Keith Hackett: Premier League should introduce independent medical staff at games after Leeds and Robin Koch saga
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett to the MOT Leeds News team. Each week, Hackett will discuss the big moments from the latest Leeds United games and deliver his verdict on whether his successors got their calls right or wrong…
Keith Hackett has insisted that the Premier League should introduce their own independent medical staff after Robin Koch’s head injury for Leeds against Manchester United.
The ex-FIFA official admitted that the conflict between medical staff and managers can’t help, and the decision regarding players has to be taken out of their hands.
Hackett shared that having an independent medical representative to assess players will but safety first after Koch was allowed back on despite clearly struggling.
“I think that when a player sustains a head injury, and it’s bleeding, that’s the time when the player should come off and be correctly assessed,” he exclusively told MOT Leeds News.
“That is why a concussion substitution is allowed. Therefore, clubs and medics have got to get used to that the first line is the safety of the player, he was clearly struggling.
“It’s a difficult line that the medics face because the manager wants the player to be kept on, and the medics have got to go against the manager and that’s a difficult scenario.
“If the medics of the teams can’t react, then the Premier League should put a medical guy in, independent for clubs and he should assess, let’s not have the conflict between the employees of the club because this player should have come off.”
This would make complete sense.
Koch didn’t look right from the first moment he stepped back onto the pitch against Manchester United, and yet he was still allowed to try.
What would have happened if he took one more bang to the head before going off? It could have caused serious damage.
The German admitted himself that he wanted to continue, but sometimes that has to be taken out of the players’ hands and at this stage, the staff too.
Safety is the most important part of this discussion, and it is time the Premier League take this as seriously as though around them.
In other Leeds United news, Jeff Stelling has shared what he has been told about the injury blow to Patrick Bamford over the weekend