his third successive match since taking over.