Funny press conference gaffe reinforces Sheffield United’s VAR point, but scars remain ahead of play-off final.
It was quite ironic that, midway through a response concerning VAR and its “stumbles along the way,” a journalist’s phone rang quietly on the desk in front of Chris Wilder. “Is that the ball over the line?” he promptly joked. “He’s not in Villa Park, is he? “They have turned it on!”
He can laugh about it now, but it was anything but funny in 2020, in the first game of ‘project restart’ after Covid-19 shut down the Premier League, as a Hawkeye failure, and VAR’s subsequent and inexplicable lack of intervention, denied the Blades what could have been a crucial goal in the first game back at Aston Villa.
That wasn’t United’s only issue with technology during their time in the Premier League; a David McGoldrick goal away at Tottenham Hotspur was famously disallowed after a protracted delay because John Lundstram’s boot was half a size too big in the build-up.
Nothing appears to unite football supporters more than hostility to VAR, but it will be in use for Saturday’s play-off final against Sunderland at Wembley Stadium, despite United playing 46 league games, two more in the play-offs, and three in domestic cups with no involvement from Stockley Park.
“I was pro-VAR when it first came out,” Wilder explained. “I believe there have been stumbles along the way, and we would all like it to be better than it is right now. So hopefully, VAR does not come into play on Saturday afternoon, and if it does, everyone gets the correct judgement, which is all we want.
“We’re looking for correct decisions, and if it fulfils its role as it was intended, meant to be, or introduced into the game to be, that’s OK. You simply want smart judgements to be made, and I’m confident that with the expertise and quality of Chris [Kavanagh, the on-field referee], and the entire world watching, he’ll play a role in properly controlling the game.”
That hasn’t stopped United from taking extra precautions in the lead-up to the game to prepare their players for the use of VAR technology, something several of Wilder’s men have experience with from either last season in the Premier League with the Blades or previous important games earlier in their careers.
Callum O’Hare was infamously part of the Coventry City team that saw a last-gasp FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester United snatched away after a very tight VAR call, while Michael Cooper has also encountered the technology during his time at Plymouth Argyle – on one occasion, rather ironically, at Bramall Lane against United in the FA Cup.
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