Everton have condemned threats aimed at James Tarkowski in the aftermath of the Merseyside derby and pledged to work with social media companies and police on any investigations into online abuse.
Tarkowski’s wife, Samantha, said the Everton defender had received death threats after Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat at Liverpool and that the family had also been the target of vile abuse. Tarkowski was booked for a reckless 11th-minute tackle on Alexis Mac Allister in the derby and Howard Webb, head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, has admitted to Liverpool the challenge was worthy of a red card.
The central defender apologised to Mac Allister after the game and Arne Slot, Liverpool’s head coach, welcomed the admission of an error from PGMOL. But that has not stopped abuse of Tarkowski and his family.
“Everton Football Club is aware of threats made towards James Tarkowski, and his family on social media,” a club statement said. “Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and has no place in football or society.
“The club is liaising with James and his wife Samantha, and stands ready to engage with the social media companies and assist the police with any potential investigation. Everton strongly condemns any form of online or offline intimidation, threats or abuse directed at players, staff, or their families.
Everton’s manager, David Moyes, also condemned the treatment of Tarkowski on Friday. “It’s not acceptable for anybody in any walk of life,” said Moyes. “We have to hold our hands up and after looking at it again I believe that it could have been a sending-off but I don’t think that means you get abused online because of that. It’s part of football. He made, which looked at the time I thought, a really good tackle, but looking at it again, I think it was a bit reckless.”
Samantha Tarkowski wrote on Instagram that she had no choice but to call out the abuse that followed the derby, even though “we usually just laugh it off”. She posted: “The level of abuse my husband is receiving – wishing death on him, vile comments about me, about us as a couple, and about him as a person – is beyond disgusting.
“People forget that he is more than just a footballer. He is a husband, a father, a brother, a friend, and most importantly, the father of our two children. He goes out there and does his job and does it very fucking well yet he’s subjected to so much hate. For those acting like he deliberately set out to hurt someone – r u serious?! Football moves at speed, and tackles are split-second decisions. No player goes out there to injure someone and do you think any player would feel good about it if they did?
“But the pure shit messages, the threats? That’s intentional. That’s on you. Football is a sport, but the way some so-called ‘fans’ behave is disgraceful. The abuse, the threats – it’s not passion, it’s pathetic. We’re real people, and this goes far beyond football.”
Moyes believes PGMOL is “hiding behind words” over the decision to allow Liverpool’s winner at Anfield and has questioned why there has been more focus on Tarkowski’s challenge than the goal that decided the game. He maintains Diogo Jota’s goal should have been disallowed for offside against Luis Díaz even though, according to Ifab laws, the Colombia international was not in Tarkowski’s line of vision or making a clear attempt to play the ball from an offside position.
“I think they are trying to let the game flow and not bring back every offside, but when the incident led to a goal they should have said: ‘Hey, this is offside,’” Moyes said. “I understand a lot of the stuff about Tarky but I found it quite hard that more of the media did not pick up on that. No one talked about the thing that changed the game. They are quite happy to talk about the VAR decision but not the decision that altered the game.
“They are saying he is not in his line of vision but Tarky had worked to get a player offside and the ball is played to him. We held the box and a player has not got out the box. I could understand if he was stood on the other side of the pitch and not interfering with the play in any way. I can only see that they’ve hid behind the words, and that’s what they’ll do now.”
