Ex-Uefa official: This may be real reason for Scottish FA U-turn as Celtic and Rangers braced for major change
Keith Hackett has suggested pressure from IFAB and the media is why the Scottish FA are introducing VAR early for Celtic, Rangers and the rest of the Scottish Premiership.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Uefa and Premier League referee insisted the SFA are making a mistake by leaving the referees to be “slaughtered” by the media.
The Scottish Sun reported earlier this week (18 July) that VAR will now be introduced before the World Cup instead of after.
Due to the absence of big screens and monitors for broadcast partners in every stadium, it will not be ready for the start of the new season at the end of the month.
When that is sorted out, it is claimed that VAR will be introduced for Scottish domestic fixtures for the very first time.
“The baseline is, I’ve been praiseworthy of Scottish referees week in, week out,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“They are not in a bad position. Don’t allow VAR to now harm their reputation because it’s the referees and the VAR that suffers, not the Scottish FA. Don’t put your referees out to slaughter by the media.
“Introduce it in the way they planned. I thought that was well judged.
“There might be an influence by the IFAB. They are members of the IFAB and they may have been reading reports on how wonderful VAR is and there’s no reason not to introduce it.
“They are on the doorstep of England and that is a good reason.
“It might be media pressure too.”
In other news, the SFA have been told to launch a probe as Celtic and Rangers are set for an unprecedented development.