VAR AND CELTIC: THE DAILY RECORD JUST CONFIRMED WHAT I’VE LONG SUSPECTED
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
We’ve talked about VAR a lot on ACSOM. We’ve discussed its effectiveness; it’s implementation and the painful lack of leadership in properly using the technology in Scotland.
I’ve often said that I feel like VAR is purposefully mismanaged, in the hopes that fans of Celtic and other Scottish clubs who feel hard done by thanks to poor decisions, will demand it be removed.
Our referees could then return to the good old days, when you could award Rangers as many penalties as they like, and sanction as many Celtic players as they wished with impunity.
Daily Record Opinion Piece Says the Quiet Part Out Loud on VAR and Celtic
An editorial in today’s Daily Record, coming little more than a day after the sacking of VAR official and former referee Alan Muir, has just let the cat out of the bag. Turns out it wasn’t just me being paranoid.
The Daily Record, along with other rags such as The Daily Express, The S*n and others have become far too comfortable these days with creating news rather than just reporting it.
The opinion piece in question demands that The SFA should give senior clubs a refund on the fees they pay for VAR every time an erroneous decision affects them.
The writer knows fine and well that this is completely impractical, and it is journalistically illiterate to even bring this up as a serious suggestion.
It’s no coincidence though that this piece was conveniently ready to go just a day or so after Muir’s very public embarrassment, and the reputational damage done to VAR in Scotland as a result.
Like I said though, I’ve long believed this was all part of the plan from the beginning.
Once again, the Daily Record plays the role of the useful idiot in looking after the interests of the one club whose fanbase still buys their paper.
Phase one was for the authorities to grossly underfund VAR and implement the cheapest system possible, in terms of both technology and staff.
On one episode of the ACSOM Bulletin, I once likened The SPFL version of VAR to the failed weapon ED-209 from the movie Robocop.
In a famous scene, the machine gun totting robot badly malfunctions, shredding an unfortunate executive in a hail of bullets.
Its creator, the villainous Dick Jones, when called out on this, retorts “It was a guaranteed sale, who cares if it worked or not!”
I see many parallels between Robocop’s mechanical nemesis and how VAR has been implemented in Scotland.
The emphasis was on getting the technology out there as quickly as possible, with scant regard given to whether or not it worked properly, or if those controlling it actually knew what they were doing.
In other words, VAR in Scotland has been set up to fail from the start. The Daily Record has today begun phase two, stoking the flames of growing fan discontent, in the hopes that we will eventually demand a return to the “good old days” of honest mistakes galore.
As football fans, the Celtic support needs to see this cynical ploy for what it is. More money needs to be invested in VAR, not less.
We need to do it properly. We also need a complete overhaul of how referees are recruited and trained in Scotland.
But for the time being I’ll settle for cameras that can actually show clearly if a decision should stand or not.