UK Government to kill revamped ’39th game’ at birth with regulator to BAN Premier League games abroad

Martin Lipton's pro VAR view

FAST forward 12 months to May 18, 2025.

After 89 minutes at Molineux, Wolves, needing to win their last game of the season to stay up, are beating Manchester United, who require a point for Champions League football.

A ball over the top sends Rasmus Hojlund racing away. The flag stays down. Hojlund scores. Wolves are relegated.

And on the way home, the dejected Wolves fans see the still image on their phones.

Hojlund was 2ft offside. No question. A shocker.
It means at least a year in the Championship, £100million income drop, a firesale of the squad. While United bank an extra £50m.

But it’s OK. Every  one of those fans, plus smiling boss Gary O’Neil and the  Wolves board, will line up to say: “No worries. It’s what we voted for. Rough with the smooth.”

Yes. And I’ve got a bridge to Ireland to sell you.

Dan King's anti VAR view

THREE cheers and a hearty slap on the back for Wolves chairman Jeff Shi.

For mentioning the unmentionable,  for speaking commonsense to deaf ears, for proposing that VAR should be scrapped.

Shi is doomed to failure. His suggestion is unlikely to even go to a vote at next month’s Premier League AGM.

And if it does get that far, it has a cat in hell’s chance of receiving the two-thirds majority required to carry such a radical proposal.
But in one statement on Wednesday, Shi proved that he will be the brightest man in that meeting room.

He claimed VAR ‘has led to numerous unintended negative consequences that are damaging the relationship between fans and football, and undermining the value of the Premier League brand’.

And he is absolutely spot on.

The argument against VAR is wide-ranging and yet completely basic.

If you believe that football is a sport, to be enjoyed in all its spontaneous, high-tempo glory, then you are against VAR.

If you believe that football is a business, that it is far more important than a mere game, that forensic evidence must be applied, that we must reach the closest point to ultimate justice at all costs — and if you also believe that match-going supporters are irrelevant — then you are in favour of VAR.