Hibs boss Monty backs Ange VAR fury - and demands consistency over TV interventions

‘Stop games if really necessary - but get the decisions right’

Montgomery has issues with current system

Half in agreement with Ange Postecoglou’s withering critique of VAR’s role in undermining referees and spoiling football’s precious flow, Nick Montgomery stops short of going all-in on the Spurs manager’s hottest of takes.

The Hibs boss, a big fan of Postecoglou who credits the Aussie’s success with making it easier for him to win a move from the A-League to UK football, watched Monday night’s clash between nine-man Tottenham and Chelsea in as much amazement as anyone.

Postecoglou was far from impressed with VAR interventions on Monday Night Football

And, while he shares Ange’s anger over the momentum lost by lengthy replay checks, he isn’t quite so worried about officials having their authority diminished by being overruled. If – and it’s a big if, in the current context - the video assistant referee gets the big calls right.

Still fuming over VAR Greg Aitken’s non-decision over Dylan Vente’s penalty claim in Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Hampden, with the TV official refusing to invite ref John Beaton to have a second look at the collision with Dons goalie Kelle Roos, Monty picked up on Postecoglou’s clinical dissection of a system increasingly looking entirely unfit for purpose.

He said: “I agree with him at times, but I also think if there’s big incidents … are you going to go to the screen when it’s a big incident, or are you going to do it sometimes? Because it’s not consistent.

“Our penalty incident at the weekend, watching it live it looks like a penalty, but if he’s not sure, why doesn’t he go to the screen and have a look? If he did, I think he gives a penalty.

“One moment they wave it on, the next they want to have a look on-screen. I think that’s where it’s a little bit inconsistent.”

The A-League was an early adopter of VAR, meaning former Central Coast boss Montgomery has been through all of these teething problems before.

The ever-communicative Aussies, he explained, got around the initial wrinkles by opening up channels between officials.

The football authorities Down Under even shared audio and video footage – immediately after the final whistle - of the VAR and ref talking through incidents, so the host broadcaster, media and supporters could understand why decisions were made.

“When it first came to the A-League, it was untested and there were longer delays on incidents,” said Montgomery. “There were a lot of shouts for handball every time someone had a shot, so it became a little bit frustrating.

“But it goes back to ‘clear and obvious’, if it’s not ‘clear and obvious’ and the referee makes a decision, if he’s not sure – like with a penalty incident – he has to look at the screen, that’s a good thing to do.

“If it’s a real bad tackle, he’ll be told to look at it again because it’s impossible to see everything on the field, then yeah it can be used really well.

“It just has to be consistent. Whoever’s watching the game, if they see a goalkeeper take down a striker, making contact without being anywhere near the ball, if they feel that’s something the referee should look at then they should tell him, not just go off the referee’s opinion of just playing, because maybe he’s not seen it as it actually is.

“We don’t want to see the game constantly stop but we also don’t want big decisions, that really do reflect the game, not given because the referee’s not seen it.

“It’s a talking point now and it’s probably going to be a talking point all the time.”

Asked specifically how the A-League tackled the sorts of problems currently being experienced in Scotland, Monty said: “I think it sort of came from the communication from the referee and whoever is in the studio looking at it on the camera.

“Again, if they don’t have the right angles then they can’t see.

“Like the offside on the weekend (Martin Boyle’s disallowed goal), if they can’t see then they can’t make a decision on it, and you have to go with the referee’s call - and that’s to give a goal.

“If it takes six minutes to find an angle for it to look offside - when it’s not - then for me that’s wrong.

“If they can’t decide in maybe 60 seconds then it’s probably a difficult one to decide on.

“If it’s not clear and obvious then VAR doesn’t really have to intervene, other than to say: ‘We can’t really tell, go with the decision you made.’

“When it’s quick and clear and obvious and you can give the referee the information then that seems to work well.

“But when it’s a case of ‘not sure’ and they can’t see from the angle, and it takes a long time to make a decision then it’s obviously not clear and obvious - and whatever decision the referee made should really be the decision they stick with.

“But I’m not a VAR specialist and we’re probably going to be talking about it for a long time.”