Finance expert Kieran Maguire believes that Celtic will be happy to pay for VAR in the Scottish Premiership, as per Football Insider.
The Lowdown: Vote expected
Reports last month suggested that both the Hoops and their Glasgow arch-rivals are pushing for VAR to be introduced in Scotland.
[web_stories_embed url="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/celtic-updates-22/" title="Celtic updates!!" poster="" width="360" height="600" align="none"]
It is thought to cost each club close to £100,000 per season, or around £1.2m combined, with a vote expected to take place in the spring. That figure has increased from £60,000 per season, and Maguire has been having his say on the now seven-figure total cost.
The Latest: Maguire’s comments
Maguire, who contributes for Sky Sports, was talking to Football Insider, who led with a title suggesting that the rest of the league will ‘hate’ VAR coming into play.
He admitted that it isn’t a surprise to see both Celtic and Rangers pushing for a VAR deal due to their financial power, saying:
“You can understand it from the perspective of other clubs.
“Other clubs are operating on total revenue of around about £5m per season.
“That means £100,000 would be two per cent of total revenue going towards VAR, which isn’t insignificant.
“But Celtic and Rangers are generating much more than that, meaning it is less significant.
“For them, VAR could be the difference between coming 2nd and winning the title.”
The Verdict: The right move?
You can see why both Celtic and Rangers are pushing for VAR, especially following the Hoops’ impressive financial figures in 2021.
As Maguire mentions, the implementation of the technology could prove to be the difference in who wins the title in subsequent seasons, with the current campaign showing how close the two sides are now.
Hopefully, other top-flight clubs will vote in favour of the technology, despite the £100,000-a-year cost, and this topic could be one to keep an eye on over the coming months.
In other news: Devlin reveals that Celtic 'definitely want' to sign 'incredible' £22k-p/w international