Michael Stewart has added his voice to the growing chorus of doubt surrounding the decision to rule out Daizen Maeda’s goal for offside during Celtic’s Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Rangers.
Maeda had appeared to put Celtic ahead when he nodded home from close range following a Liam Scales flick-on toward the back post, only for VAR to intervene and rule the goal out for a tight offside against Scales. Stewart was unconvinced by the process used to reach the decision, and his tone while discussing it on Premier Sports captured precisely how many Celtic supporters have been feeling about VAR in Scotland.
Stewart acknowledged that his instinct was that Scales was probably offside, but his concern was with how the lines had been drawn rather than the conclusion itself. He pointed out that the deepest Rangers defender, Djiga, appeared to have his left shoulder as the furthest back point on the pitch, yet the line had not been drawn from that position. He suggested the decision was probably still correct but said the lines simply did not look right, and that this kind of imprecision does serious damage to trust in the system.
He framed the broader issue in stark terms, arguing that VAR was introduced to provide definitive answers and remove controversy from key decisions. When a decision continues to generate debate despite VAR being used, the technology is failing at its core purpose. In his view, these outcomes are being reached in spite of the technology rather than because of it, making the entire investment difficult to justify.
Celtic supporters have largely agreed with that assessment. Former SFA referees have also criticised the amateurish appearance of the line-drawing in Scottish football, and the question of whether VAR has a long-term future in the Scottish game is becoming harder to avoid.