Keith Hackett: PGMOL to contact LMA after Guardiola's Simon Hooper rage at Man City

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The FA could send reminder to managers to speak to referees in their dressing rooms after Man City boss Pep Guardiola confronted referee Simon Hopper on the field, Keith Hackett has said.

The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that officials are happy to speak to managers in such circumstances.

Guardiola saw his side held to a 2-2 draw by Brighton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday (15 March) in a game that featured plenty of controversy.

That included the Man City boss confronting Hooper on the field at full time, having been left unhappy by a decision to book winger Jeremy Doku for diving.

Pep Guardiola follows Arne Slot with referee clash

Earlier this year, Liverpool manager Arne Slot was shown a red card by referee Michael Oliver after confronting him on the pitch at the end of his side’s Merseyside derby draw with Everton.

That led to the Liverpool boss being given a two-match touchline ban and £70,000 fine for his comments to the official.

On this occasion, Guardiola was not carded by Hooper for his conversation with the referee at the end of the clash between Man City and Brighton.

Even so, Hackett believes advice may still be sent to those involved in games, to avoid situations such as this developing in the future.

‘Man City incident could lead to FA action’ – Keith Hackett

Afer being asked by Football Insider if the FA could look into the Man City manager’s debate with Hooper as they did with Slot’s despite no card being issued this time round, Hackett said:

“I think first of all, somebody at the PGMOL needs to inform the LMA, the League Managers Association, that there is a process where 30 minutes after the game, they can talk about these things in the privacy of the referee’s dressing room to seek clarification, and referees are quite willing to do that.

“I think that what we’ve got is referee tending to park themselves in midfield looking for congratulations when in fact they’d be better off walking towards the tunnel and still observing what’s going off, and if anything does ignite, they can deal with it.

“I just feel that it’s almost inviting the manager to come up. In the case here, I think it’s difficult for the FA because we don’t know first of all what Guardiola’s said.

“But if he’s saying his player should not have received a yellow card, I’m with him 100% and therefore you can see the frustrations of a manager when a referee makes a cheap call and a cheap yellow card decision.

“Anyone that’s got a right viewing angle, and that might not have been afforded to the referee, but if he’s got an appropriate viewing angle, Doku’s not attempted to deceive the referee in any way shape of form, he’s tried to escape.

“So I have sympathy with Guardiola but I do think that maybe the FA might remind these guys that the time to have a discussion about incidents is in the referee’s dressing room 30 minutes after the game, not in the public gaze out in the middle of the pitch.”

This has so far been a disappointing Premier League title defence for Man City, who are currently fifth in the Premier League table, a whole 22 points behind leaders Liverpool.

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