Scotland and Rangers legend Ally McCoist has called for the use of VAR to end after a number of huge errors in the Premier League.
Speaking on 90min’s podcast Life’s a Pitchto Republic of Ireland internationals Ruesha Littlejohn and Lucy Quinn, McCoist was asked to give his thoughts on the use of VAR in the Premier League, replying:
“I thought VAR would be good. My thinking was that anything that rights a wrong can be a good thing.
“But it’s refereeing the game now, the referee is not refereeing the game now. It [takes too much] time. Look at that Liverpool penalty against Crystal Palace [that was overturned after a lengthy VAR check], it took about two and a half minutes to make a decision.
“The referees and assistants are not making decisions that they normal would because of VAR. They’re thinking ‘well if I don’t get that right someone from VAR will tell me’. Just let the referee referee the game.
“And I was for it [initially].
“I want it gone from the game. It’s not going to happen though.”
VAR has been one of the key talking points of the 2023/24 season thus far, with a number of notable errors costing teams valuable points in the Premier League.
Perhaps the most noteworthy, and egregious, error made using VAR technology was the decision not award a perfectly legitimate goal scored by Luis Diaz in Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in September. PGMOL apologised for the mistake, and put it down to ‘significant human error’.