BBC journalist: Rangers talks scheduled with Scottish Premiership clubs with six-figure expense on the cards
Rangers are scheduled to hold talks with their Scottish Premiership rivals over the introduction of VAR in the top-flight, according to BBC Scotland journalist Brian McLauchlin.
Writing on the BBC Sport website, McLauchlin reports that on Monday lunchtime [28 February], clubs will discuss the cost of VAR, which is estimated to cost each side around £80,000-£100,000 per season.
It is understood that in order for VAR to be introduced into the Scottish Premiership, all 42 SPFL clubs will have a vote but only top-flight teams will have to pay.
McLaughlin adds that if there’s an agreement for VAR to be introduced into Scottish football, it could be used as soon as next season after the mid-season break for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Is Scotland ready?
While it has been reported that Scottish referees are already being trained to use VAR, we have absolutely no faith in them being able to use it properly.
Look at the mess that’s happened south of the border in the English Premier League.
You would imagine that their referees are far better than the ones we have here in Scotland yet they still manage to mess up VAR most weeks.
We’ve seen awful decisions on offsides, penalties and handballs all applied in the last couple of seasons and you just know that the likes of Bobby Madden and Willie Collum will have an absolute howler with it up here.
If you give a bad driver a Vauxhall, he’s not going to drive it well. If you give a bad driver a Ferrari, he’s still not going to drive it very well.
Scottish referees need better training all around and adding an extra thing for them to worry about could lead to shortcomings elsewhere.
In other Rangers news, one senior player is expected to be axed in our predicted line-up against Borussia Dortmund.