The VAR Review 2025/2026

[dennyc]

8 minutes ago, Happy Dosser said:

I'm sorry I missed those comments. Tom English has gone up in my estimation.

Hopefully still available as a catch up. English did not hold back. Not just about the Nicholson decision. Refreshing although it will make no difference to Collum etc. Dallas was the one who got the real going over. English will be on the naughty step alongside Stewart. 

[El Grew]

VAR in Scotland is hindered by one key factor - resources. In England they have a minimum of 28 cameras, sometimes more, available to VAR for each game. In Scotland there are a minimum of 6 cameras, sometimes going up to 12, for games selected for live broadcast.  In Scotland, the estimated VAR costs are around £1.2M per season. The technology and operational expenses are funded by the 12 top flight clubs on a sliding scale according to their final league position. For a full season the estimated annual contributions from clubs are:

- top placed teams £195K
- lower ranked clubs £67K

These contributions cover the stadium camera equipment, additional match officials and technology calibration.

When asked recently about VAR, Ian Maxwell, CEO at the SFA said “There is a narrative that we have VAR-lite and that it’s a cheap VAR system but we have exactly the same VAR system as over 50% of European nations with the same technology and number of cameras.”

It would be interesting to know which European nations he’s referring to - perhaps the likes of Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands! 😏

[well_said]

1 hour ago, El Grew said:

 

VAR in Scotland is hindered by one key factor - resources. In England they have a minimum of 28 cameras, sometimes more, available to VAR for each game. In Scotland there are a minimum of 6 cameras, sometimes going up to 12, for games selected for live broadcast.  In Scotland, the estimated VAR costs are around £1.2M per season. The technology and operational expenses are funded by the 12 top flight clubs on a sliding scale according to their final league position. For a full season the estimated annual contributions from clubs are:

- top placed teams £195K
- lower ranked clubs £67K

These contributions cover the stadium camera equipment, additional match officials and technology calibration.

When asked recently about VAR, Ian Maxwell, CEO at the SFA said “There is a narrative that we have VAR-lite and that it’s a cheap VAR system but we have exactly the same VAR system as over 50% of European nations with the same technology and number of cameras.”

It would be interesting to know which European nations he’s referring to - perhaps the likes of Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands! 😏

Maxwell is a wanker , like Doncaster not fit for purpose . For the benefit of the Scottish game , both need removed asap.

[dennyc]

1 hour ago, El Grew said:

 

VAR in Scotland is hindered by one key factor - resources. In England they have a minimum of 28 cameras, sometimes more, available to VAR for each game. In Scotland there are a minimum of 6 cameras, sometimes going up to 12, for games selected for live broadcast.  In Scotland, the estimated VAR costs are around £1.2M per season. The technology and operational expenses are funded by the 12 top flight clubs on a sliding scale according to their final league position. For a full season the estimated annual contributions from clubs are:

- top placed teams £195K
- lower ranked clubs £67K

These contributions cover the stadium camera equipment, additional match officials and technology calibration.

When asked recently about VAR, Ian Maxwell, CEO at the SFA said “There is a narrative that we have VAR-lite and that it’s a cheap VAR system but we have exactly the same VAR system as over 50% of European nations with the same technology and number of cameras.”

It would be interesting to know which European nations he’s referring to - perhaps the likes of Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands! 😏

Brilliant. Sums the whole farce up. And highlights the misleading information being pushed out of HQ. Maxwell also stated that no way was VAR being withdrawn. Out of curiosity, is that his call or is it up to the teams in the top division? If they united (this is Scotland so unlikely) could we do a Sweden?

Was reading yesterday that after discussing VAR with numerous Clubs, Rangers approached Maxwell with funding and improvement suggestions. Dismissed out of hand. Appears we have a Dictator running his own little empire.

[purestate]

4 hours ago, El Grew said:

 

When asked recently about VAR, Ian Maxwell, CEO at the SFA said “There is a narrative that we have VAR-lite and that it’s a cheap VAR system but we have exactly the same VAR system as over 50% of European nations with the same technology and number of cameras.”

 

He’s just embarrassing himself as FIFA themselves refer to the different versions VAR light.  

https://inside.fifa.com/innovation/standards/video-assistant-referee
 

Hawkeye Innovations do both and I’m almost completely sure that Scotland isn’t the full system they provide that likes of England, Italy and Germany do. 
 

It would indeed be interesting for him to name the leagues he is referring to as totally disingenuous to suggest cost isn’t a factor. 
 

The version in use in Scotland is far more dependent on the quality of the human Video Assistant Referee.  
 

Acknowledging that this increases potential for mistakes would be little consolation in individual circumstances but surely more likely to be (grudgingly) accepted by fans.
 

[Kmcalpin]

3 hours ago, dennyc said:

Brilliant. Sums the whole farce up. And highlights the misleading information being pushed out of HQ. Maxwell also stated that no way was VAR being withdrawn. Out of curiosity, is that his call or is it up to the teams in the top division? If they united (this is Scotland so unlikely) could we do a Sweden?

Was reading yesterday that after discussing VAR with numerous Clubs, Rangers approached Maxwell with funding and improvement suggestions. Dismissed out of hand. Appears we have a Dictator running his own little empire.

You're right Denny. The SFA is not an entity in itself. It is there to represent member clubs. He does indeed sound like a dictator.