Rangers hope World Cup cash will pay for better VAR

Controversial refereeing decisions in the Scottish Premiership season led to complaints from Hearts and Celtic regarding penalties. Rangers chief executive Jim Gillespie said the club will meet the Scottish FA to discuss how to improve Scottish football, citing the need for alignment on strategy and higher officiating standards. He said Rangers will pay their fair share of any increased VAR expenditure and that a prior meeting with the SPFL included Scottish FA attendance. Gillespie questioned what should change beyond apologies, including whether to increase digital performance or move toward full-time referees. He argued VAR should be supported because it can improve outcomes, referencing positive impacts in other leagues.

"Decision making again came under the spotlight in the final week of the Scottish Premiership season, with Hearts feeling aggrieved at being denied a penalty against Motherwell - and then with a late spot-kick title rivals, and eventual champions, Celtic earned against the same opponents three days later."

"Now Rangers chief executive Jim Gillespie has revealed that, having "a long history of being the leading club", they are meeting the Scottish FA on Friday to talk about "how we can improve Scottish football". He told the Press Association the Ibrox club will pay their "fair share" of any increased expenditure for VAR technology having already held a meeting with the SPFL that the SFA attended."

""We all agreed that we need to be more aligned on strategy and improving the standards," Gillespie said. "We can all shout about a decision, but what changes? Do we just apologise on the Monday? Do we accept that apology? "What has to change? Do we need to increase digital performance, or have full-time referees?""

""Ultimately, we are going to the World Cup and the Scottish FA is making some money. How do we get some of that to get things improved?" Gillespie said, for the sake of "Scottish football's reputation", it was crucial to make improvements. "But I don't think at this stage we should be saying VAR is no good," he said. "VAR is there to improve and you do see other leagues where it does make a positive impact, or more of a positive impact, and I think that is the strategy at the moment.""

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