Celtic captain Scott Brown believes VAR is “killing the game” despite growing pleas for its introduction to Scottish football.
Rangers called for VAR after their 2-1 Ladbrokes Premiership win over the Hoops at Parkhead at the end of 2019, with Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes adding his voice to the clamour at the weekend.
As the debate continues about VAR amid ongoing controversy over its use in England, the Scottish Football Association is planning to ask member clubs to vote on the potential implementation of the system.
Speaking to Sky Sports at Celtic’s training camp in Dubai, Brown said: “It’s killing the game, it’s killing the celebrations.
“You score a goal and you slowly walk back, you can’t go and celebrate and have that fun with the fans.
“Obviously we want the decisions to be right but it is the millimetres 20 seconds beforehand; is it a free-kick, is it a foul?
“It is killing the passion. As soon as a goal is scored the first thing I see is people looking up (at the screen) and hoping no-one has done anything in the last 20 seconds.
“It is killing the momentum. You have that momentum, you want to go pressing again but you sit for two or three minutes until someone upstairs makes a decision.”
Meanwhile, Brown claims Ryan Christie’s two-match ban for grabbing Alfredo Morelos in the Old Firm derby is “laughable”.
The Celtic midfielder escaped with only a free-kick against him after catching the Rangers striker in the groin area with his hand but he was subsequently charged with violent conduct by the Scottish Football Association and a fast-track tribunal found him guilty on Monday.
The ban triggers an extra one-match suspension because it is Christie’s second red-card offence of the season.
Celtic later issued a statement accusing the Scottish Football Association of a “worrying lack of consistency.”
Brown said: “Now you’re going to have to watch where you put your hands when you tackle people, like with penalties now, you’ll have to have your hands behind you.
“We don’t want everyone phoning up the SFA and people getting pulled up.
“We need that consistency and the club have done the right thing by sticking up for Ryan because we all think it’s laughable.”
