Glimpse behind the VAR curtain was not enough: we need the full reality show

‘As an exercise in humanising the most commonly demonised figures in sport, playing the VAR Basement Tapes (Vol 1) surely did an effective job.’ Illustration: David Humphries

There are some modern innovations so discomfiting, so problematic, so straightforwardly up-and-down wrong, that no amount of exposure, elucidation or soft lighting can make them acceptable. This week football fans were forced to confront one such example. Apologies for beginning in such a strident manner but: Michael Owen as a TV presenter? That’s a straight no from me.

Anyway, VAR. The digital refereeing supplement has generated no end of ire since it was introduced to England in 2019. Only now, however, have the officials who oversee it sought properly to engage with the public on the matter. And so, on Monday, we had Sky and BT Sport welcome the Professional Game Match Officials Limited technical director, Howard Webb, to their studios where Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville gave him a gentle grilling and Owen did his best to deliver a series of uncomplicated VT cues.