The way VAR is going we could end up with drones as referees SAYS GRAHAM POTTER

GRAHAM POTTER fears football will one day be refereed by drones the way VAR is going.

Following yet another week of controversy and a flurry of ‘armpit’ offsides, Potter yesterday became the sport’s voice of reason.

A total of five top-flight goals were ruled out for offside at the weekend by VAR – all by the very tightest of margins.

Brighton suffered one of those on Saturday when Dan Burn’s header was chalked off in their 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

And Albion boss Potter says VAR will never be right until everyone in the game accepts that it’s actually OK to get decisions wrong.

“Until we change that, then things are only going to go to the next stage – and that’s getting rid of people altogether,” he said.

“That’s the only way you can guarantee we get decisions right.

“So, we’ll do away with referees and linesmen, put drones up, use computers and artificial intelligence and I’m sure we’ll get all the decisions correct.

“But I don’t think anybody will like football any more.”

He believes the Premier League would be far better off if there was no VAR and people simply accepted that mistakes are part of the game. “It’s not the laws or the technology that has to change, it’s the culture,” he said. “I want to sort of support it, because it’s here. But I think we’re looking at the problem in the wrong way.

“Because whilst the culture is, ‘If we lose and there’s a mistake then it’s the referee or linesman’s fault’, then, of course, we’re always looking for something to make that decision better.

“But we don’t ever accept the fact that the referee can make a mistake.

“OK, maybe we lose and that’s unfair – but you have to deal with it because that’s life. The Premier

League has been sold around the world based on emotion and now we’re just obsessed with getting decisions right.

“Before this it was the referee or linesman to blame for losing, now it’s VAR. We’re just fuelling the same debate.”

Potter has been on the both the right and wrong end of VAR decisions. Burn has had two goals disallowed, while a hairline offside decision against Harry Kane went the Seagulls’ way during a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham. But the Brighton coach is uncomfortable with the way things are heading.

“Football is a game of mistakes, it’s played by human beings and they are going to get things wrong.

“If you accept that then I’m not sure there’s a real need for technology. I’ve seen decisions where a player is offside by a millimetre, but it’s still a goal in my head, as a football person.

“Harry Kane’s goal against us (left) is a goal as far as I’m concerned. And I accept the fact that it’s too quick for the referee or the linesman to get, but I’m all right with that.

“And I think the people in the stands are all right with that. “If you say that’s not a goal, the people in that stadium say, ‘Hang on a minute, he’s literally an eighth of a millimetre off, he’s a fingernail off ’.

“Is that right, is that good for the game?

“As I say, the next stage is getting rid of people and putting up drones instead – and wouldn’t everything be great then?

“Sorry, no. I don’t think so.”