The Folarin Balogun red card controversy will fuel conspiracy theories around officiating in the Premier League, according to referees’ chief Howard Webb.

United States forward Balogun had a one-match ban for a World Cup red card suspended by FIFA’s disciplinary committee, allowing him to play in his country’s last-16 match against Belgium.

US President Donald Trump later revealed he had personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to “review” the red card, prompting allegations of political interference in football which the world governing body so far has done little to challenge, with no meaningful explanation offered to date for the suspension of the ban.

That incident led to suggestions later in the tournament that Argentina were benefiting from referee and VAR decisions, and Webb accepts it does not help on the domestic front either where social media commentators regularly espouse theories about favourable treatment for the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ clubs.

“I was really troubled by it,” he said.

“We know that there was pressure placed by a politician onto FIFA because that was admitted, and we know that the suspension was taken away for that particular tournament and suspended through a process which seemingly didn’t exist before the season the tournament started.

“Where I was troubled by it was that we live in a world now which is different to the one that I occupied as a ref – in that decisions that are taken were previously viewed as correct or incorrect.

“Far too often now, decisions are viewed as correct or corrupt by people who want to type all over social media. They try to draw inferences around decisions that they don’t agree with, and (ask) what’s the motivation behind that decision, which is borne out of no facts, no evidence.

“But when you get that type of situation (with Balogun), it opens up space for people to think, ‘Ha ha! You see – this sort of thing’s happening all the time behind the scenes’. And it’s really not, in my professional experience.”

Asked whether it would fuel Premier League conspiracies, Webb said: “It doesn’t help, does it? I don’t want to get into all the talk about FIFA, but of all the things that people talk about, that troubles me the most.

“That’s the thing that affects the 90 minutes and the game – the fact that sort of influence can be had, which is just really not reflective of the game that I know.”

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters agreed the Balogun case was “difficult to comprehend” but added: “I’m not overly depressed about the impact it’s all going to have on the Premier League. I think the Premier League feels separate and different.

“Coming back to the issue about, ‘Do people believe their eyes?’ Obviously, I do scroll through social media every now and then.

“I do bump into some of the stuff that people are saying and thinking out there, but I do believe that fans, when they turn up and they watch what’s going on on the pitch, that it’s everything that it should be.

“It’s still the same. It’s English football. Everyone’s trying their best. Referees are trying their best. There’s lots of controversy, but it is what it says it is.”