Referee Anthony Taylor, who was sentenced to relegation to the Championship (second tier) for excessive officiating against Hwang Hee-chan, is returning to the English Premier League just over a month later. He will be criticized for turning a blind eye.
Hwang’s club, Wolverhampton, drew 2-2 with Newcastle United in the 10th round of the 2023-2024 English Premier League at Molineux Stadium on March 29. In that match, Hwang scored in the 26th minute to help his team earn a valuable point.
It was a dizzying game for Hwang Hee-chan. He conceded a penalty just before half-time when he brought down Newcastle’s Fabian Schar in a defensive situation. Referee Anthony Taylor, who had the whistle at the time, awarded the penalty, but replays showed that the contact between the two players was minimal.
“I thought it was a terrible decision on the field and I couldn’t believe it wasn’t overturned,” said Wolverhampton manager Gary O’Neill at the time, adding, “I don’t want to talk to the referee anymore because it’s a waste of time,” he said. Eventually, the Professional Football Referees’ Organization of England (PGMOL) admitted that Taylor’s call was wrong and announced that he would be demoted to the second tier of the Championship. In fact, Taylor officiated a Championship match between Preston North End and Coventry City.
However, Taylor’s demotion to the second tier is a short-lived one. <TalkSPORT and other British media outlets are reporting that Taylor will take the whistle for the Chelsea-Manchester City match in the 12th round of the English Premier League at Stamford Bridge on May 13. This will be just over a month after the controversial Wolverhampton-Newcastle match. Unsurprisingly, this has been criticized by British media.
Referee Taylor is well known to South Korean fans for sending off South Korea national soccer team coach Paulo Bento during the South Korea-Ghana match 바카라 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Vento suffered the humiliation of becoming the first manager in World Cup history to be sent off for protesting Taylor’s decision not to award a corner when Kwon Kyung-won’s mid-range shot deflected off the Ghanaian defense just before the end of the game.