Howard Webb made visit to Manchester City training ground to discuss referee decisions

Howard Webb made visit to Manchester City training ground to discuss referee decisions PGMO chief Howard Webb visited the City Football Academy earlier this year, spending hours addressing frustrations. A series of controversial decisions across January and February 2026 brought relations between Manchester City and officiating bodies to breaking point. Revelations emerge from a report on Pep Guardiola’s historic 10-year tenure, confirming he remains the only Premier League manager who completely boycotts standard referee meetings.

Manchester City received a visit from referees’ boss Howard Webb earlier this year, where he discussed decisions that went against the club this season. The revelation comes amid a week of immense reflection and administrative upheaval at the Etihad Stadium, as Pep Guardiola continues to shy away from confirming his own reported exit by pointing towards talks with Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak . The timing of Webb’s intervention matches a volatile period in the winter schedule where Manchester City felt victimised by inconsistent VAR reviews and on-pitch officiating errors.

With the squad pushing its physical limits across multiple domestic and European fronts, the psychological strain of dropped points due to refereeing anomalies led to high-level frustration, perhaps stemming from Pep Guardiola directly . Howard Webb’s Manchester City visit revealed As revealed in a wider report from MailSport’s Jack Gaughan on Pep Guardiola’s 10-year stay at the Etihad Stadium, anger at decisions throughout January and into February 2026 led to referees’ chief Howard Webb heading into the City Football Academy training centre. Webb is said to have been at the club ‘for hours’ to discuss recent decisions that went against Manchester City, whilst he was also recently seen deep in conversation with one club analyst following the 2026 FA Cup final.

It is stated that the two parties usually keep their distance, and Pep Guardiola is the only manager in the Premier League not to turn up to PGMO meetings and never has done, whether that be during pre-season or mid-season. Pep Guardiola’s long-standing referee frustrations Guardiola’s refusal to attend standard Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) summits underscores his unique and uncompromising approach to English football’s top-level infrastructure. For a decade, while rival managers used regular meetings to lobby for rule changes or seek clarification on officiating protocols, Pep Guardiola chose distance.