Michael Nicholson has contacted the SFA about the VAR issues at Tynecastle but he won’t be making any public comment on it.
More than four years after VAR was introduced to the EPL it finally arrived in Scotland after 10 rounds of matches.
Celtic’s match against Hearts had the benefit of Sky Sports coverage but afterwards VAR created more questions than any other match this season.
First up Hearts were awarded a penalty late in the first half after Steven McLean instructed Nick Walsh to consult the pitch-side VAR monitor.
Within two minutes of the restart Celtic were appealing for a penalty when Michael Smith raised his hand to divert a James Forrest pass but after a conversation with McLean Walsh didn’t have to consult VAR with Celtic left frustrated by the outcome.
Late in the match Liel Abada had a ‘goal’ disallowed for offside but no VAR lines were ever produced to justify the decision.
Covering today’s AGM, at 13.03 in their blog The Sun reports:
QUESTION: The long line of shareholders waiting to ask questions has dwindled now, but the next punter asks if any action has been taken by the officials behind the decision not to award a penalty at Tynecastle recently. Nicholson takes this one.
NICHOLSON: For many years, we’ve lobbied the SFA and SPFL to make sure we have the best officials possible. We did ask questions about the specific incident but I think it’s clear there are still going to be teething issues with VAR.Rest assured we’ll continue to improve standards for everyone.
That was Celtic’s first public comment on VAR.
At last year’s AGM Ian Bankier claimed that the club had deep concerns about referees when he was questioned about Nick Walsh and Bobby Madden.
