Wannabe PM Andy Burnham desires to ban VAR in soccer because it’s ‘killing spontaneity’
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, an Everton fan, reckons VAR should be shown a red card as it’s ‘not getting decisions right’. He criticised it while laying out his pitch to be PM
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham outside his house in Warrington, Cheshire
Wannabe Labour prime minister Andy Burnham wants to ban VAR in football. He reckons the controversial tech review system should be shown a red card because it’s “killing spontaneity [and] it’s not getting decisions right.”
The mayor of Greater Manchester, who supports Everton, laid out his position on the despised tech as he made his pitch for the Labour leadership. He said: “Gone. Get rid. I’ll tell you why.
“It’s killing spontaneity in the ground. I’m a season ticket holder at Everton. Killing spontaneity.” He told ITV News: “You can’t celebrate a goal because you think someone somewhere in an industrial unit is going to rule it out.
“So that’s a bad thing. But number two, it doesn’t get decisions right. You could put up with it if it then got decisions right, but it doesn’t get the decisions right and it’s not consistent.”
It comes after more VAR outrage on Sunday over Matheus Cunha’s goal for Manchester United against Nottingham Forest. The referee overruled the VAR, who said the goal should be disallowed for handball, after a long delay at Old Trafford.
Referees’ body PGMO said there has been a reduction in the delay to games over the past couple of seasons. And the Premier League has the lowest VAR intervention rate in European football.
Meanwhile, Mr Burnham’s allies reckon he’ll win the keys to power and replace Sir Keir Starmer in No10 because he’s a “Guinness politician” – meaning he’s “not stout, but steady”.
They insist he’s got the best chance of winning a crunch by-election seat in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, which he needs for a potential leadership battle. Sources close to him reckon he has a “unique appeal” to both Green and Reform voters.
Reform sources claim they’re going to try to paint Mr Burnham, 56, as a “posh boy”, which the mayor will dispute. And Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy admits it’ll be a “tough fight” as the two-horse race will see Reform throw everything at winning the seat.
Nandy also described rival leadership hopeful Wes Streeting’s call for the UK to re-enter the EU as “a bit odd”, adding she doesn’t understand the “sudden focus on Europe”. She insisted Sir Keir will still be PM when the summer holidays begin, despite what she calls “feverish speculation” about a leadership challenge.
But insiders claim the PM has told close pals he intends to quit and set a timetable for his exit as he “realises the current chaos is unsustainable” but “wants to be able to do it in a dignified way”. Elsewhere, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch urged Labour to call a general election if the PM is replaced by someone who changes the Government’s “mandate”.
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