Steven Naismith in blistering VAR defence as Hearts boss calls out 'individual agendas' behind Premiership moans

Steven Naismith reckons individual agendas are being used to throw mud at the VAR system.

The Hearts boss admits the increase in incorrect decisions made by officials has to be addressed. But Naismith remains in favour of keeping technology and feels some of the stick dished out is being done to suit those involved in their respective incidents. He said: “The bad decisions haven’t been VAR. It’s been the decision-making and the consistency level of that which, when something is new, is always going to happen. I think we need to look at that at times because some of the decisions have been really poor, or the outcome of the decisions have been really poor. It’s more about that. But there’s also been a lot of people’s individual agendas suiting to throw mud at the system and the process when every club knows what the process is.

"Oh why is this not happening? And why is the guy not saying into the earpiece? All those comments are just fuelled by individual agenda. It’s not fuelled by fact and understanding of what the process is for every decision.”

Of the 13 errors identified by the SFA’s VAR independent review panel during the second round of Premiership fixtures, Hearts were involved in four. But Naismith said: “Ultimately, is it good for the game or not? I think it’s good and that’s from my position as somebody who is associated with a team where the decisions impact us first-hand.

“We’ve been one of the teams that have been hit by the issues, if you like, more than most. But, as the stats say, we are getting more decisions right than we did before.

“Now if we never won a cup on the back of a bad decision that VAR could have helped, that’s not good for me. It impacts the value and entertainment for fans 100 per cent,