Premier League clubs are meeting this Thursday to vote on whether to keep or scrap VAR ahead of the upcoming 2024/25 season.
The motion to remove the technology from England’s top flight was first tabled by Wolverhampton Wanderers back in May, after a series of decisions were handed down by Stockley Park this season which Gary O’Neil’s side felt went against them.
For the resolution to pass at today’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the 20-strong group of clubs, 14 votes in favour would be required. It has been widely reported that this threshold is not expected to be met.
BBC Sport revealed that Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham are among the clubs voting in favour of the technology but that all three concede amendments are needed.
One such expected change is the introduction of in-game VAR announcements to keep supporters in the loop during matches.
Wolves were not the only side to take issue with how the game is regulated last term, as the season saw Nottingham Forest appoint former Premier League officiator Mark Clattenburg as the club’s bespoke ‘referee analyst’.
That was followed weeks later by a now infamous post on X (formerly Twitter) from the official Forest account, decrying the use of “Luton fan” Stuart Attwell in the VAR room for their 2-0 defeat to Everton. The East Midlands side felt they should have had three penalties in the game.
VAR was first brought to the Premier League at the beginning of the 2019/20 season following successful introductions elsewhere, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Its use has since been widely criticised by fans, pundits and players alike, with accusations that decisions take too long for minimal improvements in accuracy.
The Premier League’s own stats earlier this season showed accuracy in decision-making had increased from 82 to 96 per cent under the system, but the organisation’s chief football officer, Tony Scholes, later told Sky Sports: “We are doing too many checks, we’re taking too long in doing them as well.”
Scholes and PGMOL chief operating officer Howard Webb are expected to outline six areas of improvement for VAR in this Thursday’s AGM, with changes to be implemented in the upcoming campaign.
Alongside the VAR vote, the meeting will also see the trio of promoted clubs from the Championship; Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton, admitted to the top tier, before moving on to issues regarding the financial regulation of the league.
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