Sheffield United boss open to VAR in Championship after planning referee chief talks

United were denied a clear-cut penalty in their goalless draw with AFC Bournemouth at the weekend, when Morgan Gibbs-White was cleaned out by Cherries defender Nat Phillips, after having similar good appeals for a spot-kick in defeat away at Stoke City also waved away.

That followed two controversially-disallowed goals away at Blackpool last month, leaving Heckingbottom planning to contact referee’s chief Alan Wiley to obtain some clarity.

And asked today ahead of Friday’s clash with Reading at Bramall Lane if he would support the use of VAR in the Championship, Heckingbottom admitted: “Yeah. There are alterations to be had to VAR, focus on the black and white things, but we’d certainly be better off with it.

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“Two points at Blackpool for one. So we’d certainly be better off.

“I spoke with the referee straight after [the Bournemouth game]. It didn’t do me any good, I must admit. I probably felt worse. I don’t get anything out of it, it’s more speaking up for the players and the fans.

“Macca [assistant manager Stuart McCall] does the referee reports but we need more than that, it’s just a form and words on paper. I’ll be ringing Alan and trying to get a bit more.

“It’s been unfair but we’re having too many on the spin. Stoke, Blackpool, Bournemouth. I know how hard people are working in this building and how the fans are getting behind the players, and we’ve been let down by other people.

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“It’s out of our control but it’s got to a point where it’s out of order. It’s really poor. Will it help? I don’t know but think it’s the right thing to do, to highlight it because we want the best possible decisions.

“We’ve not been getting them and while we won’t get the pints back, we want to raise the levels of everyone involved with the game so it doesn’t happen again.

“We just want correct decisions. Or I want a few bad ones going our way.”

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