OFFSET YOUR WORLD CUP TRAVEL WITH GREENERTRAVEL
Date: 5th June 2026
All change no change
By Donald C Stewart
In the last week or so, Willie Collum has come out to confirm, firstly, that the VAR decisions over Celtic and Hearts penalties were, in the first part, correct, in the latter, wrong. SFA supremo Ian Maxwell has continued to complain about people being a bit nippy, suggesting criticism of refs and officials has been beyond the pale. He has also continued to defend VAR as being not VAR light as some have suggested but the right level for wur game.
The defensiveness of both is interesting.
In the current fitba political makeup, where else would they become lawyers-in-chief, defending people against the onslaught of criticism coming their way that they believe ridiculous?
If we take the VAR controversy over the Hearts penalty, then had they been awarded that against Motherwell and managed to score it, they would have won the league. Hearts followers could be sitting in their homes now, justly feeling aggrieved. I know something that happens at a moment in time does not necessarily mean that every other thing that happens thereafter would be safe and secure.
But the mere possibility that the pressure placed upon Celtic by Hearts winning against Motherwell could have led to Celtic more nervous in the run up. It could also have led to Hearts getting giddy and faltering even more before the final day of the season.
Who’s to know?
Who indeed?
Could the D-Day landings have been any different had the German army decided to pull back before the landings happened, therefore lulling the Allies into a false sense of security?
I know, it’s hardly that level of could ah, would ah, should ah, but there are fans all over Scotland who suffered because one decision went the wrong way.
My problem is not that mistakes happen, but what happens after mistakes happen.
There are many opportunities to ridicule the SFA and the SPFL over taking the line that VAR is the answer. Maxwell’s defence of it, which criticizes people who in turn have criticised VAR, is the defence mechanism we see all the time when people who are caught out defend their actions by saying, ”It’s not as bad as anybody else.” Indeed, what Maxwell has said is that over 50% of UEFA are using the same version as we are. That doesn’t answer the question as to whether or not the 50% who are using it happen to think it is the right thing to use or that it is the right one for us.
Nobody is going to tell me that the one in Livingston was as good as the one used by Juventus. And why not? Cost? Possibly.
But using the content as a benchmark ay sound good but we don’t also have the climate of Portugal, the infrastructure of Holland, the fan-based model as Germany, the footballing pedigree of Barcelona… comparisons need to be like with like and made in detail.
The problem with Maxwell’s defense is that it is akin to suggesting you keep playing the midfielder you bought for £5 million who would be lucky to get a game in League 2 because you paid all that money for them – mind you, how many supporters can point out exactly when that happened with their team!? Still not right, though.
The claim that it is not VAR-light is doublespeak. It is not nonsense to suggest that VAR is not good enough, nor is it nonsense to suggest that we should be looking at an upgraded system if we are going to keep it.
What we hope from the SFA is that they start to look at what people are actually saying rather than the way in which they say it. After all, if you’re a Hearts fan and you read Willie Collum saying, Oops we did it again, you should not be holding back.
We should be entering into some form of discussion to improve what happens in Scottish football. After all, it’s not nonsense to suggest that VAR is not good enough, nor is it nonsense to suggest that we should keep it. After all, isn’t that what we’re all supposed to be doing, improving Scottish football? One can only imagine that both Maxwell and Collum might at some point in the future progress from the SFA into what?
Who’s to know?
Imagine if people asked…
Posted in: Fan's Blog, Latest News
Tags: #VAR, oor Donald, Scottish footbal