Martin O’Neill has criticised Celtic’s unsuccessful appeal regarding Auston Trusty’s red card.
The decision followed an intervention by VAR during the match against Hibernian.During a game at Celtic Park, Trusty was involved in a tussle with Hibernian’s Jamie McGrath, which was deemed violent conduct by VAR official Grant Irvine.This resulted in a red card from Matthew MacDermid after an on-field review.
However, Celtic’s appeal against the ruling was unsuccessful, leading to Trusty being suspended for the next three matches.
O’Neill expressed his frustration at the appeal procedure and the VAR involvement.
He said: “I did the interview after the game, and someone asked me if we were going to appeal.
“I said that I was not sure because appeals in this day and age are seemingly worthless.”Upon learning what was discussed by the VAR officials, O’Neill did believe it was worth contesting the decision.
The former Hoops manager explained: “When I got the information from the club coming back on what was said in VAR, I decided, yes, absolutely, we would appeal.
“The referee, as he told me on Saturday, has seen the incident. It is not as if he hasn’t seen it; he was watching it.”
However, O’Neill highlighted an apparent conversation between the VAR officials and the referee during the game.
He said: “When he is asked by a very excited man in VAR saying, ‘Delay, delay, delay, delay,’ and they ask him (thereferee), and he said, ‘No, it is nothing. I am just going to have a word with the players,’ and then he has to trot over to change his mind.
“In time, we won’t need a referee. VAR will do it from wherever they are doing it from because that is what they did.”
O’Neill added: “They asked the referee to overturn something that he has actually seen. He has seen it and not missed the incident. Of course, that would be a different issue. He said it was nothing and that he was just going to have a word with the players. So, I have got a player who will miss three games. It is such a nonsense.”
While O’Neill supports the use of VAR in critical moments which referees might have missed, he voiced his concerns about its current implementation.He stated: “I am all for people who have missed something dramatic (looking at VAR) in a game that constitutes something they should have a look at.
“But when a referee sees the incident himself, and then what he is being asked to do is, ‘No, you didn’t see that; you saw something else,’ – that has got to be demoralising for a referee. It’s got to be.”