'It's not fair' - Hibs boss on part-time refs, VAR and need to raise standards

Monty urges officials to 'be the best you can be' - by ditching second jobs

Watching you ... fourth official Chris Graham keeps a close eye on a disgruntled Nick Montgomery during last night's Scottish Cup loss to Rangers.

Hibs boss Nick Montgomery would like to see full-time referees in the Scottish game. And he believes officials can’t possibly be expected to improve and adapt to an ever-changing working environment while devoting themselves to second jobs.

Insisting he still thinks there are positives to be gleaned from Scottish football’s inconsistent application of Video Assistant Referee technology, the straight-talking Yorkshireman says it will take time for officials to fully adjust to the new reality. And he argues that refs being freed up to devote the time needed to review performances, standard practice for players and coaches at the top end of the game, would raise standards across the board.

“I think it’s probably not fair on referees, at times, that they have part-time jobs and then have to go to other jobs,” said Monty, the former Sheffield United player adding: “How can you focus full time on being the best you can be as a referee, in a league as big as the SPFL, with teams who have huge budgets and play Champions League football?

“It’s something that’s probably been talked about year in, year out, and it definitely would help the referees and officials spend more time on reviewing the games and decisions. That’s what we do in football, a lot of reviewing and previewing. We spend a lot of time looking at that through the week – and it is really time consuming. It’s also a really good opportunity to master what you’re doing.”

Addressing the wider issue of VAR, a regular talking point that has prompted admissions of error and even apologies to clubs affected by the haphazard application of the review process, Montgomery – a harsh critic of decisions during his time at Hibs - insisted: “Look, I think it definitely does help the game. There are positives and negatives about it. It’s easy to talk about the negatives. But the positives really are when a goal is scored, just to double check when a goal should stand.

“But we have to be honest and as part-time referees, I think it’s a full-time job just reviewing and learning. It’s like anything, you don’t learn right away, there is a process that takes a bit of time.

“So you have to allow a period of time for people to get used to something now. And like anything, you just want consistency.

“It’s not for me to decide whether it works or it doesn’t work. We should be talking about the football, rather than the incidents, and that’s probably the most frustrating thing for everybody.”