Chris Sutton has called out the guilty parties as Scottish refereeing hits new lows.
Most pundits and media organisations like to lump it all on VAR but it seems that most other countries can get on with applying the Laws of the Game without the weekly scandals that crop up in Scotland.
Handball decisions for penalties and red card calls seem to be causing most difficulty with no sign of consistency.
That is all being put down to interpretation by the usual apologists, taking that to the logical conclusion referees seem to have licence to come up with any decision they wish.
Highlighting that it is now 50 SPFL matches since a Scottish referee awarded a penalty against the Ibrox Tribute Act, since October VAR has awarded seven penalties against Celtic.
Pointing squarely at the referees who have worked their way through the SFA under Hugh Dallas and Crawford Allan, Sutton tells Daily Record readers:
It’s not the VAR that is the issue – it’s the people operating it.
We’ve seen countless decisions that have left everyone scratching their heads and the bizarre thing has been they’ve been made by more than one official. It’s a major worry when two of them and more still can’t get it right.
I’m not surprised PFA Scotland has ‘lost faith’ in the system. Some of us didn’t have much faith in it to begin with. When I was a player, I never tried not to think too much about any big game just over the horizon, as I always get you couldn’t afford to take your eye off the challenge in front of you.
Don’t get me wrong, there were some referees I was more worried about than others. There might have been a bit of me concerned they might pull out a silly red card or whatever, but it was like the risk of getting injured.
John Beaton will referee today’s Celtic v Motherwell match, tomorrow Nick Walsh will referee the Tribute Act at Aberdeen, the third time that he has refereed a match between those two clubs.
Beaton also refereed Motherwell’s visit to Celtic Park in October when he sent off Callum McGregor.