St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson has called for full-time officials in Scottish football to improve their decision-making on and off the field.
The Paisley club claimed they were denied a penalty in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat by St Johnstone when Elvis Bwomono was challenged by Drey Wright inside the Perth club’s box.
They consequently released a statement revealing they had spoken to Scottish Football Association’s referee department on Thursday “seeking clarity on this and other decisions in yesterday’s match.”
Robinson said: “Referees need help. Everybody needs help. We’re human. Everybody makes mistakes. That has always been the case in football.
“VAR is meant to help those mistakes but, first and foremost, we need full-time referees.
“We’re trying to help these guys. And I think they need all the help they can get in terms of getting the correct decisions because they’re so big and the game’s so quick now.
“We want help for referees, they do the very, very best with what they can, and making them full-time, giving them more help with VAR, putting more money into that area is a no-brainer for me.
“In the current format, everybody wants it improved. Every club’s had decisions go for them, go against them.
“We just have to have that consistency, especially with VAR. You’re never going to change referees making mistakes.
“The game’s so quick as such, split-second decisions, but that back-up decision has to be better.
“How do you do that? People doing that on a full-time basis, exposing themselves to decisions every minute of every day in referee training.”
It is the second VAR issue to emerge in Scottish football this week.
Dundee United revealed on Wednesday they have withdrawn their representation from the SFA’s Key Match Incident panel and called for a reform of VAR in Scotland, after losing a contentious goal at Kilmarnock in their 1-0 defeat at the weekend.
