Livingston boss David Martindale admits it makes no financial sense to operate VAR for tomorrow’s Scottish Cup last-16 clash with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
The Lions host the Championship outfit looking to book their place in the quarter-finals for the first time in 18 years.
But despite the Tony Macaroni Arena side needing to have video technology available for Premiership clashes, using it in the Scottish Cup is optional for top flight clubs if the match isn’t televised.
Martindale confessed it was a ‘no-brainer’ to do without it given the costs involved and the likely small attendance taking in the fixture.
He said: “The reason we aren’t using VAR this weekend is down to the money. We voted for VAR but where does the £85,000 come from every season? My budget.
“If we don’t get a cup run, finish top six, get European football, then it comes out of my budget. That then makes us less competitive by cutting the budget. For a club like us how do we balance the books?”
He added: “Inverness get 40 per cent of the gate when you cut the costs back. You would have to take the VAR money out of that before Inverness get their share.
“It might cost Inverness a few thousand pounds to play in this game and then there won’t be a huge number of fans in the stadium. If you threw in a five-figure sum for VAR it didn’t make any sense to bring it in.
“After the game I might think we should have brought it in but we have played games for hundreds of years without VAR. It is an added cost that we weren’t willing to take. It was a no-brainer not to have it.
“If we were playing Hearts, knowing we would get a big crowd, you might do it as it helps with the cost but it didn’t make any sense to have it for this game.
“When it comes to two teams who live season to season you have to look at whether it is worth spending five figures on this game. I was happy to play the game without VAR and we spoke to Inverness about it and they were happy with it.”
As for the game itself, the Livi boss says he has no doubts that the visitors will prove tough opposition, saying: “This will be a difficult game as Inverness are a good side.
“They will come here with their tails up and they beat us earlier this season and why can’t they do it again.
“We will need to be at the top of our game to get through. We know they are capable of beating us on their day.
“We haven’t been in the quarter-finals since 2005 so we need to change that. The Scottish Cup brings excitement to everyone and we all want to do well in it.”
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