WIll VAR kill football?

Who would be a football fan? I support Manchester City FC. This morning I awoke feeling deflated and down. I don't want to talk to anyone. Yesterday I drove to the Etihad Stadium and saw one of the best matches of football ever seen in the competition. I've supported City since I was five and been to hundreds of matches over the years. I've seen relegations, promotions, cup victories and losses, Championships and complete debacles. I've seen dodgy decisions. You have to take it on the chin.

The reason City went out last night was not "because of VAR". It was because at key moments over two games they didn't play well enough. In the first game, Sergio Aguero missed a penalty and last night they didn't defend well enough. Having seen all of the decisions over two legs, I am not entirely sure VAR has ensured justice was done. I am sure that any Spurs fan will be thinking VAR is amazing, but what I witnessed last night in the stadium has convinced me that VAR in its current form is simply not fit for purpose. 

Football is not about winning, it’s about belonging. Proud of my team and proud to support through thick and thin. @ManCity #CTID pic.twitter.com/Hg2vMReW2C

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID (@Barneteye) April 18, 2019

There were two decisions referred to VAR. The first was Spurs decisive goal and the second was Strelings disallowed goal in the final minute. In both cases a goal is scored. For the first, the ball clearly hit a hand. City players appealed and many people in the crowd at the end we were at saw the ball strike the hand. Being at the game, I didn't see the replay. The VAR sign came up. The ref reviewed the footage and the goal was awarded. Many around us were disgusted. 

For the Stirling Goal, the stadium erupted, the Spurs players slumped to the floor, The City players went mad. After what seemed an eternity, the VAR sign came up. None of the Spurs players had reacted. The ref went over and disallowed the goal. As it was up the other end, no one had a clue what was going on. 

If I'd been at home, in the luxury of my front room, with a glass of beer, I'd have had a perfect view. I'd have known what was going on. As it was, I'd paid £75 for two tickets, spent £50 on half a tank of fuel, spent £16 on two beers and two pies (one for me and one for my son), the beers which couldn't be taken into the arena to watch the match. I'd taken half a day off work, and got home at 2.30am, having been on an exciting cross country drive, courtesy of the M1 closure. 

Until last night I'd been a staunch supporter of VAR. But having experienced it in the stadium, it is clear to me that it has a massive impact on the whole dynamic of the game. Manchester City were in full flight when Stirlings goal was ruled out. In the old world, had a Linesman raised the flag, it would have been done and dusted and City would have had three minutes to get on and score (or not). As it was, the delay and the emotion of the way the decision was made sucked all of the life out of the last few minutes. The drama was gone. 

Football is not a game that is enhanced by lengthy pauses. The fan experience is terrible in the stadium. I only found out why Stirlings goal was disallowed when we got in the car and put on 909. My gut feeling is that ultimately VAR will favour the clubs that play better football. There will be less shirt pulling in the box, which can only be a good thing and we won't see the debacle of the wrong player getting booked or sent off. But it has to engage with the fans and it has to be a quicker process.

The issue I have with VAR is that it disrupts the flow of the game. In the last three minutes of injury time, this means that the whole ebb and flow of the game is disrupted. This was always the argument against the concept. Does that mean that we should settle for bad decisions? I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that the current way the system works is unfair on the fans, who pay the money. I find the whole way fans are treated to be appalling. You can't take a beer in to your seat, so you have to neck it almost as soon as you've bought it at half time. You are excluded from knowing what is happening with VAR and it costs an arm and a leg. The experience of watching your team win a critical game in the stadium is ecstatic beyond belief, but the fans are the absolute bottom of the list in the priorities of the footballing authorities. The way VAR excludes those who pay most is just the latest example. Will VAR kill football? I am sure we'll all get used to it and in ten years it will work seamlessly. What I can say for certain is that it does nothing to make the game flow, which can only be bad.  It has taken years to get to the point where there is a degree of review and we get a system that is clearly seriously flawed.  There are three elements to football, the fans, the players and the authorities. With innovations such as VAR, do the authorities ever consult the fans and players? No of course not, they are only the people who pay the bills and make it the amazing spectacle that it is.