Rangers to get VAR advantage in Scottish Cup, ex-official slams SFA
Rangers are set to be one of the Premiership clubs to benefit from the application of VAR in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.
The Scottish Daily Express reports that only televised fixtures at top-division clubs are set to have the technology in use after a successful trial period in the Premiership.
Rangers are likely to be one of those televised matches, as are Celtic, but former SPFL official Steve Conroy is outraged at the inconsistency from one game to another.
“It makes absolutely no sense. You wonder who signs these things off. It’s madness,” Conroy said on the Get Involved Referee podcast. “It’s the application of the universal laws of the game.
“They should be applied in Darvel in the same way that they are applied at Celtic Park, for example, but it seems that’s not happening.
“It’s not fair, it’s not equitable and it leaves a really nasty taste in the mouth.”
All or nothing
Conroy is right, it isn’t fair for the clubs lower down in the pyramid or not on television to be at a disadvantage compared to the biggest clubs in the country.
The Scottish Cup should provide parity between Premiership and League Two clubs, giving them all a level-playing field on which to do battle.
If there is a controversial incident at one of the lesser grounds in the fourth round, then huge questions will have to be asked as to why VAR was not in operation when it was elsewhere.
The technology might not be able to be used at some grounds so that should mean it isn’t used at all in the fourth round and they should wait until they can use it universally across all ties.
Rangers don’t have any say in the matter and they should still progress to the very latter stages of the competition but they must feel some form of guilt seeing other clubs denied to use of VAR.
In other Rangers news, this teenage sensation has put pen to paper on an extended deal at Auchenhowie after breaking into the B team this season.