Gary O’Neil has questioned if VAR has a long-term future in the Premier League with the entertainment of games ‘reducing’.
The future of VAR has come into question in recent weeks after a series of terrible errors from the officials.
Wolves have been seemingly affected by this the most with the most recent happening just last weekend when Max Kilman’s equaliser was ruled out.
O’Neil called the decision baffling with the West Ham striker Michail Antonio also agreeing as the latter claimed that VAR ‘should be removed from the league’.
Now, the Wolves manager has weighed on the debate as fans continue to criticise the system.
Gary O’Neil continues to have doubts about VAR
After last weekend’s decision, the Wolves fanbase was in uproar. VAR has always had its critics from the Molineux faithful but now, it is at its height.
Chants of ‘Boring’ continue to echo around the stadium each time it comes into play with the gameplay stopped for nearly five minutes sometimes.
Now, after reflecting for almost a week on another dubious decision, O’Neil has questioned whether football should revert to ‘life without VAR’.
Journalist Liam Keen reported: “You can feel it nationally, there’s a lot of frustration around some of the decisions. It’s not been all bad, but there’s a desire from everybody for the standard to improve.”
The manager then added: “I thought VAR would definitely help. But I do feel it can either get better or just go back to where we were with on-field decisions. I’m not sure we’ve improved the entertainment factor.”
Nathan Judah also reported that O’Neil said there is much more enjoyment in the Championship without VAR. This combined with few decisions being correct has only made the manager question the system more.
Gary O’Neil is spot-on
The entertainment factor has clearly dropped in the Premier League. Any matchday-going fan can no longer be certain if a goal will stand with VAR constantly checking every tiny thing.
Play can be stopped for minutes upon end with any fan in the stadium having little idea what is being checked.
On top of this, the opposition team is also in the same boat as seen in Wolves vs West Ham. David Moyes must have thought he was the luckiest man in the world at Molineux when Kilman’s goal was chalked off – a decision he did not agree with.
Then, you look down at the EFL, with each fan holding the knowledge they can celebrate the goal. This is without the fear of officials checking for minutes on end if every detail is correct hundreds of miles from the stadium, something they still somehow get wrong each week.
If matchday going fans were asked if they would keep or scrap VAR, surely the majority would want it out. If football is truly ‘for the fans’, surely that is all that matters in making this decision.