John Beaton backs Scottish football in VAR call as he insists referees don't want to be the 'talking point'

Referee John Beaton insists that the introduction of VAR in Scottish football would take the pressure off whistlers.

The pressure has been ramped up on referee's in Scotland amid a battle at both ends of the Scottish Premiership this season.

With the relegation scrap and title race between Rangers and Celtic going to the wire, VAR has been a hot topic among managers, players and pundits.

Beaton has been no different this season facing detractors, including from Hibs star Paul McGinn who branded Beaton "inept" in a scathing interview after the Premier Sports Cup final following Celtic's winner.

Beaton told Clyde 1: "It's just human nature if you make a mistake.

"You analyse it and you wonder where it's went wrong.

"Inevitably you will make another and sometimes it can snowball like that.

"So to come off a match and know at least even if you do make a mistake, it has been corrected and it's not affected the outcome of the match.

"That's critical. We don’t want to be the talking point on radio shows. We don't want to be the analysis on TV packages.

"We want people to be talking about the game so hopefully with the introduction of VAR it takes away a wee bit of the focus on referee decisions”.

Head of Scottish FA referees Crawford Allan had previously revealed that the aim is to have the technology in place by the time the 2022/23 season restarts after the World Cup in Qatar, which ends on December 18, 2022.

There is a meeting planned in April with SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster where clubs will vote on the matter.

It’s thought VAR will cost clubs more than £70,000 per year collectively.