David Bates’ comments this morning were very interesting indeed, with the ex-Rangers man suggesting you don’t get big calls at Ibrox, which very much taps into the conspiracy theories almost all clubs are invested in.

See, Rangers fans think the refs are against them, but would you be shocked to know all other Scottish clubs think they’re the victims?

For all that Rangers fans want VAR, and for all our manager has clamoured for it, we’re not the only set of fans who believe the refs are against us.

You can easily include Celtic too, who come out with the same stuff.

What does this mean?

It means VAR is absolutely essential, as John Beaton said, because he’d be the first to agree our refs are borderline incompetent.

Whether Bates is right or not, it’s true that there’s a tonne of inconsistency from our officials, not helped by their only being part time and having actual day jobs as well.

The two big upgrades in Scotland would be this VAR, plus refs going full time.

Don’t get us wrong, even in the big money high profile PL there’s plenty of gaffes, look at the Everton Frank Lampard shambles recently.

But VAR reduces that, it makes the officials LESS bad, and that’s the most we can hope for.

Sooner it’s in the better.