Peter Grant is in no doubt that there is a huge issue with referees that must be addressed after watching Celtic’s VAR controversy at Hearts last weekend.
As Brendan Rodgers learned the fate of Hyunjun Yang’s red card appeal yesterday, Grant believes that the introduction of VAR has brought in a new problem that Scottish football must address with the referees.
Grant said [The Go Radio Football Show], “There were so many bad decisions. It was terrible to watch it. Listen, I know the pressures the guys are under.
“But it’s worse pressure for them now because VAR has come in.
“Because now they’re getting caught out. But the problem we’ve got now is that they are not admitting they’ve got it wrong.
“That is the biggest problem.”
Well, that is a big problem but not as big as the officials’ use of the refereeing technology.
Claims that games are now being re-refereed are now being roundly made as managers see VAR getting involved in areas where it shouldn’t.
For example, anyone could see that the Tomoki Iwata handball was not a handball. The midfielder was clearly unaware of the location of the ball and made no attempt to gain an advantage by hitting it away with his arm.
Even looking at the replays showed that and the fact that it was still given after two professional referees saw how that situation played out is quite incredible.
However, where Grant may be slightly wrong here is his claim that referees won’t admit they have gotten big decisions wrong. They never have. At least not publicly anyway.
As for the Yang red card, I can see why it was given. Show anyone that still and the sequence of play that was used in the VAR replay then anyone would say it was an ordering off.
But the fact the referee called it correctly in real-time proves that a yellow was suffice and that there was no need for VAR to get involved.
I suspect we will have more of these incidents as the title race draws to its conclusion.
In other news, Peter Grant ‘disgusted’ after hearing the latest Celtic update from the SFA
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