[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Alf

Working class sport, hijacked by the middle class and now dominated by money.

I agree with this and it's a shame really as teams like us can never really win anything with the way the current rules work in Football and that kills off the competition element imo if only a select few teams have any chance at winning things.

However as it the rules currently are I'd rather my club exist rather than overspend and possibly get liquidation.

The only possible way to even out the money inbalance between teams and stop it from feeling like a sport that favours the elite would be to have VAR in games, just look at how popular the last World Cup was with VAR in the game, without it England would've been rigged out against Colombia, but with VAR there it made the games much more unpredictable and meant that results happened that wouldn't have happened due to the Referee's protecting the big teams normally, or stopping them from eliminating teams because they politically don't like them so will allow Maradona to punch the ball into the back of the net even though every one and I mean every one knew it was handball.

Just this season VAR would've changed certain games and these are the ones that I can think of.

Birmingham Vs Aston Villa:
Fake score - Birmingham 0-1 Aston Villa
Real score - Birmingham 1-1 Aston Villa
Reason why - Because Che Adams was pulled down in the penalty area and the Referee only didn't give it because the preferred narrative was the “Jack Grealish gets his revenge” narrative after the fan attacked him.

Stoke vs Birmingham:
Fake score - Stoke 0-1 Birmingham
Real score - Stoke 1-1 Birmingham
Reason why - Stoke had a corner and one of the Stoke players shoots the ball towards the goal and Che Adams puts his hand up to block the ball in the penalty area, therefore the Referee didn't spot the incident which VAR would've.

Aston Villa vs Birmingham:
Fake score - Aston Villa 4-2 Birmingham
Real score - Aston Villa 2-1 Birmingham
Reason why - Tammy Abraham gets fouled by Michael Morrison in the penalty area, but just before that incident Tammy Abraham pushes Michael Morrison away from the ball meaning it should've been a free kick to Birmingham, not a penalty kick to Aston Villa.

Birmingham vs Millwall:
Fake score - Birmingham 0-2 Millwall
Real score - Birmingham 1-2 Millwall
Reason why - Mahoney's goal wasn't offside, simple as that.

Swansea vs Man City:
Fake score - Swansea 2-3 Man City
Real score - Swansea 2-1 Man City
Reason why - Man City's second goal wasn't a penalty, and the third goal was offside.

Birmingham vs Bristol City:
Fake score - Birmingham 0-1 Bristol City
Real score - Birmingham 1-1 Bristol City
Reason why - Maghoma was tripped in the penalty area which wasn't given.

Bolton vs Birmingham:
Fake score - Bolton 1-0 Birmingham
Real score - Bolton 0-0 Birmingham
Reason why - Buckley thought that he was Maradona on that day but bizarrely got away with the blatant handball which led to us losing the game.

Wolves vs Man City:
Fake score - Wolves 1-1 Man City
Real score - Wolves 0-0 Man City
Reason why - Willy Boly scored with his hand so therefore it's handball.

Burnley vs Tottenham:
Fake score - Burnley 2-1 Tottenham
Real score - Burnley 0-0 Tottenham
Reason why - The ball bounces off the Burnley and rolls out for what should've been a goal kick, yet a corner was given which led to Burnley's first goal.

There are probably other occasions where VAR could've rescued things and made matches less predictable, but sadly it wasn't and it meant that a lot of us have to watch our teams go up against opposition that have spent more than us, and will also have the Referees siding with them during the matches.

I'm sorry for going on a rant again, I do agree with your point though Alf.