Aston Villa news: What is PGMOL’s referee appointments policy?

Former referee Chris Foy explained it can be tricky for officials to be allotted a fixture based on current rules.

Aston Villa have complained to referees’ body PGMOL about Thomas Bramall after he made a “big mistake” in their 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday that contributed to them missing out on the Champions League.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited told BBC Sport it does not comment on why individual appointments for matches are made.

According to the PGMOL appointments policy, all match officials must submit a declaration of interests form before the start of each season.

Match officials, video assistant referees and assistant video assistant referees are only eligible to officiate games that do not involve a club for which they have a conflict of interest.

This includes clubs they support, have played competitive matches for at first-team level or clubs from the same town or city, excluding London, where the official lives.

The policy also states officials cannot be involved in a match that directly involves a club “which has a strong association with a club for which an interest has been declared”.

It is up to PGMOL’s discretion to determine if a club has a strong association with that other club.

PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb can also vary the appointments at his discretion.