Elleray: It’s time to use monitors

REFEREES in the Premier League will be told to use pitchside monitors next season to rule on controversial offside calls in a bid to end the VAR misery.

Currently, there is a reluctance to have officials use the devices amid fears it may slow the game down.

Football lawmaker David Elleray has disclosed he would be ‘astonished’ if that situation remained next season.

Speaking at the annual International Football Association Board ( I FAB) meeting, the former referee and current technical director said: ‘We did a survey of 6,000 matches from the top competitions and the average was 75 per cent of reviews are pitchside monitors.

‘Any competition significantly outside that is clearly out of step.’

Ahead of the start of this season, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) instructed referees to use the monitors ‘sparingly’, claiming it could take at least 90 seconds for each review.

‘The English situation is that if something goes wrong during the season you have to decide whether you can make a major adjustment without compromising the integrity of that,’ added Elleray.

‘You should expect there will be some changes next year. The vast majority of competitions beli eve t hat t he vast majority of subjective decisions should have an onfield review.’

The widely held view in world football is that the Premier League is the only competition having serious problems with VAR. ‘The English situation is different and I would be astonished if it remained as it was next season,’ said Elleray.