Joe Edwards has lived with video technology while a Premier League coach at Chelsea and Everton and isn’t particularly keen
Ryan Leonard was given a penalty kick in the closing minutes of Saturday’s game against Sunderland after being adjudged to have fouled Jack Clarke.
Clarke converted the penalty to equalise Kevin Nisbet’s goal, and the game ended 1-1.
Replays have since shown that Leonard may have been very unlucky with the 31-year-old appearing to nick the ball in his slide tackle.
Asked if he would want the Championship to replicate the top-flight and introduce video technology, former Chelsea and Everton coach Edwards told NewsAtDen: “No… I have a few years experience with it in the Premier League and now I’m working in a league without it, I prefer it without it to be honest.”
He added on the penalty incident: “The route of the ball does clearly look like it changes the line of its path, if there was VAR I would imagine that would get sent to the screen and the ref would overturn that. So we could feel slightly hard done by and it’s marginal.
“But I will stand by what I said on Saturday – it’s harsh and Lenny felt he got the ball but I can see why it was given, so we have to accept it.”
After many questionable decisions in the Premier League and around European football this season, VAR – video assistant referees – has faced a growing rebellion among fans and analysts.
While the Premier League implemented the technology in 2019, there are no plans for the EFL to do so in the near future for regular season games.
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