ST JOHNSTONE manager Callum Davidson said he hopes VAR operates better than advertised when his club make Scottish football history next Friday.
Video Assistant Referee will debut in the Premiership for St Johnstone’s night match at Hibernian then feature for all Saturday, October 22 games.
In hinting at its imminent introduction earlier this week, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell revealed that counterparts throughout Europe had warned him the first three months could be ‘horrendous’.
Maxwell suggested there could be teething problems ahead as officials adjust to the system.
Davidson expressed delight at St Johnstone’s involvement in the nation’s first VAR game and backed its implementation.
However, he stressed what there shouldn’t be a bedding-in process for is getting the big calls correct.
“I am hoping it will be quicker than that,” said Davidson of Maxwell’s prediction.
“It might take a little bit of time to come to the decision and that’s fine. But I think you want the right decisions.
“Let’s hope the decisions are made correctly straight away when we bring it in - because that’s why VAR is there. To help referees make the correct decisions.
“We don’t want two or three months of ‘oh, we’re not sure’ or inconsistency. We want the decisions pretty consistent from day one.
“We’ll be the first game now; we’ve obviously been waiting for it to happen for a while.
“Let’s hope it can run as smoothly as possible and that it’s beneficial to the league and our referees.”
The first televised use of VAR will come into play for Celtic’s lunchtime kick-off trip to Hearts.
Kilmarnock v Ross County, Motherwell v Aberdeen, Rangers v Livingston and St Mirren v Dundee United are the 3pm matches completing the weekend’s Premiership card.
From watching English top flight, European club and international football use the system, Davidson concedes VAR won’t bring an end to Scottish officiating controversies.
In particular, he’s noted handball incidents referred by VAR are proving notoriously contentious.
The Perth boss said: “We’ve had the refs in here talking about it and we’ve been asking questions about it.
“It’s funny because the refs ask us if it’s a foul or not a foul and half the room says it was and half the room say it wasn’t. You’ll always have that debate in football.
“There’s debate on handball or ‘ball to hand’ or whether it was in an ‘unnatural’ position.
“For me, the handball rule is still a contentious one to get right. I’m just hoping for the big decisions being right on the pitch at the right time, not the little things, just the big ones.
“Whether it’s offside or not will hopefully be a lot clearer. That’s what you’re looking for. And hopefully it won’t take as long as they think.”
Davidson believes VAR should take the heat off the fourth official’s unenviable role between the two dugouts.
He noted: “From what I’ve seen, the flow of the game can be different. Sometimes it takes away from that euphoria, enjoyment of scoring a goal.
“Now you’ve sometimes a couple of minutes to see if it’s been ruled off. That’s one of the down sides.
“But for a manager, hopefully we won’t need to argue with the fourth official to get explanations.
“They’ll be on VAR, they’ll be clear and made from video rather than human eye.”
Meanwhile, Murray Davidson will be out until after the World Cup following ankle surgery.
The midfielder has managed only two substitute appearances since the end of July.
David Wotherspoon, Tony Gallacher and Daniel Phillips all played 90 minutes of a bounce game on Tuesday to remain in contention for Saturday’s visit to Livingston.
