Keith Hackett, the former referees’ head, has called for his successor to step down and for five top officials to be removed, damning current refereeing standards as the “worst that we have seen”.

Hackett, who was succeeded at Professional Game Match Officials Limited by Mike Riley in 2010, said the referees Mike Jones, Andre Marriner, Lee Mason and Chris Foy should be stood down at the end of the season and Lee Probert should lose his position should he fail a fitness test.

Hackett also called for wide-ranging action to change PGMOL, with the first course of action to “dispense with the services of the current PGMOL General Manager”.

PGMOL would not respond directly, but released statistics which it said showed standards had improved in every available measure in the five years since Hackett left the organisation. These included accuracy on major decisions, up to 95% from 94.1%; on decisions in the penalty box (98%); and offsides, 99% compared to 92% five years ago when Riley took over.

Hackett wrote on his blog: “One thing is certain: Professional Game Match Officials Limited cannot continue without a fundamental review of its operations. The PGMOL is failing in its aim to deliver excellence on the field.”

Hackett, who refereed at the European Championship and the Olympics in 1988, and who writes for the Observer’s You are the Ref series, said he agrees with the former referee Graham Poll’s scathing opinion that performances have reached a new low.

“This season we have all witnessed many disastrous performances and big game-changing errors,” Hackett wrote. “I share the view of one former top referee that the current group of professional referees is the worst that we have seen.

“The latest big game decision error was the stupid dismissal of Wayne Routledge of Swansea City [at Queens Park Rangers] who himself was on the receiving end of a reckless challenge. It is unbelievable that a so-called top referee should make such a mistake.

Swansea’s Wayne Routledge is sent off by referee Anthony Taylor - a decision later overturned. Photograph: BPI/REX

“It is my view that the board of the PGMOL should return to its original constitution with the chief executives of the FA, The Football League and Premier League reviewing the current PGMOL operation.”

Routledge’s red card, which was shown by Anthony Taylor, was later overturned by the Football Association and, while Taylor was not on Hackett’s list for the chop, he was scathing in his assessment of Riley.

“I see standards falling,” he told the BBC. “Over the Christmas period it reached standards that were bordering on appalling.

“If [a manager] is at the bottom of the league then his job is at risk. At this moment in time he [Riley] is more than bottom. I am seeing a regression. The performances of the referees are not acceptable. He must carry the responsibility.”

He added: “Ultimately, at the end of the day, I don’t think they’re bad referees, I just think they need some leadership and guidance and help at this stage to improve performances on the field of play.”