Andy Burnham vows to ban VAR saying technology has ‘killed spontaneity’ in football

Mr Burnham reaffirmed his position, suggesting decisions before VAR favoured stronger teams and continued to do so even after the technology rolled out.

“I often believed that other clubs, bigger clubs, Liverpool, Man United, got decisions, whereas Everton, my club, didn’t.

“So refs were a bit more – they tended to give decisions that way, and I thought: ‘Oh well, VAR will level things up’, but it really hasn’t levelled things up in my view.

“But also in the ground, because before I became Prime Minister, I had a season ticket and I didn’t miss a game last year.

“I’m [an] Everton season ticket holder. What it does is it kills spontaneity.

“So football, going to the match, is about those moments when the goal goes in and [everyone celebrates],” he told LadBible.

The Prime Minister continued: “That’s what it’s about. But then you do that, and it’s VAR checking the goal.

“And the thing was, you’d accept it if it got the decisions right, but it doesn’t get the decisions right.”

Mr Burnham was challenged on whether he could ban VAR, joking: “You are putting an idea in my head”.

Last season, VAR made 25 errors, up from 18 the campaign prior.

In the 2023/24 season, the technology made 31 mistakes, and in 2022/23, 38.

The breakdown of errors last season largely came down to missed interventions, when the VAR team failed to recommend an on-field review.

Three mistakes were made for incorrect interventions, when VAR wrongly intervened to overturn a valid on-field call.

Two errors occurred when an on-field review was initiated, but the incorrect decision was upheld.

According to the Premier League Key Match Incidents panel, 97 per cent of match decisions were determined to be correct.

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