Chris Sutton hopes VAR has no bearing on Old Firm as Celtic icon outlines recent technological inconsistencies

Celtic icon Chris Sutton hopes Sunday’s Old Firm Derby against Rangers at Ibrox will be decided by quality on the pitch and not VAR controversy.

The Hoops go into the match with a flawless domestic record so far this season with seven wins from seven - two of which came against St Mirren and St Johnstone in the past week. In the former, Hoops striker Shim Mheuka was denied his first goal in Celtic colours for offside, while at McDiarmid Park, winger Haissem Hassan had a goal chalked off as the linesman adjudged the ball to out of play, even though replays showed the Dane to be on the line.

Sutton believes the fine line between subjective and factual decisions has caused officiating issues in recent weeks. Mheuka’s goal that was ruled offside was unique in that the referee went over to the monitor to check for himself before overturning his original call. Meanwhile in Perth, VAR couldn’t intervene as before Hogh headed the ball down, it left the sight of the camera. This meant that they stayed with the original call as there was no conclusive evidence the ball stayed in play.

Sutton hopes for ‘no more VAR controversy’

In his Daily Record column, he wrote: “I just hope there’s no more VAR controversy (against Rangers) after the events of the last week. We had the two flashpoints involving Celtic in Paisley, then another bizarre one at St Johnstone, plus I’m not sure how St Mirren were not awarded a penalty at Ibrox the other night. The Mheuka offside against St Mirren and the Hassan one ruled out in Perth were the ones that caused so much confusion as both times VAR fell short in being able to confirm factual calls – and they ended up being subjective.

“In Paisley the referee overturned the on-field call to rule it offside, while at McDiarmid Park, they stuck with the assistant’s flag call despite no conclusive evidence the ball went out of play. The only person who thought it was out was the linesman, and he must have been the only one to clock the incredible gust of wind that put the ball on a trajectory to take it out and then blow it back into play.”

Celtic icon bemoans VAR ‘guesswork’

While acknowledging that Scotland doesn’t have the same technological resources as competitions like the English Premier League and Champions League, Sutton maintains that the standard of officiating has to be better in these situations.

He continued: “We know Scottish football’s cheaper version of VAR is going to lead to grey areas but that means the human element has to be stronger. And that means the man in the middle has to take charge and if there’s a big call that can’t be sorted out by the cameras, the referee has to got to the monitor and make the decision. We want Sunday to be down to moments of quality on the pitch rather than guesswork at the side of it.”

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