There was supposed to be a simple purpose behind VAR: to help referees get the big decisions right.
Instead, football increasingly seems to have acquired another layer of uncertainty, argument and frustration and the latest Manchester derby controversy is a perfect illustration of why supporters are becoming increasingly disillusioned.
Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday, with Erling Haaland scoring the winner. But the goal should not have stood.
That is not simply the opinion of angry Manchester United supporters. Pro Ref, the refereeing body, has now admitted that VAR made an error of judgement.
The extraordinary part is that the goal was initially ruled offside by the assistant referee. VAR subsequently overturned that decision because Haaland himself was onside.
But that was only part of the issue.
Enzo Fernández was in an offside position and attempted to play the ball, throwing himself towards it only yards from goal. Although he did not make contact, the question was whether his position and attempted movement interfered with Manchester United’s defending.
Pro Ref has now accepted that VAR failed to recognise the likely impact of Fernández’s position and should have recommended that referee Michael Oliver review the incident himself.
So what exactly is VAR achieving if a decision initially made by the referee is overturned, only for the refereeing authorities to subsequently admit that the intervention itself was wrong?
That is the fundamental problem.
And this is far from an isolated incident.
During the 2025-26 Premier League season, the league’s Key Match Incidents panel identified 25 VAR errors, compared with 18 the previous season, 31 in 2023-24 and 38 in 2022-23. There were also 29 other on-field mistakes that the panel judged did not meet the threshold for VAR intervention.
Supporters have therefore been presented with an increasingly bizarre situation: football has more cameras, more officials, more technology, more replays and more opportunities to examine incidents yet controversy over refereeing decisions remains enormous.
Manchester United coach Michael Carrick summed up the absurdity perfectly when he questioned why football had “so many layers”, people and screens supposedly designed to help officials reach the correct decision, only for a decision like this to be made.
Former referee Dermot Gallagher has also argued that Fernández’s attempt to play the ball should have resulted in the goal being ruled out.
And this is where VAR risks destroying something fundamental about football.
The sport has always contained mistakes. Referees are human. Players miss chances. Managers get decisions wrong. That uncertainty is part of the drama.
VAR was introduced to reduce the most serious errors.
Instead, football now routinely produces arguments about whether an error was an error, whether an error was clear and obvious, whether an official should have looked at a screen, and whether another official should have intervened.
That isn’t clarity.
It is bureaucracy.
When the refereeing authorities themselves admit that the technology-assisted decision that decided one of football’s biggest fixtures was wrong, supporters are entitled to ask the obvious question:
If VAR cannot even guarantee the correct decision after having every camera angle and replay available, what exactly is it there for?
Football does not need more technology.
It needs better, clearer and more accountable officiating.
