Kris Commons has pleaded with football's lawmakers to look at the handball rule and has urged the game to take a leaf out of Formula 1's book.
The Premiership saw yet more lengthy VAR delays this weekend and more contentious handball penalties awarded across a number of fixtures. Celtic were very harshly penalised again as Matt O'Riley's clearance rebounded on to his arm and Ross County were given the chance to take the lead from 12 yards, which they took. The champions came back to win, but it's another spot kick that only the officials seemed to think should have been awarded.
That came just a week after Alexandro Bernabei was the culprit despite facing the opposite direction to the ball when Steven Fletcher headed it against his arm. After a VAR check, United were given a penalty which Fletcher duly scored. Ange Postecoglou 's team needed two stoppage time goals to make sure of the points on that occasion after Dylan Levitt made it 2-2 with just three minutes remaining.
Now Commons has called for some common sense to be applied after an explosion of penalty decisions for handball, asking whether these were previously missed mistakes or that the law is being applied too literally. He wrote in his Daily Mail column: Robbie Neilson called it a shambles. David Martindale admitted he doesn't know how the game is being refereed any more. Ange Postecoglou took a vow of silence after previously making his feelings clear.
Another weekend of Scottish football brought more VAR mayhem. Leading managers are hugely frustrated about how the system is operating after its introduction. I can understand why.
We do have to make some allowances for it being new here. But there are a few big things that need to be sorted out. And not all of them are directly under the control of Scottish officials sitting in front of the screens.
The time being taken to make decisions certainly is and it's way too long. VAR also seems like it's being called into action too often in some games. At Tynecastle, people were left questioning who was actually in charge of the match. Referee Craig Napier? Or VAR? That shouldn't be the case. The constant interruptions are driving people mad.
But the application of the handball rule is another thing entirely. Unless that is actually looked at again and changed back to something more reliant on common sense then a big part of the VAR problem isn't going to change.
Were Scottish refs really missing a glut of justifiable handball penalties before the system was introduced? I'm not sure they were, but now you can barely go a round of matches without one being awarded.
On the previous weekend, Celtic were punished for the ball hitting Alexandro Bernabei on his trailing arm. Then we had three VAR handball penalties in Livingston's midweek win over Aberdeen. And another one on Saturday when Matt O'Riley was penalised to give Ross County the lead at Parkhead.
David Munro took that decision and it was upheld by VAR. But O'Riley was bang-on when he said he didn't know what else he could have done with his body or the position of his arm.
I think of Sergio Ramos and how he played for Real Madrid maybe five years ago. He would come storming out with hands behind his back. He was wise to what was coming.
Is that a natural way for defenders to use their bodies? It's not. But now it's the only way to make absolutely sure you don't concede a free-kick or a penalty. There are a lot of grey areas.
It generates frustration among players. And causes a constant debate about whether it's the right call or not.
I feel the insight of an experienced, ex-professional could have value as part of the whole VAR process.
Referees now are going by the absolute letter of the law rather than common sense. The more they look at replays, the more doubt is put in their minds.
They're not actually making a football decision, if you follow. It's almost like they are drawing a picture and deciding if one box can be ticked within the rulebook to justify a penalty.
If you have an ex-professional there, they would say: 'Look, his arm is by his side. It's not deviated from a natural path or stopped a goalscoring opportunity. It's just one of those unfortunate errors.'
We need to get back to that way of thinking. In Formula One, some things get referred to the stewards and are just put down as a 'racing incident'. Well, some of these recent decisions can just be put down as 'football incidents'. There's nothing there that really merits punishment.
Of course, the actual wording of the handball rule isn't down to the SFA or Scottish referees. That's a job for the international lawmakers at IFAB.
They need to look at it. Is there intent? Is the arm position unnatural? The current view on it isn't great for the game overall.
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