VAR has come under the microscope again after a weekend of nonsensical decisions.
In my opinion, Greg Taylor’s handball was a shocking decision. There was no attempt to make his body bigger and the ball was played off his arm. Absolutely nothing he could do to avoid it.
Unless, of course, he put his arm in an unnatural position, dislocated his own shoulder and threw it into the stand.
The ref would have probably awarded a penalty anyway and sent off Taylor for dangerous play but anyway, I digress.
It seems that the referee at Paisley got a free pass from the media for that but it was Dermot Gallagher’s verdict on the Ibrox VAR calls that garnered all the attention.
To remind ourselves what he said:
Unbiased approach from a referee not linked to our game (and three others in the Sky Sports studio) reckon that Willie Collum had a shocker.
But not the BBC. Oh no. They reckon, as did former whistler Stuart Dougal, that Collum was bang on the money. Surprise, surprise.
But former BBC journalist, John Barnes, was not impressed with his former employers:
See my previous tweet re @SkySportsNews Ref Watch, Then we get @BBCSportScot Vardict with Stuart Dougal led by Richard Foster saying the penalty against @KilmarnockFC and for @RangersFC was a correct decision and the penalty claim for Killie being denied was correct as well. 🙄
— John Barnes (@JohnBarnes01) March 6, 2023
And his previous tweet? Here it is:
Interesting watching @SkySportsNews Ref Watch Dermot Gallagher says @KilmarnockFC suffered twice v @RangersFC re penalty conceded and penalty not given. He can’t believe Willie Collum gave penalty after viewing high behind camera.
— John Barnes (@JohnBarnes01) March 6, 2023
I wonder if Barnes would have said the same had he still been a BBC employee but at least it is refreshing that someone in the media circles spoke up about this.
And I can understand where he is coming from.
The level of punditry in our game is just about on a par with refereeing standards.
The inability to offer an opinion without upsetting one club in the country seems to be an issue.
I think what is worse is that they all think we accept what Dougal is offering as an unbiased opinion.
We do not.
Remember, this is a guy who walked away from refereeing on the eve of his retirement because he feared he would make a mistake which would determine the fate of the title. [Daily Record]
Make of that what you will.