"I don't agree" - Blackburn Rovers boss John Eustace not happy with EFL, VAR decision | OneFootball

The Rovers boss has been speaking about VAR after a contentious penalty decision against Watford

Blackburn Rovers boss John Eustace has issued his disapproval regarding the EFL's decision to only call upon VAR for the Championship play-off final in May.

This comes after Rovers were on the end of a decision which could have split refereeing verdicts, as Ryan Hedges was adjudged to have handled inside the area after Watford's Vakoun Bayo initially miscontrolled Kwadwo Baah's fizzing cross from the right-hand flank.

Despite edging the overall play, the East Lancashire side left Vicarage Road empty-handed as Edo Kayembe slotted home from 12 yards after 71 minutes.

In the lead-up to Blackburn's upcoming encounter with Sheffield United at Ewood Park on Saturday lunchtime, Eustace was quizzed once more on the penalty decision, before giving his opinion on the EFL's current decision that only sees VAR deployed for the post-season shootout for a Premier League place.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash with the Blades, the 44-year-old stated that in the aftermath of last weekend's defeat, he had also spoken to senior referees in reference to the incident, with the decision eventually being described as a 'grey area'.

"I think on the day, it could have gone either way. I spoke to a couple of senior referees about it, and one of them said it was a penalty, one of them said it wasn't. So it was one of those grey areas," Eustace stated.

The former Birmingham City head coach then issued his verdict on VAR as a wider picture, as well as stating that if used in the second tier, it must be called into action across the 46-game regular season, as well as the showpiece event at Wembley Stadium.

"I'm not a fan of VAR if I'm gonna be honest. The officials aren’t robots, they're gonna make mistakes. No one goes out to make a mistake on purpose. We have VAR in the in the playoff final, which I don't agree with. I think if you're gonna bring VAR into the Championship, it's there for the whole season, not just one game," he added.

The chances of the Championship introducing VAR look slim at present

Whilst refereeing performances in the Championship can so often come under the microscope, it looks as though the introduction of VAR into the second tier on a much more regular basis will not be occurring any time soon.

It was reported in August 2022 by Sky Sports that the EFL had no plans to fast-track an introduction in the near future, and there has been hardly any recent discourse to suggest that the organisation's standpoint will change imminently.

Furthermore, just three months before a controversial play-off final between Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town, which saw the Terriers denied two penalties for incidents involving Harry Toffolo and Lewis O'Brien, it was claimed that the system would be too expensive to run in the second tier.

One aspect which many Championship fanbases will argue sets the division apart from the Premier League is that VAR isn't currently in place, having seen numerous in-game delays due to decision-making occur in the five years it has been implemented in the top flight.

John Eustace will be switching his focus away from controversial flashpoints

Although it remained a minor talking point for Eustace in his presser, the Rovers boss will be looking to divert attention away from the Vicarage Road flashpoint and target a return to winning ways for his side.

Blackburn's form has been sketchy in their last six games, with just two wins to their name in that timeframe, despite still sitting inside the play-off spots with 19 points from the first 12 encounters.

However, they will take confidence from the fact they were both at Ewood Park against QPR and Swansea City, and they will hope to repeat such a feat against Chris Wilder's side, who returned to winning ways against Stoke City last weekend.