VAR in Scotland: Mark Clattenburg warns of initial “major inconsistencies” with the new system

Mark Clattenburg (centre) retired in 2017 and is now head of Egypt’s referees

Former top referee Mark Clattenburg says Scottish football should brace for initial “disagreements” following the introduction of VAR.

But the 47-year-old Englishman is still “all in” as he believes it improves officers’ decision-making.

VAR is expected to roll out early in Scotland this month.

“I think it helped the game” Clattenburg told ` Scotland. “It’s like a police car on a highway bridge. You slow down.”

He told the Sacked In The Morning podcast that it had positively changed the way players behaved at set pieces.

“I think players are now less likely to take corner kicks and free kicks because they don’t want to be penalized,” Clattenburg said.

“I think we’re seeing more goals from attacking free-kicks and corners than ever before because there was too much stopping in the penalty area for me many years ago. The referee didn’t have the bottle to give a penalty. It was easier to give the defense a free kick, rightly or wrongly.”

Clattenburg stresses that VAR will not prevent players, coaches, journalists and the public from agreeing on refereeing decisions.

“So we still have this debate about what is and isn’t a penalty, which is a clear and obvious mistake by the referee,” he said. “All of these elements create inconsistencies and while we have inconsistencies, VAR is never accepted.

“I think we’re accepting more and more that it should only be used for the big decisions and big mistakes.

“But we are now talking about a small shirt rip that went undetected in the penalty area, VAR should intervene and you have that in Scotland. Sometimes what’s there one week isn’t there the next and “I think it leads to a lot of discussion and a lot of inconsistency.”