Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has requested that football's offside law is reformed in the aftermath of Coventry City's elimination from the FA Cup by Manchester United.
Mark Robins' side almost completed a shock turnaround at Wembley on Sunday in the competition's semi-final. Having sat three goals down with 19 minutes to play, they recovered the deficit to take the tie into extra-time.
In the 120th minute Victor Torp sent the Sky Blue end of the stadium into raptures with what was seemingly the winner, although VAR doubled back on the strike's build-up to rule it out for the most marginal of offsides. As a result the tie went to penalties, and United kept their cool to set up an all-Manchester final next month.
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"This is classic cup, come back from 3-0 down, 3-3, you’re Coventry," Starmer told the Metro. "This is a giant killing.
"It is a really well-worked goal, and it is ruled out because there is what, a toenail of difference between the attacker and the defender? Don’t tell me a toenail gives you an advantage in football.
"I would change the offside rule. I would not change VAR. I would change the offside rule to make it more beneficial for the attacking team."
Efforts are being made to streamline more accurate reviews of offsides in the top-flight, as it was announced earlier this year that semi-automated offside technology - similar to that used in UEFA competitions - will be integrated into the Premier League midway through the 2024/25 campaign. Figureheads such as Arsene Wenger have also attempted to pitch reforms on the law that would benefit the attacker, but to no avail.
The Prime Ministerial candidate was also joined by ex-England defender Martin Keown, who stood up to his sentiment over Coventry's plight.
The pundit argued: "It is the one area that we can get right. It is objective, not subjective. He is definitely off. If he is off, he is off. He is unlucky, but we all have to try and accept it.
"As a pundit now we have to be very careful. We need to respect the decision. OK, the officials sometimes get it wrong, but these are teething problems.
"We are in the early years of it and let’s hope it gets a lot better going forward."
