SPFL chief Neil Doncaster warns of the double cost of VAR

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster has expressed “extreme concern” over the possible introduction of Video Assistant Referee technology, claiming that it could damage Scottish football as a spectacle.

Polish ref Szymon Marciniak used VAR to award a penalty for Bayer Leverkusen against Rangers in the Europa League at Ibrox. Picture: Ian MacNicol/Getty

VAR has proved highly controversial since being implemented in the English Premier League this season but Uefa continue to encourage as many of its members to adopt it as support for match officials.

Scottish referees are in favour of bringing VAR into the domestic game, as are some high-profile managers such as Rangers boss Steven Gerrard.

But Doncaster believes it is not only the financial cost of VAR – reckoned to be around £2 million a year – which should make Scottish clubs wary of lending their support to the technology.

“There are a number of reasons (why we don’t have VAR),” Doncaster told the Price of Football podcast. “It is new technology and you’ve got to be very careful whenever you’re implementing anything new that you don’t inadvertently damage something very precious.

“Particularly in Scotland, our brand is about passion, drama and excitement – and particularly about in-stadium passion, drama and excitement.

“If you end up in a situation where people feel they can’t celebrate a goal properly, because they’re not sure if it’s going to be chalked off, you potentially damage what Scottish football is all about.

“So I’m extremely concerned about VAR. If it can’t be made to work well with all of the millions that exist in the big five leagues, then I think you should be very, very careful before there is any implementation in Scotland.

“Aside from that, there is the cost. It’s likely to be a seven-figure cost at a time when we know the game is very stretched financially.

“I can understand the desire to achieve better decision-making and VAR will give you more correct decisions.

“My concern is the cost of those better decisions, when you are never going to get to perfection. The cost could be what makes people enjoy the game - the excitement, passion and drama.

“The referees in Scotland are keen to be working with VAR because it is used in Uefa matches. But from our point of view, it is a league decision and a clubs’ decision. I think the clubs are right to wait and see what emerges and if the technology can be made to work in a way which doesn’t damage the in-stadium atmosphere.”