Video official Lee Mason forgot to attend an emergency meeting called by Howard Webb after two VAR blunders were made in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Webb and other referees summoned to the meeting waited several hours for Mason to make an appearance but were forced to proceed without the Bolton-based official.
The 51-year-old realised he’d forgotten to attend the Stockley Park summit when he saw dozens of missed calls and messages from Webb and other PGMOL officials.
It comes after Mason forgot to draw the right lines to check whether Brentford’s Christian Norgaard was offside in the build-up to Ivan Toney’s goal against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
“I thought I’d stuck a reminder about the meeting in my phone, but I must’ve forgotten to do it,” Mason told Paddy Power News.
“I can only apologise to my colleagues, Howard and everyone associated with Arsenal football club for potentially costing them their first Premier League title in 19 years.
“I was going to send an email to Mikel Arteta to apologise for my performance, but I forgot my password and couldn’t get logged in to my account.
“I’m 99% sure it begins with a C.”
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In Mason’s absence, Webb removed John Brooks as VAR for Liverpool v Everton tonight, and for Arsenal v Manchester City on Wednesday, after he ruled out a perfectly good Brighton goal for offside at the weekend.
Senior figures at PGMOL later revealed that Brooks had been replaced by a blind marsupial mole.
“Molesy will make his VAR debut during tonight’s Merseyside derby,” Webb added, as the creature tried to wriggle free from his grasp.
“We believe he’ll fit right in here at Stockley Park because he can’t see and has little to no knowledge of the laws of the game.”
PPN understands the mole fought off stiff competition from a bat, a Texas salamander and a cave cricket to land the role.
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