FA make Birmingham City v Newcastle United official decision after Manchester United controversy

Newcastle United will play without VAR for the final time this campaign when they travel to Birmingham City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

At the beginning of the competition, the FA announced the decision to introduce VAR from the fifth round onwards. That came into focus last night when Harry Maguire’s late winner for Manchester United against Leicester City stood, despite the defender being in an offside position.

FA statement on VAR

“Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will only be used in the 2024-25 Emirates FA Cup from the Fifth Round onwards,” the FA announced last year.

“It has been agreed that VAR will be utilised for every match in the Fifth Round of the competition through to the Final at Wembley Stadium, and will not be in operation for the Third and Fourth Rounds.

“VAR has only been used in the Emirates FA Cup previously for matches at Wembley Stadium and at Premier League grounds due to the infrastructure, workforce and costs that are required for its operation.

“This decision ensures that there is a consistent refereeing approach for all clubs taking part in the same stage of the competition.”

What Eddie Howe has said about VAR

The final of the Carabao Cup - where Newcastle face Liverpool at Wembley on March 16 - and Premier League matches have VAR in place, meaning the visit to Birmingham is the last time Eddie Howe’s side will play without VAR.

United saw the downside of VAR in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final win over Arsenal at St James’ Park.

Alexander Isak found the net after just three minutes and the goal was heavily celebrated only to be ruled out for offside moments later following a VAR check.

Luckily for the Magpies, it didn’t matter as Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon went on to find the net to help record a 4-0 aggregate win.

“I think it always depends on the game and the incident and the outcomes,” said Howe “But I'm still quite happy when there's no VAR.

“I don't want those comments to come back to haunt me. But I enjoy when there's no flag and there's a goal, obviously, if it's for us. Knowing that the goal is there and there's going to be no pullback.

“[The Isak goal] was full of emotion, the whole stadium and of course, it was not given. But I've always said, and I can't contradict myself, the factual decisions, so the offsides, I can live with.

“If it’s offside, it's offside. There's nothing you can do about it.

“You've then got to go return and I thought the lads did really well to mentally deal with that and then go back into the game and score pretty soon afterwards. It's the other decisions that I sometimes have an issue with.”

FA Cup confirm match officials

With no VAR in place, the referee’s decision will be final this afternoon.

Matthew Donohue has been appointed as referee, assisted by Paul Hodskinson and Nigel Lugg with James Bell as fourth official.

Aside from the cup competitions, Donohue has exclusively refereed Championship games this season.