Celtic and Rangers told by Martin Atkinson VAR conspiracies are 'far worse' in Glasgow than south of border
The SFA VAR manager refereed over 450 matches in the English Premier League before retiring in 2022.
Martin Atkinson believes there is something more ‘sinister’ about VAR scrutiny in the West of Scotland than there is in the English top flight.
Having previously worked for the English PGMOL, Atkinson was appointed VAR Manager by Head of Refereeing Operations Willie Collum in December 2024, succeeding fellow former English official Jon Moss. He has since been a huge advocate for VAR in the Scottish game as he believes it eliminates factual mistakes from incidents that could take place on the pitch.
Atkinson may have over two decades worth of refereeing experience and has been involved in some major tournaments, but Collum claims that the 54-year old has never seen anything quite as ‘sinister’ as the Scottish game when it comes to refereeing backlash, particularly when it comes to VAR. Both sides of Glasgow have a reputation of coming up with conspiracy theories regarding the officials.
Scottish VAR scrutiny ‘far worse’ than England
Speaking to the 'A Level Playing Field' podcast about VAR conspiracies, Collum said: “I think it drags us down. I think it's a scourge on us as a society as well. But, if you look at my colleague Martin Atkinson - who has been a great asset for us in in terms of refereeing. He is working very closely with the referees and made a lot of improvements.
"He was a top referee in England. He refereed all the biggest matches, a Europa League final in 2016, went to the Euros with me in 2016 - he has openly said that the scrutiny, probably within the West of Scotland, looking at some sinister reason behind decisions, is far, far worse than anything he has been able to see in England."
The introduction of VAR in the Scottish Premiership in 2022 was meant to take some of the heat off of referees if they’ve made clear and obvious errors. However, four years on, it still divides opinion and continues to spark debate about offside lines, violent conduct and denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO) incident.
Atkinson maintains VAR is still the way forward
Speaking last summer, Atkinson said: “We make mistakes. If we make that mistake and we have a chance, an opportunity to make that right, then that's got to be good for the game. It's got to be good for the integrity of the game. It's got to be the way forward. I do think that it has improved the game.
“I really wish it was there in many situations in my career where I've driven home and I've just thought, why didn't I give that penalty? Why did I give that penalty when I should have done that? It's there for that reason. But the big decision, we'll still always have subjective decisions that split a room. We'll always have decisions that split a room. We always get that. That's just football.”
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