‘I had to make a horrible walk at Stoke City and I wish I had a microphone on’
In the latest instalment of Gary Rowett’s column he looks at VAR in the Championship and whether it is time to introduce it and the time he was sent off as manager of Stoke
The debate as to whether VAR should be introduced in the Championship reared its head again this week, perhaps influenced by the decisions that went against Derby in their game against Norwich last weekend.
You will have read and digested the fallout surrounding the first goal in particular as TV replays showed the ball was clearly out of play when Josh Sargent crossed the ball.
I understand why there would be fresh calls for VAR when you consider the money at stake particularly when it comes to promotion to the Premier League is huge. If you recall the Huddersfield v Nottingham Forest play-off final, there were two penalty decisions that Huddersfield had that went against them and that game actually had VAR being implemented.
Sometimes you can see the cost of those decisions and how they impact a club and I remember a conversation when I was at Millwall where there was talk about VAR-lite was going to be trialled and how it was going to be a cheaper, less extensive version of what we see in the Premier League.
I sat in so many meetings with other managers and other key figures like Howard Webb and other stakeholders from around the game when they would discuss the rule changes etc. And so when you enter these meetings, VAR just seemed to take so long, it would take the joy away from scoring goals and celebrating for the fans and it was probably something I hadn’t thought about.
It just seems to be a bit of an atmosphere and tempo wrecker. Statistically, I think they are shaving off about a minute for VAR reviews which I think is excellent so there is progress being made. And so when you have that moment like Derby against Norwich, of course, you’re always after that game going to say we need VAR in the Championship. It’s a really difficult debate.
I know the officials get criticism, but I do know that as a body, the PGMOL is trying very, very hard to solve these problems. I know they take that criticism that comes at them very personally because they’re working very hard for the officials.
And that being said, I am still torn as to VAR. Maybe there is another debate for instances like Derby. Could there be technology that can judge the entire byline? Obviously you have to do that for every stadium and how costly would that be to the clubs? But when you have situations like Derby had, it’s a horrible situation for a manager because you’re in the moment. I actually felt Paul Warne dealt with it really well and calmly afterwards.
