Liam Keen on Wolves VAR vote and why issue won't go away

Express & Star

Wolves' proposal to scrap VAR failed on Thursday at a meeting of Premier League clubs. The club had called for the technology to be axed for next season - after a string of controversial decisions. But Wolves were the only side to vote in favour of their own proposal, with the 19 other sides backing it to continue. Liam Keen sat down to discuss the news and how it will have gone down at Molineux.

Transcript

00:00 Keno, Wolves have been, well, unanimously battered in their VAR vote. 19-1, every single

00:14 Premier League club, a lot of Premier League clubs in there who have whinged about VAR

00:18 last season have gone against Wolves in their proposal. It's been expected for a number

00:22 of days that it wasn't going to get through. What's the initial reaction? What's the club's

00:27 thoughts? I'm sure in the bowels of Molineux they probably were expecting this to sort

00:32 of happen. There are going to be changes in terms of communication with supporters and

00:37 semi-automated technology for offsides. But what's the feeling going to be like among

00:43 sort of the key stakeholders at Wolves following this vote?

00:46 Yeah, I mean, obviously when they triggered this vote and put out that statement on the

00:50 15th of May, they'll have hoped that they could force enough clubs to get this through.

00:56 Because it should come as no surprise or shock to Wolves that they have been voted down.

01:02 Obviously, until the vote happens, you never know whether one or two clubs might last minute

01:05 decide to side with you. Maybe it might be a 17-3, something like that. But no, it was

01:10 19-1, not a major surprise really, despite clubs, as you say there, like Forest for example,

01:15 who've had plenty to say about VAR this season and still voting to keep it. Wolves obviously,

01:22 considering they triggered the vote, had to vote in favour of scrapping it. Otherwise

01:26 it would look rather strange, wouldn't it? So understandable and unexpected really for

01:31 it to be 19-1. But you hope now that this results in some changes. From Wolves' point

01:35 of view, I think the club are, I mean, they'll obviously be disappointed they've not been

01:38 able to do it. But as I say, also expecting it. And they'll now be fairly pleased with

01:43 the fact that they've been able to raise the discussion, have the conversation. I think

01:47 they felt that in the meeting today, it was a fairly constructive, open conversation that

01:53 they were pleased that they were able to bring up and have, which hopefully can only mean

01:57 to more positives going forward. It does mean though, in my opinion and in plenty of supporters'

02:02 opinions, that there has to be dynamic change to VAR. The way that it intervenes in games

02:08 and slows games down and impacts on atmosphere. All of these have to be changed. They're now

02:13 things that the Premier League in a statement have promised to address moving forward with,

02:18 as you say, semi-automated offsides being quite a key one and hopefully further training

02:23 of referees, that is. I would not be surprised to see this drag on for a bit longer. We'll

02:29 see plenty of mistakes next season. VAR is still in its relative infancy, but in five

02:34 seasons we've seen very little positive to confidentiality in my opinion. And it might

02:40 rumble on for a bit longer yet because, as I say, I can expect to see quite a few errors

02:44 and teething issues going forward.

02:47 Like we said there, there are clubs that have come out and spoke against it, you know, Nottingham

02:50 Forest being the other main one with Wolves. These clubs now, the fact that they haven't

02:56 voted with Wolves gives them relatively no leg to stand on when it comes to complaining

03:02 about the issues because they had the opportunity today to vote to scrap it and they refused

03:06 to do it.

03:07 Yeah, it's a fair point. It's a point that a lot of fans will have. I mean, I saw an

03:11 interesting tweet in reply to my tweet just a minute ago to say if they had done the vote

03:17 with supporters of each club rather than the representatives of each club, VAR would not

03:21 be around for next season. I think that's a very accurate and fair way of describing

03:25 it.

03:26 It's a fair point. At the same time, a lot of people will think that it's a backward

03:29 step to get rid of it. And I could understand that argument. But as I've campaigned for

03:33 really the press and size coverage and the way that Wolves have been adversely affected

03:37 by VAR this season and in previous seasons, I just don't see any benefit currently of

03:42 how the technology is used. Technology itself, if it is used in a different way, has potential

03:47 to be a benefit of the game. The way it is currently used is not. And that's really the

03:51 sticking point for the Premier League and for Wolves moving forward is making some sort

03:55 of change to how it's used.

03:57 Semi-automated offsides I welcome because the technology should work fairly seamlessly.

04:01 I would hope to think there's not too many teething issues with that. But we're not getting

04:04 that until the autumn is currently how it's being phrased. So August, September perhaps

04:11 could be interesting months once the 24/25 season kicks off. And I'm sure, as there will

04:15 be for a lot of teams, that Wolves will have a contentious and controversial decision go

04:20 against them. And then we all know what's going to happen. Gary Neal will be frustrated.

04:25 The fans will be frustrated. Geoff Shee, who's come out against VAR, will be frustrated.

04:29 So it's lots of very interesting developments to come, I think, on this one. It's not something

04:34 that's going to die with this vote, but it's not something I can see is going to be scrapped

04:40 at any point. I think VAR is certainly here to stay.

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