Crawford Allan insists Scottish referees are ready for VAR as he issues 'invest in the game' plea

Referee chief Crawford Allan has told Scotland’s clubs that match officials are ready for VAR as soon as the SPFL gives them the green light.

And he insisted Premiership clubs should view financing the preferred Hawkeye system, at around £100,000 each, as an investment rather than a cost.

With criticism of officials’ decisions intensifying by the week, Scottish FA head of refereeing operations Allan admits his men in the middle are desperate for VAR to be introduced and revealed that 18 refs and 17 assistants have been training for it over the past 18 months.

He believes that a system which will have six cameras installed at every top flight ground - and has been passed by FIFA - will increase the ‘successful decision’ rate from its current 92 percent without VAR to 99 percent.

He said: “It’s ultimately over to the SPFL clubs to decide which model they want. I’ve got quite a degree of comfort (about it) as we’ve been engaging with them on an ongoing basis since last summer.

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“The vibes we got last summer were strong enough for us to start this as we had a meeting with the Premiership clubs last September which was positive.

“We’re confident enough that something will happen, that VAR will come.