‘Hard to say’ - Ex-ref delivers surprise verdict on controversial Newcastle United v Southampton call

Schar was dismissed by Pawson after an off-the-ball coming together between him and Ben Brereton-Diaz. Schar was adjudged to have headbutted his opposite number and was dismissed for violent conduct.

Schar will likely miss Newcastle’s Premier League games with Bournemouth on Sunday and Tottenham Hotspur the week after, as well as their Carabao Cup clash against Nottingham Forest sandwiched in between those games. Speaking on Sky Sports Ref Watch, Gallagher believes the referee made the correct call in dismissing Schar.

Dermot Gallagher’s view

Asked if Pawson had any other option but to send Schar off, Gallagher responded: “I don’t think so. He’s got sucked in a bit and will probably look back and think, ‘well I didn’t need to do that’. 

“I don’t think the referee has much choice but to show a red card. What I would say is, Brereton-Diaz didn’t do him a lot of favours the way he went down, but he will argue that he [Schar] put his head into his and it’s a red card. It’s hard to say it’s not a red card when you see that evidence.”

He continued: “What I will say in the referee’s defence is that in a pre-season briefing to the players, they were shown incidents like that and were told that they are going to get red cards. But that’s when you say the game has evolved that way, but they were told.”

Newcastle United fans’ view

Following Saturday’s game, the Shields Gazette conducted a poll on the incident to see whether Newcastle United fans agreed with the red card. Maybe unsurprisingly, an emphatic 81% of fans disagreed with the decision to show Schar a red card, with just 19% believing that the Swiss international was deservedly sent off.

Speaking after the game, Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe said: “I think it’s really harsh on Fabby but I think we all know that you can’t give the referee the possibility to even give the red card so that’s something we learn from.”