Either make VAR better or scrap it completely
I am not surprised that a Premier League club – Wolves – are questioning the use of VAR in the top flight.
Since VAR’s introduction I have not seen any improvement in its operation and delivery. Frankly if we do not see improvements then I support Wolves’ claim that VAR should be binned.
I suspect that before requesting this matter be put on the agenda next week’s Premier League annual meeting, Wolves will have sounded out a number of clubs to seek opinion and support.
VAR has affected our game in a negative manner, failing at times to rectify errors or even intervene when the referee makes the wrong call.
Nottingham Forest had three strong claims for a penalty kick to be awarded in one game – against Everton. On the final penalty appeal referee Anthony Taylor signalled that Ashley Young had played the ball but replays showed clearly that this was not the case and that VAR should have intervened and a penalty kick should have been awarded. The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, through its Mic’d Up show on Sky TV, saw referees chief Howard Webb admitting the error.
There is, sadly, a list of blunders that with correct VAR intervention would have resulted in the right outcome.
Six years ago VAR was introduced to the Premier League – a year after its first use in Major League Soccer in the United States.
Under the management of Mike Riley in the first year of its operation in 380 Premier League games, not one referee visited the pitch side monitor to review an incident. In year two, when questioned, Riley stated that the monitors would be used sparingly but the monitor was used on only three occasions.
I said last year after the successful introduction of the semi-automated system for offside in the World Cup, the technology should be introduced into the Premier League. That idea was rejected by the Premier League and sadly we have witnessed VAR operators stumbling and fumbling with the offside lines to the extent that the game is often delayed sometimes by minutes which has an impact on the flow of the game.
The Premier League will now introduce the system which uses its own camera system and artificial intelligence, resulting in a quicker decision making process hopefully.
If you are in the stadium the lack of communication to the fans is poor and they are frankly left wondering what is happening. They receive more information if one of their fellow supporters is watching the game live on a mobile phone.
The fans are being treated like mushrooms – kept in the dark and having compost (for want of a better word) heaped on them.
I introduced goalline technology to the top flight, so I am not against improvements to decision making. But one has to ask the question, has VAR so far improved the product. I would say ‘no’ and furthermore it has undermined referees, often through their own hesitancy but also through indecision at Stockley Park
There is no point the PGMOL saying its gets 98 per cent of decisions correct. Most of them are easy to call. But in key decisions in important matches VAR is often found wanting. PGMOL still lacks leadership.
So what improvements need to be made?
We should have a specialist fully-trained panel of VAR operators and that is their sole role in the game.
The referee and his/her colleagues should use the stadium’s big screens to review incidents with fans fully engaged in the process – it works for rugby, then why not for football?
The Football Association should have a vote on the law-making body IFAB and the game must drive it to implement changes.
The handball law needs to be simplified and there should be retrospective punishment for acts of simulation.
Current PGMOL chief Howard Webb must spend the close season looking at how he can impose his authority to bring about necessary changes.
