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Ex-Fifa official warns Rangers and Celtic over 'Utopia' plans after SFA chief reveal
Keith Hackett has warned Rangers and Celtic the introduction of VAR in Scotland will not be the “Utopia everyone expects”.
The former Premier League and Fifa official, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, suggested the Scottish FA should follow the MLS, rather than the Premier League, when adopting video technology.
Speaking to Sky Sports News last Wednesday (2 March), the Scottish FA’s head of refereeing operations, Crawford Allan, revealed the Premiership could be ready for VAR to be introduced before the end of the year.
However, he admitted “getting the infrastructure in place with the clubs in terms of the decision-making processes” would determine when VAR is in place.
Top-level clubs backed initial plans for VAR back in October 2021.
Both Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ange Postecoglou have called for the implementation of video officiating since taking charge at Ibrox and Parkhead.
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However, Hackett warned it would not be a one-stop solution.
Hackett told Football Insider’s Connor Whitley: “What they can consider now, which is under trial and tested, is VAR-lite.
“That’s where they’re using between four and eight cameras. One assumes that there’s less personnel where there isn’t the cost of a Stockley Park.
“I think that the Scottish FA should be in touch with Fifa. They should say: ‘Can we join in the experimentation of VAR-lite?’
“That might be the answer to those that are saying the cost is a lot. I think the important thing with VAR is they’ve got to understand it’s not the Utopia everyone expects.
“It does have its problems, as we’ve seen in England. But I’m clear they should adopt the processes, procedures and training that America and PRO ref have adopted.
“Stay away from England, the Premier League and the English referees because they’ve been very poor with VAR. We’re three years down the line and it’s nowhere near the quality we see in the MLS.”
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