John Beaton addresses Rangers penalty 'anomaly' as he vows referees have nothing to hide amid VAR transparency call

John Beaton has welcomed the SFA’s bid to be more transparent over VAR – because the whistlers have nothing to hide.

Hampden chiefs are hoping to have ironed out the debut season teething problems with the video assistant system after a controversial first six months. Scottish football rolled out VAR in October and there were several high-profile flashpoints that angered managers and fans. The SFA are hoping for a fresh start this term and plan to be more open when it comes to decisions.

And top whistler Beaton is happy clubs and supporters will get the chance to learn how the big calls are made. He said: “We have absolutely nothing to hide. Anything we can do to explain how we are arriving at decisions and anything we can do to show people what we do on a Saturday and what happens in the VAR centre, absolutely. We all welcome that.

“How best to communicate that is a challenge for every country. Every country that has implemented VAR and gone through the process is facing challenges on how they better educate the media. How we educate the clubs and stop the fan reaction to everything. The more transparency the better. The more questions we get the more answers we can provide and hopefully get to a better place.”

Beaton admitted it will be impossible to please everyone when it comes to decisions – with supporters all wearing their club blinkers. And he addressed last season’s incredible stat of Rangers being the only side not to conceded a penalty in the Premiership that gets Scottish football conspiracy theorists in a flap. Gers haven’t given away a spot kick in 55 league games but Beaton said: “You are asking for an impossible question to be answered. Stats are stats and you can present stats on how x, y and z have