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Celtic boss Martin O’Neill admits VAR will always be a problem in Scottish football unless clubs are willing to stump up the cash for more cameras.
The opening weeks of the new campaign have once again seen a number of high-profile incidents and controversies relating to officials and their use of the technology.
That has followed on from what was a season of chaos last term as Scottish football’s VAR system made headlines across the globe for all the wrong reasons.
Most stadiums in Scotland have six cameras in operation, compared to many stadiums in the English Premier League having upwards of 30.
This has led to critics branding Scottish football’s version as ‘Poundland VAR’, with limited angles, lines unable to be drawn correctly, and technology that often malfunctions.
On the eve of today’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final clash with Rangers at Ibrox, O’Neill revealed that all SPFL Premiership clubs and managers spoke with SFA head of refereeing Willie Collum recently about the VAR system.
But given the level of finance needed to make meaningful improvements, he believes there will always be flaws.
Celtic boss Martin O'Neill acknowledges VAR is far from perfect
VAR in Scotland uses around six cameras where the EPL version has 30
‘We had a meeting with the referees,’ said O’Neill. ‘It was really fine. I think they’re very open, they want to try.
‘Willie’s really trying to have a go. Martin Atkinson (SFA head of VAR), who I knew from my past down in England, I think they want open discussions with us.
‘We’ve all made plenty of mistakes. It was trying to clear up a couple of things from VAR.
‘If we haven’t got the number of cameras that the Premier League have, there’s not much you can do about it.
‘To get this extra stuff in, they’re talking about £1.5million a season, which just doesn’t seem feasible.
‘It’s a shame. But it is what it is. It would be lovely if you could do it.’
In a match against St Mirren last week, Celtic had two goals ruled out by VAR for what appeared to be very tight and dubious calls.
But O’Neill also acknowledged that other decisions have gone in their favour, such as the handball by Kasper Hogh against Dundee United at Tannadice.
‘There’s some things that they wanted to be pretty adamant about and I thought that was absolutely fine,’ he said.
‘But it’s because there’s so many variances now about what the rule is, in terms of somebody scoring a goal and a handball – the second man handling the ball before it goes to the goalscorer.
‘I thought myself at Dundee United we got lucky with our second goal when the ball came into the penalty box, and Kasper slid in, and it looked like his hand was in an unnatural position.
Celtic were not punished for Kasper Hogh's handball against Dundee United
‘I said to them, I know it went in my favour, but had it have happened against me, I wouldn’t have been widely happy about it.
‘Apparently that was constituting the rules, but there was a fair argument to say, if you’re hand is out there, then things can change again. Some go for you, some don’t.
‘Have I changed my mind on VAR? Well, the first time it really came into prominence was the 2018 World Cup.
‘I really thought it would solve problems. The one thing I was certain about was there would be more penalties because you see people holding onto players.
‘So I thought there’d be plenty of penalties, and VAR would sort it out, but eight years later, we’re still talking about it.
‘I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. All I do know is it’s very difficult to celebrate what you think is a goal for you, because you’re waiting around to see if something has happened.
‘That was always going to be the case, so VAR would have made you lose something in that aspect.
‘But if it meant that a decision was right and somebody was clearly offside, then VAR should do its job.
‘The other thing that’s changed now is the encroachment for a penalty.
‘There was an incident where the Motherwell lad took the penalty and Gogic came into the box. That now doesn’t constitute an infringement. But it does if he follows in and impacts the possibility of another shot.
‘So those are the things we’ve been discussing and I think the conversation was good.’
In terms of today’s clash against Rangers, O’Neill insisted he has yet to decide whether Viljami Sinisalo or Sam Johnstone will start in goal.
Former England international Johnstone, on loan from Wolves, made his debut in the 1-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in midweek but O’Neill was coy about the trip to Govan.
He said: ‘I haven’t made my mind up at all. It was a matter of getting a look at what Sam can do.
‘It’s great to have the two of them. Big Viljami has done exceptionally well for us and it was just, again, an opportunity to see what Sam can do now.
‘What he could do a couple of years ago was fantastic, what he can do now might be a totally different picture. I will let them know first.
‘We are excited about the game, albeit it will be strange with us having no away fans. It’s a big week for us, with the Europa League coming around, and then facing Rangers again.’
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