Graeme Souness claims ex-professionals would show up referees when it comes to getting key decisions correct, with the former Rangers manager insisting VAR is embarrassing officials.
The Scotland hero has branded a section of officials "not very good" and used his experience at English VAR base Stockley Park as an example of how former footballers like him could be of benefit to the modern game. VAR was introduced into the Scottish Premiership on October 21 after nearly three years of planning, development and testing. But it has already become the main talking point rather than the actual football on show in recent weeks with a number of contentious decisions.
Souness told BBC Scotland: "I work in television and you hear people talking about VAR as if it's a big computer in a room next door that cannot make a mistake. All VAR is, is technology which allows you to look at the game through many different angles.
"When it first came out we went to Stockley Park as a Sky pundit, there was ten different examples of what we would call here, we all got nine right. I'm an ex-player, there is a role for ex-players and VAR because VAR is a tool to make life easier for referees and the referees are being embarrassed by it.
"I'll say it, some of them are just not very good, their calls are terrible. It's the same in England and I'm sure that it's the same elsewhere. Hopefully in the World Cup with the semi-automated VAR, it will help them but VAR is a tool to help referees make fewer mistakes and it has done the exact opposite. It has embarrassed a lot of referee's."
The statistics around penalty awards have risen dramatically since the introduction of VAR and Souness also reckons the decisions being made aren't consistent enough and highlight that there is something wrong in the Scottish game: "It is not consistent enough," he said. "When you are jumping to get to the maximum height you want to be, your arm has to come out. I'll come back to it, this is referee's not knowing body language.
"I could look at a game sitting in the stand 50 yards away, two people come together like every footballer that's ever played the game at a high standard, they could tell who has been the aggressor and how they have come together. Referees can't do that and a referee will tell you every single rule that's in the rule book from the first page to the very last page but there's too many grey areas that they don't understand. They need help from ex-pro's.
"They need help getting more decisions right. Those numbers there tell you there was something drastically wrong before in Scottish football or something is drastically wrong now in Scottish football. The reality is, it comes back to the guy sitting in the control room wherever VAR may be stationed here in Scotland, making bad calls."
Asked if he thinks referees would welcome the help of ex-pro's such as himself, Souness replied: "I'm not sure what the rules are in Scotland but I think it's something like nine years. Say I was English and I wanted to be a referee in England, I got injured at 22 or 23 so I can't play anymore but I want to stay in the game, I want to be a referee.
“Me having been a professional player maybe played in the Premier League, I think it's the best part of ten years where you have to go through the process of starting from doing kids games on a Sunday morning. It's a closed shop. They don't want ex-pros in the game because they know they will get embarrassed by them."
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