The annual SFA bill facing Celtic for VAR

By John McGinley

October 2, 2021

Celtic will be asked to pay around £60,000 a year to install and maintain a VAR system at Celtic Park, The Scottish Daily Mail reports. [02/10 print edition, back page]

As we discussed yesterday, Celtic along with other clubs are due to be presented with the pitch for VAR next week at a Scottish FA summit.

The governing body is keen to see its introduction in the Scottish Premiership and the later rounds of cup competitions.

However, it requires clubs to be on board and an annual five-figure bill might not go down well with all 12 clubs.

The SFA are prepared to a third of the annual expense of around £1m to see VAR introduced to Scottish football, as well as training costs for officials. That leaves the top-flight sides with an annual bill of around £60k each.

You’d imagine Celtic would be willing to pay that kind of cash considering our resources, but will it be something smaller clubs want to explore?

For me, it’s time to seriously consider its inclusion. Leagues around Europe have already installed the technology and Scottish football is at risk of being left behind.

Anything that normalises the situation our players will experience in European competition is a benefit.

And, who knows, it might even improve the quality of Scottish refereeing with weekly mistakes still littering the league season.

In other news, Hearts chief speaks out on Celtic issue live on radio after lodging official SPFL complaint.