Let VAR overrule on-field ref, says 'angry' Montgomery

Nick Montgomery spoke to the media ahead of Hibs' trip to Dingwall to face Ross County. Here's all the Hibs manager had to say... 

What were your thoughts on the list of VAR mistakes?

“It was nice to get the apology and the admittance that they were wrong decisions because I think everyone could see they were the wrong decision on the day. I think the decisions that we’ve had this season, especially in the latter part of the season, have really impacted on our season.

“The apology we received after Aberdeen for the most blatant handball we’ve seen all season. The last time we were at Ross County, they took our throw-in 20 metres up the field and scored from it. We can get an apology afterwards. But VAR can’t intervene because he threw the ball on the pitch and the referee didn’t stop the game.

“Looking at the incidents that came out this week, it’s just another punch in the face, to be honest.  Clubs have invested into a VAR system to ensure that we don’t get these decisions wrong in massive games. That is there to help the referees.

“For the VAR to call the referee over in the Hearts game, for instance, he reviews it and everybody knows it’s wrong. That really does beggar belief.

“So whether they need more education for people on VAR, ultimately it shouldn’t be wrong if it’s reviewed on video and the referee is asked to come over to the monitor. Where is the accountability? Where is the apology for getting something so wrong?

“I’ve been angry through the season. I can only talk on behalf of Hibs and myself. Everybody can see the impact it’s had on us, in just one of the incidents we’ve spoken about. It’s deflating and disappointing. We have to hope things improve, moving forward, because clubs invest in order to improve decision-making.

“Two weeks ago against St Johnstone, Emiliano Marcondes gets punched in the head by the goalkeeper. That’s a game at nil-nil, massively important to us. If we went 1-0 up, I’m pretty sure the result would be different.

“It’s an incident where it was apparently reviewed and cleared. Now it comes out that it was the wrong decision. As a manager, it’s hard not to feel hard done by.

“But it’s no excuse. We’re responsible for a lot of the late goals conceded. The self-inflicted defeats and losing points through a lack of concentration, that’s on us – and it happens.

“But when you then have incidents like that, it’s very frustrating. Everybody hopes it improves moving forward – and possibly full-time referees will be introduced at some point."

The overall tone about VAR was very positive despite the mistakes... 

“It’s hard - a lot of the VAR decisions have been right; the tight offsides, and decisions like that which obviously impact games.

“But people have looked at me this season and said, ‘Oh, he’s whinging about VAR again’ but I haven’t been whinging! I’m asked about it by the media and give an honest answer and then the next day it’s, ‘Montgomery smashes VAR’ which is not the case.

“Everybody wants to improve every aspect of the game. It’s the best game in the world and the Scottish league has too much negativity around it, and this just adds negativity which you don’t need.

“The whole point of the clubs investing in VAR was to limit the amount of mistakes and wrong decisions and I think the ones where it was very clearly wrong, you have to question how they got it wrong.

“The Hearts penalty [in February at Tynecastle]. Everyone in the stadium can see it’s not a penalty. The Hearts bench can see it’s not a penalty. The fans can see it’s not a penalty, yet it’s still given as a penalty and then months later they come out and say, ‘It wasn’t a penalty’. 

“You can’t not feel frustrated about that. I think it’s just about consistency and balance.

“It’s not easy being a referee and that’s why they’ve got the VAR to help. Maybe it’s more about educating the VAR operators and giving them more say to overrule the on-field referee and tell them, ‘You’ve got that wrong’. 

“Because ultimately, the referee will go on and make that decision and some of the calls have been baffling - and a lot of them seemed to be against Hibs, which is frustrating for me and the players.”

So the VAR should be able to overrule the on-field referee?

“I think so, because they’re the ones who have watched it back five times before the referee comes over and in the pressure of the moment, with the home fans screaming at him - like happened in the derby - I think you have to take that away from them.

“The VAR is there to support the referee and make sure he gets the decision right so if the on-field referee blatantly goes against the VAR’s decision, I think there should be some accountability for the referee if they’ve got a decision wrong and haven’t listened to the VAR.

“I think there should be some sort of punishment; whether that’s missing the next game or whatever that may be, which happens in other leagues.

“Just to brush it under the carpet and move on is frustrating. You can’t change it now, they’re not going to give the points back, but everybody wants the game to be officiated fairly and properly and I think we’re in an age now with technology that should mean we’re limiting the ones that are totally wrong.”

Players might feel they’ve let the team down on the night but months later… 

“People are always going to just look at the result at the end of the season. They don’t delve into why the result was that result.

“I felt really sorry for our fans because the impact of a derby win is massive for the feel-good factor around the club, the supporters getting to enjoy that moment and for that to be taken away because of a wrong decision is really hard.”

Has VAR impacted how you approach training?

“It’s actually had a positive impact, because we tell the players not to whinge or complain - if you think it’s offside, we’ll check after on the drone footage.

“What you can’t do is expect the decision to be right. With offside decisions in games, the players can’t stop, they have to finish the action. And we tell them to that in training as well, and I think that’s a good thing.

“With the speed of the game nowadays, some of the offsides are really tight and you can only see them when you slow the video down and really see whether it’s offside or not so I think for that reason, it actually helps.”

“We review the footage afterwards - we don’t have facilities to review it on the spot! But we always review it afterwards and some of the boys who thought it was a wrong decision can see what actually happened and then they go a bit quiet!”

Do you reckon full-time referees would make a difference?

“I’ve said before that a league of this quality, with the size of the teams involved, would benefit from it. We get to review stuff during the week and improve on it but it’s hard for them because they can’t get together and review things.

“Imagine refereeing a game one night and the next morning you’re at your day job and you’ve got fans in your ear giving you grief and picking at you for a decision you’ve made and before you know it you’re refereeing the next game at the weekend.

“I think it’s only fair that, if we’re going to scrutinise referees as much as we do in the modern game, to have as many of them as possible be full-time because you want high performance from the referees - how can you expect them to be high performance when they’re dealing with so much in their lives? It’s not easy.”

Sweden got rid of VAR... 

"I saw that. I think it’s good when it’s used properly, determining whether a goal is onside or offside. I can see why some countries are against it, although you then have more human error from referees and linesmen.

“It’s about finding the right balance, because the good stuff about it is very good – and the bad stuff gets scrutinised because you really shouldn’t be getting decisions like that wrong, when you review it on video. That’s the most frustrating thing for any manager.

“They say it evens out over the season. It definitely hasn’t for us. Maybe we’ll get a lot of decisions next season. You have to be positive and think maybe we’ll get the rub of the green next season – but what you really want is consistency and trust in the officials to officiate the game to the level of the league, which is really high.”

How's the team looking ahead of Dingwall?

"Will Fish should be okay but we'll make a decision whether he travels on Saturday morning. It was really innocuous; I think he just headed the ball and felt a little twinge in his back. We won't risk anybody with a long trip up there. He should be fine; he's young and resilient. Élie is still out from last week - he rolled his ankle but he should be back in training next week."