Fan column: Lack of VAR the only positive of a Wolves relegation

Seeking solace in suggesting that winning games more frequently at the lower level will assuage the disappointment of relegation a fatuous argument. The Saturday / Tuesday slog an unrelenting grind desperately difficult to escape from. 

Sure, I loved it when Nuno’s fledgling outfit imperiously breezed to promotion but just as vivid in the memory are the long years of floundering at this level, trapped in mediocrity and disappointment. Little to recommend second tier football but the silver lining is surely a belated termination from the dreaded VAR. 

I’ll concede immediately that the first time we are on the wrong end of a refereeing error next season, we’ll be howling for technology. But when any injustice benefits Wolves, I suspect our tone may be more conciliatory. 

But simply to be spared those interminable delays with faceless officials poring over geometrical lines throttling the spontaneity and fundamental excitement from the game is to be welcomed. 

A foolproof system without demonstrable flaws it certainly is not. At The Etihad last Saturday, referee Farai Hallam ruled that Yerson Mosquera had not committed a handball offence to warrant the award of a penalty. His colleagues Darren England and Sam Barrott on duty in the VAR hub recommended that Hallam review his decision, the inference being that they believed the on-field official had called his decision wrongly. 

In such circumstances, the referee immediately views a touchline television screen and invariably concurs with his colleagues giving an impression of complete uniformity of opinion. Hallam decided otherwise; he trusted his own judgement, stuck to his guns and decided his on-field decision was accurate. 

In so doing, he exposed the total inconsistency of the interpretation of ‘hand-ball.’ So much so that former FIFA referee Keith Hackett who previously was the supremo of the Professional Match Official conglomeration, took it on himself to comment that Hallam’s decision not to award a penalty was wrong. Subsequently Hackett, after viewing the incident again, changed his mind indicating that Hallam was correct from the outset. 

His U -turn showing clearly that such decisions remain purely subjective and worse still, some of the decisions reached defy logic and common sense resulting in confusion and bewildered frustration. 

Under Gary O’Neil, Wolves suffered major injustices due to VAR; those who administered the system conceded their failings. Hate the prospect of the Championship; not the absence of VAR.