No weekend game for Manchester derby VAR officials

Two senior VAR officials removed from weekend appointments

Matt Donohue, who was due to serve as the video assistant referee for the recent Manchester derby, and his assistant VAR Blake Antrobus have not been named on the list of officials for this weekend’s Premier League fixtures. The pair are absent from the scheduled appointments circulated for the upcoming rounds of matches, a development that will draw attention because of the high profile of the fixture they worked.

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) handles appointments for referees and VARs across English professional football; those weekend lists normally include the names of VAR teams allocated to top-flight games. The decision to omit Donohue and Antrobus from this weekend’s slate has not been accompanied by a public explanation from the governing body, leaving clubs, supporters and pundits to speculate on the reasons.

Why It Matters

This is significant because the Manchester derby is one of the most scrutinised fixtures in English football. Any change — or perceived irregularity — involving the officials who handled it will stoke debate about VAR’s consistency and the transparency of refereeing governance. VAR appointments are more than administrative detail: they affect public confidence in match oversight and influence narratives about fairness and accountability when contentious incidents occur.

Even if the omission is routine — for rest, rotation or standard performance review — the lack of clarity will matter to supporters who already view VAR decisions through a partisan lens. When officials involved in high-profile matches are suddenly absent from appointment lists, social and mainstream media fill the vacuum with conjecture. That can amplify suspicion, whether justified or not, and increase pressure on PGMOL to be clearer about why certain officials are rested or reassigned.

How VAR appointments work and the context surrounding this decision

PGMOL coordinates match official appointments across the Premier League and other professional competitions. Officials are taken from a pool of trained referees and VAR operators, commonly drawn from the Select Group and a dedicated VAR cohort. Appointments typically follow a pattern of rotation and assessment: referees and VARs are regularly evaluated on performance, fitness and accuracy of decision-making, and those evaluations inform future assignments.

It is not uncommon for officials to be rotated off duties for several reasons: routine rest after busy weeks, scheduled assessments or development activities, safeguarding and welfare considerations, or, occasionally, removal pending internal reviews. The governing bodies rarely provide detailed public accounts of every personnel tweak; the balance between confidentiality and public accountability is constantly contested.

The Manchester derby itself has been the scene of controversial decisions in recent seasons, as have many high-profile fixtures where VAR intervention is more likely to be decisive. That history shapes how any administrative move involving match officials is interpreted. Fans and media are increasingly attuned to the minutiae of appointments because VAR decisions — correct or otherwise — have immediate and material consequences for league positions, finances and managerial narratives.

At the same time, referees and VAR teams operate under intense pressure. High-stakes fixtures attract microscopic replay analysis and threaded criticism on social media; officials are human and are subject to physical and mental fatigue like any other professional. Rotation and withdrawal can be legitimate welfare measures as much as disciplinary ones.

What Happens Next

Expect a short period of heightened scrutiny. PGMOL will either stand silent, allowing routine procedures to proceed without detailed commentary, or will issue a brief statement clarifying whether this is an administrative rotation, a welfare decision, or something else. Historically, the body has preferred to limit public detail on personnel matters, so the absence of immediate explanation would not be unprecedented.

Operationally, replacements for any vacated VAR duties will already be in the appointment pool; weekend games will proceed with other qualified officials stepping into the VAR roles. The Premier League and clubs will receive notice of the revised line-ups ahead of kick-off as standard practice.

From a reputational angle, this development will add to calls for greater transparency in how refereeing appointments and post-match reviews are handled. Supporters’ groups, pundits and some club representatives may press for clearer communication about whether absences are performance-related or routine. If PGMOL intends to reduce suspicion, a concise public explanation that respects confidentiality while offering reassurance could defuse much of the noise.

For supporters of the clubs involved in the derby, and for neutral observers of the Premier League, the immediate practical impact will be limited: matches will have VAR cover and the weekend programme will go ahead. The longer-term impact rests on how governing bodies handle the messaging and whether the incident becomes a prompt for fresh debate on the governance and transparency of VAR operations.

In short: expect replacements to be appointed and fixtures to be unaffected logistically, but anticipate media and fan discourse to probe why two officials who recently worked a major fixture are absent from the next round of appointments.