SPFL Premiership set for World Cup style stoppage time as fans told to expect marathon delays

Scottish football fans have been told to get braced for World Cup style marathon matches as whistlers were ordered to make up for lost time.

SFA head of referees operations Crawford Allan has announced a rejig of the VAR set up on the eve of the new season with Andrew Dallas and Greg Aitken becoming full time video refs. But Allan also revealed fans should get ready for games smashing through the 100-minute barrier as part of a global move to increase in-play time.

It was a move rolled out at the Qatar World Cup with huge amounts of time added on before half and full time and in general it was a hit with punters feeling short changed due to stoppages in the play. Scottish refs have been told to keep count and add on extra minutes for goals, celebrations, injuries and VAR delays – as well as for time-wasting.

Allan said: “As we saw last year in the World Cup, there were guidelines given to the referee to include adding time for goal celebrations. That is now being added in to Law 7, and we’ve covered it with referees and said, ‘make sure you get the time added on’.

“The referees will time that, a bit like a substitute, and then add that. I do think we’re going to see six, seven, eight minutes possibly added on at the end of halves that maybe had two or three goals, subs, an injury, maybe a VAR delay. That’s going to be managed a little bit more proactively.”

Allan also unveiled the SFA’s new VAR plans for the coming term after a fraught debut last term. The video system was rolled out last October and suffered some teething problems with managers and fans left raging about calls and the time taken to reach decisions.

Allan is hoping Dallas and Aitken – and a raft of assistants – permanently moving from the pitch to the