Nigel Pearson believes it's time technology is implemented in the Championship whether that's in the form of VAR or taking a leaf out of rugby's books to mic up referees.
The Robins were the victims of two controversial decisions against Hull on Saturday that included awarding the hosts a penalty before Rob Atkinson was denied one up the other end just a few moments later.
Pearson was critical of the decisions, with referee Dean Whitestone officiating in League One this weekend, although the standard of Championship officials, in general, has come under intense scrutiny, particularly over the last 12 months. The City manager was fined £5,000 for comments made against Andy Davies last season following a home defeat to Queens Park Rangers.
VAR has been used in the Premier League since the 2019/20 campaign but has been deemed too expensive to implement in the Championship. The EFL have been looking at a "VAR light" option that wouldn't feature offside technology and therefore would be fewer camera angles on show.
Although the proposal would need backing from clubs and FIFA and there has been no indication as to when this would or could be introduced. Pearson is also eager for the FA and PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Board) to consider attaching mics to officials to provide a clearer understanding of why they have made their decisions.
The transition has been used to great success in rugby league and the manager can't see why it shouldn't be used in the Championship.
When asked whether he would support VAR, he said: "Yes, I think VAR can do two things. It should help officials and it makes them more accountable.
"I also think what we should adopt in football, which for some unknown reason the powers that be won't go down that route, is it do what they do in rugby and that is to mic them up so we can hear what's being said so it's all transparent and there's nothing to hide.
"Technology should be there to help the officials. I think it would be better for the game if there was transparency to the processes when the decisions are made. I don't know why they don't do that. Maybe they are afraid.
"I've heard the argument that the fact some grounds aren't set up for it but when you look at the standard of rugby league stadiums, I don't know whether that's an argument which is valid, to be honest.
"We can have a system which helps the officials come to a decision but they shouldn't have anything to hide so I think we should hear what they say so at least we all know in the stadium what the reasons are."
VAR was used in the Championship, League One and League Two play-off finals at Wembley with EFL chief Rick Parry stating in March that plans were ongoing to introduce it across the whole division.
He told The Times: "There are systems in place now that look genuinely quite exciting. If you look at the PGMOL statistics there is a clear gap now between the accuracy with VAR and the accuracy without and you probably can’t get beyond 90 per cent accuracy without.
“I think it’s just common sense that if we want to achieve a significant lift upwards then the only way to do that is with technology.”
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