Christmas may be here but it’s two months since Scottish football unwrapped it’s new toy in the shape of VAR. And still the system is causing rows across the country - the latest after a midweek card which saw wins for Celtic and Rangers but their supporters both take aim at the video technology.
Celtic’s Liel Abada was denied a goal against Livingston after a delayed video check deemed him to be offside while Rangers’ James Tavernier and Connor Goldson were deemed not guilty of handballs in their dramatic 3-2 win at Aberdeen. Season of goodwill you say? Fat chance of that on the Hotline.
Paul Price, Belfast, said: “As if we needed proof of the bias against Celtic by Scottish officials, Abada’s perfectly legitimate goal that was ruled out and Goldson’s handball - one takes four minutes to reach a decision the other 40 seconds. This isn’t sour grapes about Rangers’ victory because the Aberdeen defence were like statues.” Jason Houghton went even further when he emailed: “What is the sense in having VAR if the final decision is down to the referee? The majority of refs in Scotland are that biased that I'm surprised they don't wear their team’s strip. Time for foreign refs to come in to Scotland.”
