The Death of Football, R.I.P.

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

If there hadn't been VAR in operation at the Everton v Forest game then the referee may well have awarded them a spot kick though.

The presence of VAR has made it far too easy for the on-field officials to simply avoid doing their job, knowing that if they really make a complete and utter howler the VAR will give them a second chance anyway. Meanwhile, the VAR official too frequently decides just to keep quiet and back their mate, depending on the hierarchy of officials involved.

I do get that, but the on-field decision has to be what they think.

Like if Taylor thinks it was a penalty, his attitude would surely be it's a penalty, if I get it wrong, it will be overturned. Or it should be.

The importance of the on-field decision is clear, so we have to take it that their on-field decision is what they think.

And, yep, agree they're usually backing their mates. It's a problem. But the overall point is that take out VAR and there will still be a lot of moaning, it will just be directed another way.

 

[marrs-guitar]

I do get that, but the on-field decision has to be what they think.

Like if Taylor thinks it was a penalty, his attitude would surely be it's a penalty, if I get it wrong, it will be overturned. Or it should be.

The importance of the on-field decision is clear, so we have to take it that their on-field decision is what they think.

And, yep, agree they're usually backing their mates. It's a problem. But the overall point is that take out VAR and there will still be a lot of moaning, it will just be directed another way.

There always will be moaning because it's an emotive sport and the rules of the game require a lot more subjectivity than many other sports. That will still be the case with or without VAR today, tomorrow and forevermore.

The effect of VAR on the sport for the managers, players and fans has however been universally negative imo. It's even poor for the broadcasters as it slows the game game down, making it less appealing for the viewer, and extends the running time of matches far beyond what they plan for.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

If there hadn't been VAR in operation at the Everton v Forest game then the referee may well have awarded them a spot kick though.

The presence of VAR has made it far too easy for the on-field officials to simply avoid doing their job, knowing that if they really make a complete and utter howler the VAR will give them a second chance anyway. Meanwhile, the VAR official too frequently decides just to keep quiet and back their mate, depending on the hierarchy of officials involved.

And the next generation of officials is only going to be even worse, because they will have had it engrained in them from the very start that you don't necessarily have to get the big calls right on the field as the VAR will help you on those.

I'm not saying that's not true as a general point, but specifically I think it's wrong. The handball is marginal and impossible to give from the refs angle. The first kick on the ankle is marginal for me, I think he's made a meal of it and prefer the onfield ref's judgement of whether it was really a foul. The really bad decision is the last one as Taylor indicates Young played the ball when he clearly didn't, so no way he was giving that one and exactly the sort of one that the proponents of VAR would have used as an example of why it should be introduced.

 

[Berkshire Wolf]

The issue I have now is that, for example, Forest are fuming with VAR after Sunday. Yet if you remove VAR, as they wish, they still get no penalties. What would be happening if they were denied three penalties (IMO) in a crucial relegation match? They'd have sent out a tweet demanding VAR is brought in.

...

Because VAR is available, people rightly dig them out. However, the main point has to be that without VAR, we were still getting cheated, so that just can't be the solution.

The existence of VAR is making referees ref the game differently though

The threshold for a ref giving a penalty on pitch has been raised - unless the ref is 100% sure in his mind that it's a pen, he doesn't give it, because he knows VAR will take a look at it anyway

But then the threshold for VAR overturning it is even higher - pens only gets overturned if it's deemed 'clear and obvious', and as we've seen already they're reluctant to send their mates to the screen to suggest they've made a mistake

So penalties that probably would have been given pre-VAR are now not given because the on-pitch ref isn't 100% certain and the VAR is too scared to send the ref to the screen, it's the worst of both worlds

Without VAR Forest would almost certainly have got at least 1 pen on Sunday, we may have have got the Onana pen, etc

One of the multitude of reasons why VAR isn't fit for purpose and has ruined football

 

[Frank Lincoln]

The following is a social media post by Steve Plant, a lifelong Wolves fan.::

‚‘The love I have for Wolverhampton Wanderers and the pride I feel when looking back at our history came from my dad. Since we lost him I have tried to do everything I can to honour his love for Billy & the boys, the greatest team the world has ever seen but now I am struggling.

I will carry on buying my season ticket every year to support the club that binds us so closely together but I no longer like football. A statement I thought I would never make and emotions I thought I would never feel.
Regularly watch old videos but now I look to see if the goals would have still been allowed with VAR, how many of Bully’s 306 would have been chalked off by men sitting in a dark room with no compassion and no idea of what it’s like to play the game, but with an agenda to kill the very moment we all live for ?

Haven’t used my season ticket for the last 3-4 games, gave it away to people that will hopefully enjoy it, back for Luton but purely because it’s a best mates birthday and I won’t let him down.

Possibly the saddest posts I have ever done regarding football but when you keep getting kicked down at some point you say **** it and walk away…

VAR - The worst thing to ever happen to the beautiful game‘.

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

Even Stan Collymore reckons VAR is killing football!

Enraged Stan Collymore now weighs in on latest Wolves VAR controversy

'Nit-picking jobsworthness of the highest and most frustrating kind...' ️

www.molineux.news

 

[Stourwolf]

Yep, I have an ST too and I will be there against Luton, which will be my last game for this season as I can't make the Palace game. But I think I'll be jacking it in. It's not financial. I just just can't stand the sight of incompetent ******s like Attwell ruining the game, and then, if that wasn't bad enough, some unaccountable faceless ******** 100 miles away in a prefab making things even worse. Football as I have known it since the mid 50s is finished, gone, finito, kaput, khalas. Sky can stick it up their collective arses.

I think I’m done aswell. There is no enjoyment with VAR, you Carnt celebrate a goal as it normally get chalked off !
It’s too expensive for something no longer enjoyable !

 

[rubyloo]

Personally, ive been through a whole range of emotions with VAR: shock, disbelief, horror, anger, bewilderment but i think now its just sadness and acceptance that the game as we knew it (warts & all) has definitely gone for good.

in the unlikely event we score against Luton, i wish everyone would just stay silent. Wouldn't achieve anything but at least they might see the depth of feeling amongst normal , match going fans.

Some people seem to think VAR is enabling better decisions whereas all its actually doing is bringing in another opportunity for human error.

As far as I'm aware there aren't even any clear, measurable objectives for VAR - they're just playing around with it at our expense.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

The following is a social media post by Steve Plant, a lifelong Wolves fan.::

‚‘The love I have for Wolverhampton Wanderers and the pride I feel when looking back at our history came from my dad. Since we lost him I have tried to do everything I can to honour his love for Billy & the boys, the greatest team the world has ever seen but now I am struggling.

I will carry on buying my season ticket every year to support the club that binds us so closely together but I no longer like football. A statement I thought I would never make and emotions I thought I would never feel.
Regularly watch old videos but now I look to see if the goals would have still been allowed with VAR, how many of Bully’s 306 would have been chalked off by men sitting in a dark room with no compassion and no idea of what it’s like to play the game, but with an agenda to kill the very moment we all live for ?

Haven’t used my season ticket for the last 3-4 games, gave it away to people that will hopefully enjoy it, back for Luton but purely because it’s a best mates birthday and I won’t let him down.

Possibly the saddest posts I have ever done regarding football but when you keep getting kicked down at some point you say **** it and walk away…

VAR - The worst thing to ever happen to the beautiful game‘.

We could, maybe should due to Utd's situation, be in an FA Cup final right now.

Would people be falling out of love with football and handing back season tickets then? Would 25,000 fans be turning up, our lowest PL crowd in over a decade, if we were sitting 7th as we could be.

I have real sympathy with how some fans are impacted by VAR, but let's not allow it to be an excuse for the bigger problems we face.

This was a fantastic, magical season just a few months back. It's been ruined by our owners.

 

[StaffordWolf]

Each one of these decisions makes me feel more and more like we're in some kind of black mirror episode.

Just get rid of var now, majority of supporters would be so much happier.

 

[Caradoc Wolf]

After last nights performance I won't be renewing my season ticket. Football for me was about spontaneity, a free flowing sport run on the basis of simple logical rules. The human eye controlled the game and decisions were made on that basis: As a fan you took the rough with the smooth. The introduction of technology has turned all that on its head, and the tragedy is that the referees now bottle decisions knowing that they can fall back on the technology. However one of the most damning elements is the non communication with the crowd once a decision is made, so nobody is any the wiser. The technocrats running the game convey a level of arrogance that is breathtaking to behold. It reminds me a little of the scandal evolving in the Post Office. I digress but the intent seems to be the same where we the fans are the mushrooms and the muck is just thrown on top of us with very little interest in our well being or a right to just know. I have seen similar incidents to Cunha's arm raise waived on by officials, so whether it was a foul is open to conjecture. The game had clearly moved on by two or three phases when the goal was scored. I loath VAR for what it has done to the game and my enjoyment of the match day. I drive over from west Shropshire for every match and that journey is now a hindrance. I simply don't enjoy it any more. Perhaps fans should boycott a game as a form of protest. Perhaps even an organised march through the city centre as the match kicks off. Overall this is a very sad day as I have so many memories of following the Wolves over fifty years.

 

[Munich_Wolf]

If there hadn't been VAR in operation at the Everton v Forest game then the referee may well have awarded them a spot kick though.

The presence of VAR has made it far too easy for the on-field officials to simply avoid doing their job, knowing that if they really make a complete and utter howler the VAR will give them a second chance anyway. Meanwhile, the VAR official too frequently decides just to keep quiet and back their mate, depending on the hierarchy of officials involved.

And the next generation of officials is only going to be even worse, because they will have had it engrained in them from the very start that you don't necessarily have to get the big calls right on the field as the VAR will help you on those.

Exactly this, refs lack the confidence to make the big calls on field because they can just defer to VAR. It must go.

 

[Jefe]

Take away VAR, we still don't get a penalty at Old Trafford. Luton still get a terrible penalty against us. Sheffield United and Newcastle both get penalties for dives. Fulham still get a terrible penalty against us. So, for our injustices, the majority of incidents have been a lack of VAR involvement.

On the other hand, if not for dubious VAR involvement, the on-field decisions would have led to: a draw against West Ham (Chirewa), at least a draw against Bournemouth (Cunha), and a draw against Fulham (Gomes penalty). Then, there was Dawson's equaliser against Brentford ruled out because his toe was marginally offside; his body was leaning back in an onside position so it's debatable what advantage he'd gleaned. Similar story for Sarabia at West Ham. Muted appeals at most. While both technically correct, they were well within the margin of error for a lino to have no chance of spotting them in real time. They're just the ones that I can remember, there may be more.

So, if you give me a choice between a fisting, and a fisting all the way up to the elbow, I'll take a fisting please.

 

[Pagey]

Corrupt. Ffs, as if anyone outside of us or Bournemouth gave a **** how the game tonight finished.

I find corruption more believable tbh, i find it harder to believe a group with the funding, training etc that the pgmol recieve can genuinely be so useless. History of the sport is littered with examples of corruption.

 

[SydneyWolf]

Not sure how Bournemouth players would have seen anything to complain about seeing as they spent half the match on the ****ing floor.

This is the point re Kluivert. If Cunha had actually connected with him he'd have gone down like a sack of spuds instead of continuing to press Doherty

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

On the other hand, if not for dubious VAR involvement, the on-field decisions would have led to: a draw against West Ham (Chirewa), at least a draw against Bournemouth (Cunha), and a draw against Fulham (Gomes penalty). Then, there was Dawson's equaliser against Brentford ruled out because his toe was marginally offside; his body was leaning back in an onside position so it's debatable what advantage he'd gleaned. Similar story for Sarabia at West Ham. Muted appeals at most. While both technically correct, they were well within the margin of error for a lino to have no chance of spotting them in real time. They're just the ones that I can remember, there may be more.

So, if you give me a choice between a fisting, and a fisting all the way up to the elbow, I'll take a fisting please.

I'm not having that last night was 'at least a draw'! We were battered for 60 minutes, but now we'd have not lost?

Yep, I'm not saying VAR doesn't make mistakes, they do. And it's more infuriating because there's less excuse.

I'm not getting into the offsides. I think they're fine. It's the same for everyone and we get a definitive decision. There also IS a margin of error that is applied.

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

It’s ridiculius from Cunha and is a straight red and season over if he connects with Kluivert.

Is it enough to rule out the goal? Absolutely, emphatically nope.

Never, he's trying to protect himself from someone who's about to come and assault him from behind.

Viewed in the context of him just having done it once seconds before the throw and then him going for Cunha again who didn't even have the ball, there's only one person who should have had a card there.

 

[SA Wolf]

I didn't cheer for the 'equaliser' last night. I've trained myself to wait for a replay and look for an offside. I looked and both Semedo and Hwang were onside. There was no push from Hwang and so I cheered. Little did I know that they'd go so far back to find a reason to disallow the goal. Retraining now required.

 

[Jefe]

I'm not having that last night was 'at least a draw'! We were battered for 60 minutes, but now we'd have not lost? Yep, I'm not saying VAR doesn't make mistakes, they do. And it's more infuriating because there's less excuse. I'm not getting into the offsides. I think they're fine. It's the same for everyone and we get a definitive decision. There also IS a margin of error that is applied.

My mistake, I couldn't actually watch the game because of a prior commitment. I got the idea in my head that the red card came before the Hwang equaliser for some reason. Be that as it may, goals change games and all that.

 

[WorcesterWanderer]

I didn't cheer for the 'equaliser' last night. I've trained myself to wait for a replay and look for an offside. I looked and both Semedo and Hwang were onside. There was no push from Hwang and so I cheered. Little did I know that they'd go so far back to find a reason to disallow the goal. Retraining now required.

I cheered for both disallowed goals. I lost my ****ing marbles when they went in. Felt like **** when they were ruled out.

 

[Oldskooldayz]

I haven't been to a game all season and rarely watch us on the TV anymore. It's either incompetence or corruption.

If the premier league can attract the best players in the world why can't it employ the best officials from around the world?

 

[Shergar]

Last night Wolves were rotten and deserved nothing from the game.
I watched the VAR replays from the monitors under the NB, when Attwell reversed that goal I never went back to my seat, exited the ground in the NB/BW corner - no stewards were there, I had a clear run and access onto the pitch, a younger me would have ran onto the pitch in frustration - it is only a matter of time before fans take action against this **** with some serious consequences.
For the match attending fan the game is dying on it's feet, I agree with a poster above it is like we are in an episode of Black Mirror.

 

[SE10 Wolf]

It’s over isn’t it? The powers that be will not be seen to lose face over VAR; too many pockets are lined (legally and illegally IMO - the amounts bet each EPL game globally are staggering), and the target audience is not those that produced the golden goose - being slowly roasted to a cinder in the PGMOL Aga.

There’s not much left to bring occasional unbridled joy in this country of ours.

 

[Contrarian]

I'm not having that last night was 'at least a draw'! We were battered for 60 minutes, but now we'd have not lost?

Yep, I'm not saying VAR doesn't make mistakes, they do. And it's more infuriating because there's less excuse.

I'm not getting into the offsides. I think they're fine. It's the same for everyone and we get a definitive decision. There also IS a margin of error that is applied.

The result and performance is Irrelevant, because one of the things that makes football special and holds the attention of even those who don't watch much, is those matches where a team gets battered and somehow steals a win. Football has had a lower correlation between level of performance and final result than most other sports. You can't dominate a cricket match yet lose. You can't row faster than all the others yet lose. Perhaps boxing comes close, when someone on the ropes for a few rounds can knock out an opponent out of nowhere.

Also, VAR is supposed to enforce objective correctness, That's what it was sold to us as and that's what it's defenders say. That the delays etc are worth it to get a correct decision. It doesn't matter if fans don't like it. Getting it correct is worth it, whatever the cost. So they can't chop and change and admit that some decisions are incorrect but it doesn't matter because the team was playing badly and didn't deserve it! It's VAR's job to get every decision 100% correct, not to judge which team deserved to win and make sure the VAR decision helps out.

And the current offside rule is rubbish, too. The offside rule has always been there to prevent goal hanging, not 1 millimeter of a players anatomy being ahead of a line drawn from some part of the last defenders anatomy. It should be changed to being offside only if the whole attacker is ahead of the line. The game needs more goals in open play, but what it's getting is more goals from penalties due to attackers doing el collapso in the penalty area. And a few more from this ridiculous fad of playing out from the back!

 

[Dan G WWFC]

Lack of common sense has ruined it all. I haven’t even gone to a game this season. Barely watched games since Christmas and don’t think I’ve watched match of the day all year.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

The very first game of 2019-2020, when perhaps ignorantly, I didn't even know VAR was a thing, we had a perfectly fine goal away at Leicester chalked out. From that day, Nuno said it would ruin the moments in football matches we love. He was right. I knew in that moment, when I stood in the ground having got a spare ticket, what the **** is this and what the **** have they done to the game. How do we celebrate a goal? My love for football was built on the excitement of the ball hitting the net, sharing the ecstacy with loved ones and equally random ones around me. From that day on, I knew that had been taken away from us. And for what?

Gradually, it has led to where we are at today. Whether it was/is factually the correct decision or not, is a seperate thing. The game now looks for reasons to disallow goals. It scrutines the entire play leading up to a goal. That is not the game I fell in love with. The beautiful game it was once called. It was never called the perfect game and do you know what, debating refereeing decisions was always a talking point after the game. It was part of the 90mins of the emotion of the game. Emotion, something that this has ripped from the game.

I gave up my ST in 2019 (end of first year prem) due to spending more of my retirement in Tenerife, I must have only attended 30-40% of those games and honestly, it seemed disingenuous, especially as others could also have that seat.

So it was that as well as a financial/convenience/Mrs Walsall decision. But make no mistakes, given my sentimental and love for the club and memories, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But if I knew then what I knew now about how the game has become, it's the easiest and most sensible thing I have ever done in hindsight. I loved the 50-60 years or so I've had on the North/South bank watching the beautiful game. But I don't love this. I am grateful for that, that I had that at least. I just feel sorry for say the 20+ age category. Who have had a taste of football without VAR and are now subject to this.

I think a big blame for this is actually Sky/MOTD/pundits. Don't forget all those experts sat there on national TV, lambasting football decisions pre 2019. It led to this. I find them so hypocritical now when they slam VAR.

VAR is going nowhere but I suspect proper football fans are. Thing is, it is shocking full stop. But at least if you are in the comfort of your own home, or watching in a bar/pub/whatever, you know more about what is going on. It is another nod to this all being about Sky/Broadcasting. I'm the ground, you have absolutely no idea what is going on. This WILL lead the dedicated proper football fan away from football grounds, make no mistake. They will walk. They would rather be at home or in the pub watching this. And I think what we will be left with in football grounds is simply tourists and day trippers. And that makes me so sad.

100% nailed it. I saw exactly what you described at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season when watching Boro in the cup with my wife and daughter. Packed ground, Chelsea scored 6, yet it was total silence from the home fans, and all you could hear were the Boro fans. Outside the ground after the game, heading for the tube, we were walking in a sea of tourists. No chants, no discussion of the game, just people heading back after an evening out. A couple of young Boro fans tried to wind up the home fans with some distasteful chants, and the home fans just looked at them bemused and clearly not understanding. Had that been Chelsea fans 30 years ago, those idiot Boro fans would have ended up in hospital, and the Police would have intervened on horses and with riot shields.

To add, most of the owners don’t care either. They own US clubs where there is no relegation, no jeopardy, and fans are customers at franchises. They only care about the finances, the value of their brand, and such like. A stage managed league, helped by their puppets in Stockley Park suits them down to the ground.

The Premier League is crap.

 

[Parkfieldswolf]

What’s really making me sad is the realisation now that the game I’ve loved since single figures has gone forever. Never mind the **** decisions we’ve had that’s nothing new but the sheer joy of celebrating a goal has gone. The ultimate high of a football game is now a thing of trepidation and waiting for VAR to clear it. My overall feeling is one of sadness that the enjoyment has been taken away by the knobs who run the game. I’m done with it. When something no longer brings you joy avoid it.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

The result and performance is Irrelevant, because one of the things that makes football special and holds the attention of even those who don't watch much, is those matches where a team gets battered and somehow steals a win. Football has had a lower correlation between level of performance and final result than most other sports. You can't dominate a cricket match yet lose. You can't row faster than all the others yet lose. Perhaps boxing comes close, when someone on the ropes for a few rounds can knock out an opponent out of nowhere.

Also, VAR is supposed to enforce objective correctness, That's what it was sold to us as and that's what it's defenders say. That the delays etc are worth it to get a correct decision. It doesn't matter if fans don't like it. Getting it correct is worth it, whatever the cost. So they can't chop and change and admit that some decisions are incorrect but it doesn't matter because the team was playing badly and didn't deserve it! It's VAR's job to get every decision 100% correct, not to judge which team deserved to win and make sure the VAR decision helps out.

And the current offside rule is rubbish, too. The offside rule has always been there to prevent goal hanging, not 1 millimeter of a players anatomy being ahead of a line drawn from some part of the last defenders anatomy. It should be changed to being offside only if the whole attacker is ahead of the line. The game needs more goals in open play, but what it's getting is more goals from penalties due to attackers doing el collapso in the penalty area. And a few more from this ridiculous fad of playing out from the back!

I agree with your first bit. I was more highlighting how bad we were last night as opposed to making an argument for VAR.


I agree with the second bit. They should be getting it right, and last night was incredibly bad. How anyone can give a foul is bewildering. But as I've pointed out, the issues are there without the VAR. I didn't feel any better when we were cheated at Sheffield United just because an on-field referee cheated us as opposed to some **** in Stockley Park. The outcome was the same, we were cheated, and I was fuming on both occasions. Obviously, VAR shouldn't make the mistakes, so it's worse from a refereeing perspective and that's what we need to solve. How are these idiots making such glaring mistakes with the benefit of a replay!?


I disagree entirely with the last bit. Offside is offside. If we changed it to what you said, there would still be 1mm decisions. You just move the bar. They have a margin for error for offsides now but they won't next season, so it's getting worse, but it will be done quicker.

 

[SydneyWolf]

Full disclosure - I was supportive of VAR when introduced having seen it used successfully in other sports. The way it has been applied though, and every attempt to tweak it since has made it more and more ****ed up.

For offsides, in the spirit of giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking team, they either need to make the lines appreciably thicker and insist on no overlap in order to flag offside, or require a player to be offside for 3 consecutive frames. As others have said before, they apply precision with where the lines are drawn but none in terms of when the ball is deemed to have been played. The notion that offside calls are "fact" is misplaced at the moment.

For other calls, how did officials reach the point where they sheepishly accept that being told to look at the screen automatically means overturning the on-field decision? How many times do the original calls stand? I can only think of 2 or 3 in 5 years. That's just ridiculous and can't possibly reflect any kind of balanced judgement. It's OK for reasonable minds to differ and for the original decision to be upheld. The VAR should be advising the ref to review not telling him he's wrong "it's your call, just make sure you're happy with what you gave in real time".

If VAR has to used I'd much rather it was collaborative and at the instigation of the referee, where the on-field ref asks for help on something he's not sure about. It' OK to say "I was a bit unsighted there, can you help me check whether there was contact/handball/a red card offence". That can include a routine offside check for each goal using the principles set out above. Unsolicited VAR intervention should only be for potential red card offences out of the ref's field of vision.

If VAR can't be used sensibly, it needs to go. I've tried to explain to my Australian and American friends who complain that football is boring because there aren't any goals, that what sets football apart is the fact that one goal can and often does win a game (unlike rugby, American Football, Aussie Rules etc), hence why goals are celebrated with such passion. We've lost that. I'm watching on TV in Sydney in the middle of the night not celebrating. God knows what its like for the fans in the ground who have even less idea if what's going on

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

The existence of VAR is making referees ref the game differently though

The threshold for a ref giving a penalty on pitch has been raised - unless the ref is 100% sure in his mind that it's a pen, he doesn't give it, because he knows VAR will take a look at it anyway

But then the threshold for VAR overturning it is even higher - pens only gets overturned if it's deemed 'clear and obvious', and as we've seen already they're reluctant to send their mates to the screen to suggest they've made a mistake

So penalties that probably would have been given pre-VAR are now not given because the on-pitch ref isn't 100% certain and the VAR is too scared to send the ref to the screen, it's the worst of both worlds

Without VAR Forest would almost certainly have got at least 1 pen on Sunday, we may have have got the Onana pen, etc

One of the multitude of reasons why VAR isn't fit for purpose and has ruined football

I agree it may have made referees ref differently. But I can't agree with the overall point because of our examples.

Joao Gomes at Luton.
Schar's dive at home.
Baldock's dive.

 

[Olivergoldblack]

I wouldn't say I like it haha! I just hated how it was previously more so.

The issue I have now is that, for example, Forest are fuming with VAR after Sunday. Yet if you remove VAR, as they wish, they still get no penalties. What would be happening if they were denied three penalties (IMO) in a crucial relegation match? They'd have sent out a tweet demanding VAR is brought in.

With us, the majority of our decisions have still been referee mistakes.

Take away VAR, we still don't get a penalty at Old Trafford. Luton still get a terrible penalty against us. Sheffield United and Newcastle both get penalties for dives. Fulham still get a terrible penalty against us.

So, for our injustices, the majority of incidents have been a lack of VAR involvement.

Because VAR is available, people rightly dig them out. However, the main point has to be that without VAR, we were still getting cheated, so that just can't be the solution.

How many of those, the ref is unsure about so is just waiting for VAR to clear the mess up?

 

[DJW]

I do tend to think that a pitch invasion protest might be in order. Get a big game, against the top 3 teams delayed or called off. No violence to players or officials, but just to say enough is enough. Ideally coordinated with other clubs.
At the same time I feel depressingly apathetic about football right now. Just get the best officials from around the world and get rid of our useless tools!

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

Just got the highlights on SkySports, why weren’t any of their 10 outfield players booked for surrounding the referee which led to RAN’s card?

 

[Shergar]

I do tend to think that a pitch invasion protest might be in order. Get a big game, against the top 3 teams delayed or called off. No violence to players or officials, but just to say enough is enough. Ideally coordinated with other clubs.
At the same time I feel depressingly apathetic about football right now. Just get the best officials from around the world and get rid of our useless tools!

I like the idea of fans throwing 1,000's of tennis balls on the pitch as protest - impossible to ignore by switching cameras etc..

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

I just got up and walked out after Hwang's goal was disallowed. The game has gone, it's been totally ruined by the pseudo-forensic bean-counting kill-joys of Stockley Park. I just don't want to watch it any more. I don't care if we are **** (as we were for most of what I saw), I just want to see a game of football with all its highs and lows. They have robbed us of that. The sport has been going at the elite level for about 150 years and they have killed it stone dead in a couple of seasons. I'm done with it.

I'm usually in tune with you BSK and I really respect your views and I am with you 100%. I've certainly had it for this season, so much so I've booked to go out to lunch on Saturday and will give no thought to the game. I've also no plans to watch the remaining games this season. If I still had my ST I certainly would not renew it. The joy has gone out of the game. The spontaneous elation when we score has been wiped out as I automatically wait to see if VAR is involved. This is a big summer both for Wolves and football; I'll keep an open mind and see where we are in August. I'll not hold my breath.

 

[glorybox]

It doesn't help when pricks like Iraola come out and defend the decision to disallow the goal. Until this changes the PMGOL and Premier League will just call it sour grapes.

 

[Starsky]

The only way it will change is if swathes of fans across all clubs stop going to watch the product. And that will not happen. And the corrupt PL know it.

 

[glorybox]

My two boys both play for two football teams as well as their school teams. I take infinitely more pleasure now watching their matches than watching Premier League football, Wolves or not. The best part of going to Molineux is meeting up for beers before and after. I'm hoping my boys get to play at a decent standard of football when they're adults because as it stands i'm absolutely certain i will sack off Wolves and watch them instead.

 

[Edmund Dantes]

I think one thing that VAR contributed to is ruining the storyline of the matches. Memories such as the Baggio Penalty miss at the 94 World Cup will be replaced with VAR decisions.

I used to be someone that watched most televised matches on the weekend. I'd make excuses to try and catch at least the second half of an important match, even if it wasn't Wolves. Nowadays, if the missus wants to me to go buy presents for some baby shower of someone I don't even know, instead of watching a match, I just go and don't feel like I am missing much.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Just got the highlights on SkySports, why weren’t any of their 10 outfield players booked for surrounding the referee which led to RAN’s card?

Because that rule only seems to be applied to players with a wolf’s head on their shirt.