Why Scottish football's VAR is here to stay as ex-referee 'haunted' by mistakes of the past

Replacing Jon Moss as the SFA’s VAR manager, Atkinson has worked with the country’s top referees and officials on improving all aspects of their game. He brings a wealth of experience to a role that will always have scrutiny. VAR continues to be a source of conversation and consternation in our game.

Nevertheless, Atkinson does not see it going anywhere. The message is clear: VAR is here to stay. The goal is now to improve it.

“I think it's always going to be a discussion,” said Atkinson on VAR. “Some people like it. I fully get that. Some people are against it.

“That's football. It will always split opinion, won't it? We talk about football in the old days. We talk about football now, modern football. We're always going to have that debate about it. I go back to when I was a referee.

“On the field, you make a mistake. It's a clear mistake that influences a result. You drive home. You watch whatever television programme is on that evening, the following day, whatever is written in the media, whatever follows, and it continues for so long.

“There's no worse feeling as a match referee knowing that you've made that mistake. Now, the guys don't go out to make mistakes. There's no reason for them to want to be perfect when they're out there.

“We make mistakes. If we make that mistake and we have a chance, an opportunity to make that right, then that's got to be good for the game. It's got to be good for the integrity of the game.

“It's got to be the way forward. I do think that it has improved the game. I really wish it was there in many situations in my career where I've driven home and I've just thought, why didn't I give that penalty? Why did I give that penalty when I should have done that? It's there for that reason.

“But the big decision, we'll still always have subjective decisions that split a room. We'll always have decisions that split a room. We always get that. That's just football.”

VAR sceptics will point to Swedish football deciding to ditch the technology, but the fact is that every major league has VAR. Atkinson does not see Scotland going down the same route.

“I think when you look at the UEFA in general, it's 46 out of 53 nations got it. So that speaks for itself straight away,” the 54-year-old said. “And the other countries, you may well get an odd outlying country that are like, we don't want it.

“But again, I'd just reiterate that ... the referee gives a penalty when a ball hits a player in the face. It changes the whole game. We seem to forget about these big, big decisions that have influenced games and results over a number of years. Personally, I know they haunt me.

“Decisions that I've made over years. I could tell you all the mistakes. Decisions where you've sent a player off and you know full well if you had VAR on that day, the player wouldn't have got to the tunnel because they'd have just turned you around. And it impacts massively on that game, the overall result, your credibility as a match official, everything that goes with it.

“And it haunts you. It stays with you, these decisions. So VAR is there to stop me now thinking 15 years ago, I wish I hadn't sent that player off in that game, in that derby. That is what is there for. To make sure the integrity of the game and everything that goes with it is not influenced by a decision made by a referee that can't be changed.”

Atkinson makes a case for VAR. Ultimately it will be the team of officials beneath him that must prove its worth.