VAR has been the bane of the Celtic fans since the refereeing technology was introduced in October 2022.
Celtic’s first experience of VAR was when a penalty was denied after the ball was handled by a Hearts defender in the box.
We’ve also seen ridiculous penalties awarded against Celtic for handballs that left many Hoops supporters and pundits baffled.
Alexandro Bernabei’s against Dundee United at Celtic Park, Matt O’Riley’s against Ross County at home and, of course, the Tynecastle award for a Tomoki Iwata handball was particularly outrageous.
And let’s not mention Jota’s offside goal against Motherwell and the penalty Rangers were awarded at Ibrox after Fashion Sakala stood on Carl Starfelt’s trailing leg.
All of these will make the Celtic fans scratch their heads after they read what the SFA President, Mike Mulraney, has just said about VAR.
Mulraney’s bizarre VAR verdict
When asked about the future of VAR in Scottish football, Mulraney said it’s definitely staying within our game but it’s his appraisal of the technology that is really concerning.
Mulraney said [Daily Record], “VAR is here to stay 100%. Unequivocally, 100%.
“The alternative is that our big teams are disadvantaged in Europe and our national teams are disadvantaged in Europe. It’s going nowhere.
“VAR for our nation is still newer than it is for other nations. We think – and I genuinely believe this – that the implementation has been successful.
“Anybody that thinks we are way behind the curve in Europe or so forth needs to go and visit some of these other countries because when I do go, all I hear about are the challenges they’re having with VAR.
“And of course, the problem is that when VAR came in, lots of people thought that would mean no more mistakes.
“It was never going to stop mistakes, it was simply going to make them less. I was last to the party with VAR – because I didn’t want it.”
Now, the examples I have given you are ones that have directly affected Celtic over the last two years. That’s just one club.
Every other club has raised concerns about the implementation of VAR since its introduction. Not one top-tier team is happy with it.
So for Mulraney to claim it has been a success truly is extremely baffling and also worrying as head into next season.
Willie Collum has been charged with improving VAR implementation now that he is the Head of Referees.
If the President of the SFA is happy with how it’s been going, I’m not holding out much hope for any changes to how VAR is to be applied to the game next season.