VAR

My own view is that it is a bad thing, as the idea that it will ensure 100% correct decisions is ridiculous. You may get MORE correct decisions than is currently the case but at the cost of stopping football being what it is, with unnatural interruptions to play, the ritual undermining of referees (as it has done with cricket umpires) and the lack of spontaneous joy at a “goal” ….hang on maybe it is, maybe it isn’t

I accept that it isn’t exactly black and white in terms of a choice and I concede that it is coming in regardless now.

However what I can never accept is the principle of, if a team is on Sky more (see Rugby League here) you get the “benefit” of VAR/video ref (if you believe it’s a benefit) but the smaller clubs don’t …..or not nearly as often. If we must have it then it must be applied to EVERY game being played in that competition, so if it’s in the Premier league it has to be at Cardiff v Burnley on a Tues night not just at City, Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea etc etc. on a Sat/Sun …..in the way that goal line technology is.

In the FA Cup that arguably could be modified to say that it has to be applied equally from a specified point, the 3rd round or QF etc. You can’t then have one team going through because they had a VAR decision go their way while another team at the same stage gets knocked out because their game wasn’t covered.

So no thanks from me but if I can’t stop it then at least ensure every game in the same Comp is played under the same conditions…..if that’s impractical/unaffordable then bin it !

I’d be very dubious about Tim Vickery’s claims as to what the VAR official he interviewed said.
For a start it wouldn’t have just been that one person making the decision in the VAR room – there was a team of them so even if the bloke he interviewed said that, it wouldn’t have been down purely to him
Secondly having worked in teams of officials, very rarely will one of them openly say how the referee (or assistants) got it wrong and amongst officials at that level I would imagine that sort of throwing the lamb to the lions is non-existent – what FA is going to promote an official who chucks his colleagues under the bus like that. At best you’ll get a “the ref had a different angle to me & has seen something we haven’t”

As for the decisions in that game, they looked penalties to me then & still do now and I understand VAR was for clear & obvious errors so should have been used. Ultimately though it is not for the VAR to tell the ref they are wrong, it’s too advise the referee that he may want the decision reviewed – the ref can then ask the VAR to make the decision or to look at it themselves.
In the early days of the World Cup though it wasn’t clear what the VAR was deeming a clear & obvious error & what they were deeming wasn’t, although it did seem to improve as the tournament went on – until the Final anyway.

In terms of undermining the referee it was (& still is) one of the big concerns about VAR for me. The hardest part of refereeing a game is match control and its bad enough having players & the crowd questioning everything you do but if the other officials do it, your authority is completely undermined and you lose respect of the players & control of the game & it just ends up a disaster
Every referee will tell his assistants that unless they look at them for assistance they are not to come in with flags – I’d give every assistant an area (touchline to the penalty area & an imaginery line all the way up to 10 yards in to the other half) where they could lead on decisions unless I came in first with a shout of no foul/handball etc.. & then 10 yards either side of them for throw ins. Other than that stay out of things unless there’s an off the ball incident or I look to them for a lead (including penalty appeals). if you go with a “feel free to come in with anything” attitude the game will be chaotic
That sort of instruction can seem odd to a supporter who may disagree with a ref and think the assistant should come in with a decision but its the only way you can effectively control a game as a ref – some referees, particularly higher up the league system, will tell you not to come in on anything other than throw ins & offsides. I’d imagine the ref can give instructions to his VAR team & may say something similar in what he wants their input on
So I can see how what Vickery is alleging was said might effect VAR input but they are all mic’d up & talking to each other – could be that the VAR assistants mentioned some grappling & the ref said he’d seen what they were on about & wasn’t giving it. Once he’s said that once they are not going to come in again with it – different ref’s will tolerate different levels of (technical) fouls before pulling players up for them.

So basically, as clear as mustard

I agree completely – and its all about the money. Its all you ever hear them say about it in the professional game.
Refs make mistakes, players make mistakes & manager’s make mistakes – that’s life & people need to deal with it