Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce: Bring VAR into the Championship
Steve Bruce has called for the introduction of VAR in the Championship and claimed Villa could now be in the Premier League had the technology already been in place.
The boss still remains aggrieved at the ‘injustice’ of last season’s play-off final, when the match officials missed a stamp by Fulham’s Ryan Fredericks on Jack Grealish in the first half.
Bruce believes Fredericks would have been dismissed had VAR been in place at Wembley. Fulham went on to win the game 1-0 and claim promotion.
Brentford’s Neal Maupay was this week handed a three-game ban for stamping on Villa midfielder John McGinn, another incident missed by the match officials.
Bruce said: “That’s where we should have VAR, in my opinion. Get those things done.
“I feel aggrieved the biggest one of all, the biggest game of the lot, the referee and the fourth official missed a stamp on Jack Grealish, which could have changed the whole outcome of the day. We might not have been sitting here in the Championship.
“Wembley was the biggest injustice. When you see it back it is horrific.”
Premier League clubs voted against using VAR this season, despite the technology being used at the World Cup.
But Bruce believes it’s arrival is inevitable and expects it to eventually reach the Championship.
“When we have the technology we have, we have to implement it,” said Bruce. “For me, the World Cup got all the right decisions.
“The one thing with VAR is it gives you the right decisions. We have seen many big games – from Maradona’s hand ball, to Thierry Henry’s hand ball. They would all be cleared up with VAR. I’m a big advocate of it.”
Maupay accepted a charge of violent conduct after the FA took retrospective action, following his stamp in the 42nd minute of Wednesday’s 2-2 draw at Villa Park.
The French striker, who had earlier opened the scoring, went on to put the Bees 2-1 up before Jonathan Kodjia salvaged a point for Villa with a last-gasp header.
Bruce added: “The only people helped now (by Maupay’s ban) is our opponents.
“Brentford are without their centre-forward against two or three of our opponents. We didn’t have the benefit of anything.”
