Rangers namechecked in new VAR blast – ‘unmitigated disaster’
Rangers have been namechecked by Daily Mail journalist Calum Crowe after the Scottish FA were slammed for the “unmitigated disaster” of VAR this season.
There have been countless cases of mistakes from the Scottish officials this season with Rangers at the centre of plenty of their own cases.
Liam Scales’ challenge on Vaclav Cerny in the Scottish League Cup final has been one of the most high-profile examples of the season thus far.
Writing for the Daily Mail’s website (5 February), Crowe shared his thoughts on the way VAR is used in Scotland.
“For instance, the officials for this weekend’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, where the Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles, have been selected on the merits of how they performed over the season,” he wrote.
“That’s how these things should work. Instead, Scottish football continues to prop up failing referees and a VAR system which has been an unmitigated disaster from the minute it was introduced.
“Every club can no doubt cite their own example. But the most high-profile case this season came in the League Cup final between Celtic and Rangers last December.
“Rangers screamed for a penalty when Vaclav Cerny was brought down by Liam Scales. Referee John Beaton blew for a foul, but deemed that it had taken place outside the box.
“Plainly, it hadn’t. The TV replays clearly showed the contact had continued to the line of the penalty box and, therefore, a spot-kick should have been awarded.
“The VAR officials on duty at Hampden, Alan Muir and Frank Connor, failed to recommend an on-field review and didn’t alert Beaton to the fact a mistake may have been made.
“The SFA’s head of refereeing, Willie Collum, later said ‘it was not a difficult decision for the VAR team’ and admitted they were ‘not forensic enough in the analysis’.
“No matter. A couple of weeks later, Muir and Connor were both back officiating Premiership matches.”
VAR in Scotland needs to get better after the Rangers mistakes this season
VAR in Scotland has been one of the main talking points from the Scottish Premiership this season with plenty of mistakes occurring despite things supposedly being better with it in place.
There are many ways that VAR in football as a whole could be better but for some reason, it feels like the mistakes happen much more frequently in Scotland, particularly in the Gers’ games.
While earning a penalty in the Scottish League Cup final against Celtic might not have set Philippe Clement’s men apart from the arch-rivals, they’d have certainly found themselves in a better place if they managed to bag the spot-kick.
Strategies have been implemented to try and rule out as many mistakes as possible but it has felt as though they’re still more than prominent each week and does anyone really stick back the system?
There are ways things could be changed and improved but unless some serious money is put into it by the Scottish FA then it’s hard to see how it will ever get better which, to be quite frank, is rather scary.
In other Rangers news, the Gers should be looking to cast their net wider for transfer after what Craig Moore said.
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