VAR continues to be divisive regardless of whether the final decision is correct, and it continues to frustrate the fans.
BBC Sport Celtic fan writer Martin Callaghan:
“Maybe the biggest debate about the late penalty that Celtic got at Fir Park last night is just how sure (or not!) referee John Beaton could have been that a handball did indeed occur when he was called to the VAR monitor in the dying minutes of the game.
“So although I’d say that he did get it right, are he and his colleagues truly working with the suitable technology, resources and tools to consistently nail what could be decisions with multi million pound consequences?
“I’m not so sure.
“The product here in Scotland has been described in places as ‘VAR Lite’ and I’d say that’s as accurate a way as any to describe what our officials are working with – and also what our supporters are having to endure.
“It’s quite clear (pardon the pun) that there’s simply not enough cameras to ensure that with any contentious decisions such as this one the referee is given enough data to make a truly informed decision – and that can’t be right.
“So while the decision went Celtic’s way last night – and some sort of myth has since been peddled that it was ever thus – the reality is that everyone is suffering with our below par product.
“Players, fans, clubs, coaches – and perhaps most of all, those in the middle who are ultimately tasked with making the big calls.”
BBC Sport Hearts fan writer Greg Playfair:
“We could talk about the VARdict on Celtic’s late penalty for another 40 years, under the current VAR set-up in Scotland.
“To borrow a VAR phrase, it’s clear and obvious that the system is flawed – and it has nothing to do with the technology itself. My issue is with how the officials continue to misuse it. We’re now in a position where human error could cost Hearts a potential £30-40m in Champions League revenue.
“It feels as though head of refereeing Willie Collum and his team have made things unnecessarily convoluted for officials in Scotland, particularly with interpretations of laws such as handball that seem to create controversies here which simply do happen elsewhere in European football.
“The other issue I take offence to is this: we have matches worth millions of pounds being officiated by part-time referees. Is some of the erratic decision-making down to the fact these officials are spending 40 or 50 hours a week in their main jobs and then arriving at grounds already fatigued?
“There needs to be a radical review and overhaul of refereeing in Scotland as soon as possible. But I’ve got a nagging feeling there will be one last controversy yet in the title decider between Celtic and Hearts, as the current set up is not fit for purpose.”
BBC Sport Arsenal fan writer Chris Howard
“As a match-going fan, I experience the agony of a VAR ‘wait’ call on a regular basis, and I am not a fan. But Pandora’s box has been opened, so we all need to reframe our relationship with it.
“I think we also have to go back to what we all want from VAR. We hear ‘consistency’ and ‘getting the right decision’ as the key reasons. The first part can be debated, but I do feel that when the decisions aren’t extremely subjective (‘that’s never a pen’), VAR does often get things right.
“The noise around West Ham‘s disallowed goal was not about the decision in isolation, it was partisan fans, commentators and ex-players having their say, trying to create noise and get themselves profiled.
“We do, however, need to look at who is in charge of VAR and I do think a review of the people behind the screens is something that needs to be done, which I think will have to happen sooner rather than later.”
BBC Sport West Ham fan writer Holly Turbutt
“The VAR decision in the West Ham–Arsenal game has caused a huge debate among fans as to how useful this technology actually is in the Premier League.
“We know it was introduced to stop those clear and obvious errors that we were seeing happening quite a lot with referees, but the problem is that it still comes down to human error and human decision-making, and you can’t look at everything across the board.
“That’s where the frustration is coming.
“We’re seeing inconsistencies as fans. We’re seeing four-minute checks when fans don’t know whether to celebrate or not. We’re seeing so many situations that don’t get looked at – or a situation that is given as a foul through VAR in one game, but not in another.
“And you’ve also got the situation when, if a referee goes to the screen, 99% of the time it feels like they are going to change their mind.
“All of this means VAR does not really feel like the useful resource we hoped it might be when it was introduced.
“Ultimately, VAR shines a spotlight on one moment but then it still comes down to a human decision in that moment, which is prone to human error and bound to cause debate among fans because it’s such a pressured environment.
“The question is: has it actually changed anything?”