On Wednesday night, it was announced that Wolves had formally submitted a resolution to scrap VAR from the Premier League, a decision that left some surprised.
With one game remaining of the 2023/24 campaign, Wolves made the headlines ahead of the final weekend of action as the Old Gold submitted a statement in a bid to abolish VAR.
The Midlands club raised their concerns over the future use of VAR in the Premier League, submitting a resolution that could now trigger clubs from the English top flight to vote on whether to scrap or stick by VAR.
READ MORE: Five worst Wolves VAR decisions of all time in the Premier League
Wolves have been struck with their fair share of controversy as a result VAR intervention this season alone, with the model being a fiercely spoken about topic most weeks in the Premier League since its introduction back in 2019.
During this campaign, Gary O’Neil’s side has suffered at the hands of the officials, making their call for VAR to be dismissed not so much of a shock however, journalist Liam Keen admitted he is surprised at the club’s decision to go public with their fight to disable the system.
Liam Keen ‘surprised’ at Wolves call to scrap VAR in the Premier League
Wolves expert Keen, who has followed the club up and down the country throughout the season, has seen firsthand the detrimental effects that VAR has caused O’Neil’s side this term although, he remains surprised at the club’s statement.
Speaking to fellow journalist Nathan Judah in reaction to the breaking news, Keen explained his reasons for being shocked at the decision to go public with frustrations, via Express and Star.
“I’m in some ways surprised because Wolves have not ever been the club that puts out embarrassing statements, Nottingham Forest are a good example of this regarding VAR.
“Liverpool earlier this season put out a statement about VAR, Wolves have never done that.
“Of course, no part of this statement is embarrassing but it’s definitely a development for them to be talking publicly and putting something out like this that is so serious, that’s the thing I’m slightly surprised at because I didn’t think Wolves would make that jump.”
While O’Neil and his players have rightfully expressed their frustrations with several VAR calls against Wolves this season, the club have opted against speaking out against PGMOL until now.
Wolves have suffered VAR controversy this season
For the surprise that Keen explained, the journalist also shared his understanding as to why Wolves have taken the first step to prompt VAR to exit the Premier League.
The Express and Star reporter said, ‘There’s plenty of evidence out there why we shouldn’t be surprised, and it’s all come on the field this season’, in support of Wolves’ statement.
VAR has left a bitter taste in O’Neil’s mouth from the opening day of the 2023/24 campaign when his side were denied a late penalty at Old Trafford as Andre Onana crashed into Sasa Kalajdzic in injury time.
If a penalty had been awarded and then scored, the Midlands club would have opened their season with a point however, their efforts against Manchester United went unrewarded.
A host of other instances throughout the season have led to Wolves’ decision to push for other clubs to stand up against VAR, with another wild call being denied earlier this month against Manchester City.
It will certainly be interesting to see how clubs react to the idea of voting for the system to be abolished, with every side having a reason to criticise the model at some point throughout the campaign, seeing Wolves leading the way in that respect.