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David Moyes has claimed that the Professional Game Match Officials is hesitant to communicate with managers because a high number of refereeing decisions this season have been difficult to explain. Moyes said he “half choked” when Fulham were awarded what proved to be a match-winning penalty against Nottingham Forest on Monday.

Lack of Uniformity in Penalty Calls Highlighted

Everton were denied a penalty on Saturday for a similar offence during their home defeat by Arsenal. Moyes did not criticise the decision at the time but, following Fulham’s penalty, believes the lack of consistency of referees can not be ignored.

“I was half choking last night when I saw the decision given and ours wasn’t,” said the Everton manager. “It feels as though certain clubs get those decisions and other clubs don’t. It appears we are on the latter side of that.”

Previous Cases and Growing Frustration

The coach also pointed to an earlier incident in the season at Brentford involving Virgil van Dijk which was quite similar. “It was later it was given. It is frustrating it wasn’t given on the night and we are looking at others which have been missed,” he added.

Lack of Dialogue with Officiating Authorities

When asked whether he intended to present his case with referee chiefs, Moyes expressed additional concern. “I don’t really know,” he said. “They don’t make it easy whatever you want. They don’t want to have a conversation about it really. They might engage, but they don’t want to because they’re finding it probably very difficult to explain things.”

This stance from the PGMO highlights a wider issue of transparency and answerability in the sport’s refereeing, as per the long-serving coach.