All I want for Christmas is VAR, Scottish referees have lost the plot - Aidan Smith

It is the same old story week after week. 

The state of officiating in Scotland’s top flight is really becoming a problem and the introduction of VAR simply cannot arrive soon enough. 

The ‘state of the art’ video technology is set to come in next season, and it will really bring a much-needed consistency to our game with the standard of officiating at an all-time low. 

"Our desire is to bring it in as early as we can," said Scottish FA head of referee operations Crawford Allan last week. 

"There's not one referee that I've spoken to that doesn't want it. We're doing what we can in the background to try to speed it along. It's going to take a while. 

"VAR's there to fix clear and obvious errors. You're not trying to prove a decision was correct, you're trying to say, 'was the decision clearly wrong?' 

"VAR will be there to help with the big decisions, the factual ones and the ones that are clearly wrong." 

I was at McDiarmid Park on Saturday as St Johnstone locked horns with Aberdeen and there was certainly an instance of a decision being “clearly wrong”. 

In all honesty there was very little between the two teams and there was a clear lack of quality in the final third, but the wet surface and edge to the game made for a decent spectacle. 

The game was decided via the way of an appalling decision by referee Greg Aitken and the rest of his officials.  

Saints got themselves in all kinds of problems when Liam Gordon and Jamie McCart tried to clear the same ball, but as a result it dropped straight into the path of Aberdeen’s Teddy Jenks. 

The on-loan Brighton man proceeded to control the ball with his hand before firing a tidy shot into the bottom left corner past Zander Clark. 

From the press gantry it looked a perfectly good goal, but you could tell right away by the reaction of the St Johnstone players that this was a howler. 

After seeing replays of the incident there is no doubt that Aberdeen got away with one, but fair play to Jenks, who took his opportunity expertly. 

Following the full-time whistle, Callum Davidson fumed as his side hit the bottom of the table because of the decision. 

“The league table is really tight, it is really important you get those decisions right,” he said. “Either all four officials have got to get the decision right or they have to get help from something else like VAR. 

“When you look at the video the referee was standing in the right place, but I think his view got blocked, but again that’s where they need help.” 

Davidson is right, there is simply no room for errors like that in our game, especially with the Premiership as tight as it is. 

Aitken clearly got the decision wrong, but I think linesmen and fourth officials need to do more to help the man in the middle out. 

From replays you could clearly see that the far side official was in a perfect position to spot the handball, yet once again he appears to have completely missed it. It is bonkers stuff. 

Another example of this was Calum Butcher’s horror challenge on David Turnbull last week. The incident took place right in front of the fourth official at Tannadice, but again a clear red card was missed. 

Sunday’s Hearts vs Rangers clash also delivered a fair amount of controversy and Robbie Neilson’s team can feel hard done by after they were denied a clear penalty kick in the second half. 

Gary Mackay-Steven hit the byline before firing a ball into the box. Connor Goldson clearly handled the delivery as it made its way into the area, but once again there was no action taken by the referee. 

Nick Walsh was the man in the middle for this one and over the course of the game he handed out 13 cards.  

As Hearts boss Neilson detailed in his post-match interview, the encounter was nowhere near a 13-card game, but the whistler seemed determined to pull out his notebook at every opportunity. 

"You just want a bit of consistency,” Neilson explained. “That was probably a good performance for Nick and I’ve seen him a few times now... 

"There are two ways to referee a game. You can talk to players and deal with it that way rather than just book people. 

"There were 13 bookings today and it’s not a 13 booking game to be honest, but it’s done and dusted now.” 

Common sense must come into Walsh’s head during a game of that magnitude and atmosphere, but apparently not. Referees appear to lack that understanding and reasoning and that is what infuriates managers, players and supporters alike. 

Hopefully consistency from our referees will come with the introduction of VAR as their officiating will be even more under the microscope than it is at the moment. 

The Premiership is the most competitive it has been for years, and results prove that, but with the margins so tight, the big decisions need to go the right way. 

Bring on the day where Scottish football finally escapes the dark days of debate after debate with no affirmative answer. All I want for Christmas is VAR.