VAR talk is cheap where SFA are concerned
NORMALLY, you would welcome a national association getting managers, referees and player representatives round the table to find a better way of working. It goes without saying that researching the costs of available technology to bring the game up to speed should be a good thing.
Here, though, it just reeks of opportunism and desperation. Of people who have allowed a smouldering fire to burn and burn until it reaches an inferno and, now, want to do something about it purely because the flames are licking their feet.
It would be nice to think that SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell’s new found determination to stage a summit aimed at resolving the current crisis of confidence around the national sport is borne from real, open-minded desire to open refereeing up to scrutiny and improvement and consider all possible ways to finance the use of video assistants.
It’s impossible, though. The timing makes it such.
The anger bubbling within coaches and clubs over the standards of officiating in Scotland and, tellingly, the SFA’s role in overseeing them has been rising steadily for a long time now.
We’re close to a year on from Hibs manager Neil Lennon’s epic tirade at Rugby Park in which he branded our officiating ‘amateur’ and ‘Mickey Mouse’ and insisted it should be possible to send referees off for ruining a game.
That came just after Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers questioned whether our leading whistlers even know the rules.
Since then, Craig Levein has insisted he is finished talking to John Fleming after claiming, incredibly, that the SFA refereeing chief had urged him to set up his Hearts defence along the 18-yard box to give linesmen more of a chance.
Derek McInnes at Aberdeen has hit out at the ‘incompetence’ of the anonymous three-man panels that were oh-so-quietly brought in this season to review video evidence of contentious incidents, while Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke effectively accused the SFA of corruption when insisting a failed appeal against a flawed red card for Gary Dicker was pre-judged because the official involved, Willie Collum, had already been handed an Old Firm game.
Now, Rangers are counting the days to their SFA hearing on December 19 after complaining about Collum sending off Daniel Candeias at St Mirren. If they really do have video evidence to support the claim that Collum did not see Candeias blow kisses at Anton Ferdinand, we might have another Dougie McDonald episode on our hands.
This is serious stuff. And it has been allowed to fester. The only reason this so-called summit for the new year has been arranged, and forgive the cynicism, is because the dam has burst completely following a week of unending chaos and ineptitude.
Andrew Dallas, son of previous referee Hugh, gave two penalties that were never close to being spotkicks in the Betfred Cup final and in Hearts’ draw at St Johnstone.
Likewise, Steven McLean blundered when sending off Aberdeen’s Sam Cosgrove at Ibrox. It’s not so much that he misinterpreted Cosgrove winning the ball from Connor Goldson with his boot high. It’s that he then appeared to ignore his main stand linesman right beside the incident and flagging for a goal-kick.
Let’s not even go into McLean’s failure to award Partick Thistle a late penalty at Queen of the South when Michael Doyle booted Blair Spittal into orbit. As howlers go, it was at least as bad as anything mentioned above. Up there with Rangers winning at Hearts thanks to a set-piece that saw two players standing in offside positions. Right along the 18-yard box, as it happens.
Already, though, the refereeing firmament are out in force, circling the wagons, trotting out nonsense about ‘personal insults’.
Defensiveness is their default position and there will be more of it to come. Maybe even talk of another strike.
Ex-ref Stuart Dougal’s Friday appearance on BT Sport was really something else. Describing criticism as ‘unfounded’, his assessment of McLean’s dismissal of Cosgrove deserves repeating.
‘If you think he gets it wrong, then you’re right,’ said Dougal. ‘But if you think he gets it right, then you’re right too. It’s all about an opinion.’
But clearly not the linesman’s opinion. In truth, opinions are the core of the issue for the SFA and their refereeing department. Or, rather, managers offering them.
And that’s what you suspect this summit will really be all about.
Shutting down criticism in public, trying to coerce folk into keeping everything behind closed doors, patching up a battered image. Maxwell said as much on Friday.
They like their secrecy, you see. No one really knows how underperforming referees are dealt with. Dallas, for example, took charge of a top-flight game yesterday while McLean was fourth official at Hamilton.
Almost no one within the general public knew about that three-man panel of former refs reviewing incidents until all hell started breaking loose.
Of course, it is no coincidence that VAR has, suddenly, become a hot topic, too. Motherwell CEO Alan Burrows, an SPFL board member, made a request almost three months ago for a breakdown of costs and methods. Clearly, nothing was done.
Now, with crisis upon us, it has become a matter of import. Maxwell and SPFL counterpart Neil Doncaster are spearheading a study. The only problem is that Doncaster went out of his way to pooh-pooh VAR in September — when, as we now know, there was no proper detail on the table.
Minds seemed made up. Scottish football wouldn’t even think about VAR until everyone else’s trials had finished.
VAR should be a no-brainer. The Dutch spend a reported £1.5million per season on it. Poland, Belgium and Portugal have it. Even Israel and Switzerland are committed to trials.
It should have been studied here some time ago. Just like the crumbling relationship between managers and officials should have been addressed before it became so cancerous and broken.
It’s why this talk of VAR and pow-wows out of the blue comes across as hollow. Reactive rather than proactive. Papering over cracks. Typical Scottish football.
It is certainly not leadership.